The 13th Annual Slocum 50, racing in memory of Brent Slocum, will go down as one of the best yet with a big crowd, a full pit area, great racing and some generous fundraising. It truly was a "lucky 13"! And for California native Jason Papich, it will long be remembered as his breakthrough victory in the world of Super Late Model racing.
Promoters Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt are always quick to point out just how much help that they get from their staff and volunteers at 34 Raceway and many of them worked diligently overnight Friday and into Saturday to take a track that tore out more than what they had hoped for during The Prelude and turn it into a surface where the drivers could shine on Saturday. All of those people can now rest peacefully knowing that it was a job well done. Okay so maybe after a bit of celebration first!
You can tell that we were in for a better night tonight during the heat races as while the battle for the lead may not have been there in the "start the fast guys in front format", the racing for transfer spots was intense in all four heat races. And that would set the table for a terrific fifty lap feature where drivers were to find three or four effective grooves around the 3/8ths-mile oval.
I swear that I heard some people around me both cheer and boo Bobby Pierce during the course of this evening (see my story from The Prelude if you don't understand), but there was plenty of cheering going on as Pierce out dragged pole-sitter Garrett Alberson to take the early lead. The first caution waved on lap three when the fourth-place car of Terry Phillips slowed on the speedway and, on the restart, the now fourth-place car of Ryan Unzicker spun in the middle groove of turn one. The first half of the field would split him, but with Mason Oberkramer battling in the middle of a three-wide pack he had no place to go clipping the right front of Unizicker and ending the night for the former winner of this event.
Back to green and much of the large crowd appeared to be happy to see Pierce extend his lead as he was on a quest to win the Slocum for the third straight time. Californian Jason Papich had dropped Alberson to third and when Pierce started to work traffic, Papich quickly trimmed into his lead. Before he could get to Pierce though the caution would wave for debris in turn three on lap nineteen and that would be the final caution of this race.
With a clear track ahead Pierce would again pull away a bit from the pack, but as the crossed flags indicated lap twenty-five that lead would again start to shrink and this time it would have nothing to do with lapped traffic. Papich's low line was now faster than Bobby's rim ride and with Jason ready to pounce Pierce was motioned down to block on lap twenty-eight. That worked for a few laps and now current MLRA point leader Tony Jackson Jr. would make it a three car battle for the lead.
When Pierce pushed a bit in turn two, Papich pounced and would officially take the point on lap thirty-two. Now with Pierce and Jackson racing side-by-side for second, Papich was closing in on four cars racing for position at the rear of the field and when he was able to put Justin Duty as a lapped car between him and his challengers, this looked like it just might go his way.
With seven laps remaining Pierce went a bit too high into turn one slipping over the top of the banking and losing several positions in the recovery. This now allowed Jackson to focus on the leader, but after Papich was able to get by Chad Simpson with four to go that was all of the buffer that he would need to go on and win the $10,555 top prize with a fist pumping in jubilation as he drove under the checkers. Jackson would build on to his early point lead with a strong runner-up showing while Alberson was consistent in third. Veteran Billy Moyer closed out a solid week and will likely be ranked second in the series point standings should he choose to continue to chase another MLRA title and Chris Simpson had a strong showing in fifth.
Ryan Gustin has to be thinking about what might have been this week after being disqualified out of a victory on Wednesday night and then getting upside down while racing for second last night. He recovered nicely though starting twelfth in the finale and finishing in sixth. Last night's dominating winner Brian Shirley was solid, but not a factor tonight racing in seventh, Pierce gained back a few spots late to finish in eighth, ninth went to Shannon Babb and Tyler Bruening improved seven positions to complete the top ten.
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| Jason Papich in action this past Wednesday night at Stuart - Barry Johnson photo |
The 305 Winged Sprint Cars were much better behaved tonight with just one early caution. After losing one in the final laps last night, Cody Wehrle would walk away with the win tonight leaving all challengers in his wake driving the Grant Racing #27. Last night's winner Dan Keltner would ward off a mid-race challenge from Dugan Thye to finish second while Thye would wind up on the podium in third. Noah Samuel fought off the challenges from Devon Rouse to finish fourth.
The track appeared to now be locked down on the bottom so my expectations were not high for the final event of the night, the twenty lap IMCA Stock Car main event. Never count out this division though as they always seem to deliver great racing and those of us who were still around were treated to perhaps the best race of the weekend. Chad Krogmeier would come from the third starting spot to lead the opening lap only to leave the door open for the fifth starting David Brandies on lap two.
Brandies had done his homework while watching the Sprint Cars, he was hugging the bottom and using that rubber that had been laid down, but his challenger Corey Strothman decided to give the next line up the track a try. It worked!
Strothman would pull even with Brandies in turn four and then nose ahead at the line to lead for the first time on lap eight and Brandies was not about to let go of this one easily. The two leaders would race door-to-door over the next several laps with Strothman continuing to lead by a bumper as each lap went into the book. Plus, they had John Oliver Jr. right behind them first betting on Strothman, then on Brandies and then on Strothman.
A caution on lap thirteen would actually give Oliver the racing room that he was looking for on the Delaware double file restart and he would edge around Strothman exiting turn four to take the lead on lap fourteen. It was short lived though as Corey came charging back a lap later and this would continue like this to the checkers with Strothman taking the win over Brandies and Oliver. Abe Huls was close behind in fourth followed by yet another mid-race contender Jason Cook in fifth.
It was a great way to close out a memorable evening at 34 Raceway and a big thank you goes out to Brad, Jessi and the entire 34 Raceway team for all of your efforts!
After four straight nights of action here on the Back Stretch it will likely be another ten to thirteen days before I get back out to the track and right now I am looking at the possibility of hitting one or two tracks that I have not yet been to. Where might that be?
Keep an eye out for me on the Back Stretch!
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