OCALA, Fla. — If Saturday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship series event at Bubba Raceway Park had been set for the normal 30-lap distance, Brady Bacon would have had a sweep of the two-race Winter Dirt Games.
But fortunately for Kyle Cummins, the $10,000-towin main was 35 laps and he managed to drive by Bacon with two laps to go and steal the winner’s purse.
Bacon and Cummins were both on the front row of the feature, which was delayed while the track crew fixed the frontstretch wheel fence after a wild crash in the semi-feature.
When the start finally came, Bacon immediately took command and was leading easily when Robert Ballou pulled up on the frontstretch to draw the race’s first yellow.
With Cummins, fifth-starting Justin Grant and Matt Westfall behind him when the green returned, Bacon shot away again as Grant blew off Cummins for second and appeared poised to challenge Bacon for the lead. But three laps later Cummins went back by only to lose second again half a lap later.
Cummins finally prevailed in the back-and-forth battle on lap nine and even managed to get even with Bacon momentarily before Bacon edged away again.
At halfway, Bacon was trailed by Cummins and a hard charging CJ Leary, who’d come from seventh on the grid. Two laps later they were up to their eyeballs in lapped cars, with Bacon managing to edge away momentarily on lap 23 when a slow car held Cummins up.
It took him a few laps, but the rim-riding Cummins ran Bacon down again as they passed lapped cars in bunches and with two to go he changed lines and drove under the Thursday night winner off turn four.
“A lapped car held me up and I figured I was a sitting duck, so I went to the top,” explained Bacon, who rarely gets passed once he gets the lead. “Then a hole opened up and he got under me. I guess 35 laps aren’t good for me!”
Leary was a strong third ahead of Grant, who struggled in the late stages, and fourth-starting Jason McDougal.
“I thought we were the best car here but I kept messing around with the shocks to make it better yet around the top,” tipped Cummins. “Brady seemed faster for a while but then the lapped cars got us all jumbled up. He surprised me when he moved to the top and I got a shot at him around the bottom. Luckily for us, the track had a lot of grip tonight and we were able to move around and take advantage of the opening.”
Leary, who at one point looked like he might be fast enough to run down the leader, summed up his night by saying, “We were really good but we just started too deep in the field.”
Leary, Emerson Axsom and Thomas Meseraull shared heat wins while Jadon Rogers prevailed in the wild and wooley Semi-feature that saw Englishman Tom Harris flip early on, then Kevin Newton take a wicked ride down the frontstretch that put him up into the wheel fence just before the flagstand, breaking a few posts and sending fencing in all directions.
The track crew repaired the damage quicker than many expected and the fans seated in that area were moved to other seats as a precaution in case the repairs were tested by another high flier.
Harris and crew even managed to repair his mount during the red flag and he returned to finish the Semi and start last in the feature.
Chase Stockon turned fast time in the 27-car field.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Bubba Raceway Park, Ocala, Fla., Feb. 18, 2023
QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.979; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.076; 3. Jason McDougal, 5m, KO-14.113; 4. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.167; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-14.206; 6. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-14.215; 7. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.302; 8. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.354; 9. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-14.383; 10. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-14.392; 11. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-14.464; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.473; 13. Jadon Rogers, 5, Baldwin/Fox-14.510; 14. Brady Short, 61m, Edwards-14.544; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-14.565; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17GP, Dutcher-14.600; 17. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-14.601; 18. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-14.614; 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.680; 20. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-14.704; 21. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-14.756; 22. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.840; 23. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-14.847; 24. Kevin Newton, 16TH, Benic-15.191; 25. Cameron Smith, 96, Kauffman-15.192; 26. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-15.242; 27. Eddie Vancil, 7v, Vancil-16.905.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Cameron Smith. 1:56.24
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Brady Short, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Joey Amantea, 8. Steve Irwin, 9. Hunter Maddox. 1:58.11
ROD END SUPPLY / T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jason McDougal, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Daison Pursley, 6. Tom Harris, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Kevin Newton, 9. Eddie Vancil. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Joey Amantea, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Cameron Smith, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Steve Irwin, 9. Tom Harris, 10. Eddie Vancil, 11. Kevin Newton, 12. Hunter Maddox. NT
FEATURE: (35 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Brady Bacon (1), 3. C.J. Leary (7), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Jason McDougal (4), 6. Emerson Axsom (8), 7. Chase Stockon (6), 8. Matt Westfall (3), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 10. Logan Seavey (10), 11. Mitchel Moles (11), 12. Jake Swanson (19), 13. Daison Pursley (12), 14. Carson Garrett (17), 15. Thomas Meseraull (9), 16. Brady Short (15), 17. Jadon Rogers (14), 18. Joey Amantea (21), 19. Tom Harris (23-P), 20. Brandon Mattox (20), 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (18), 22. Cameron Smith (22), 23. Robert Ballou (13).