Sweet Earns Third World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Victory of 2014
Grass Valley, Calif., Native Takes the Checkered in Front of Family and Friends on Night one of Calistoga Double-Header
CALISTOGA, Calif. – April 5, 2014 – It was friends and family night for California native Brad Sweet on Saturday at Calistoga Speedway after he held off Brian Brown in a thriller for his third World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series victory of the season.
Sweet and Brown flipped the lead several times in traffic before Sweet, of Grass Valley, Calif., pulled ahead for the victory in the waning laps, kicking off a victory celebration that included several of his friends and family members from his native Golden State.
Brown, who lost the lead while working through lapped traffic, held on for the runner-up finish. Joey Saldana started and finished in third while Donny Schatz was fourth and another hometown hero, Rico Abreu, rounded out the top-five on the first of two nights of World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series action at Calistoga.
Brown jumped out to a quick lead over pole-sitter Schatz. Brown continued to lead on lap six when the caution flew for David Gravel, winner of the previous event at Merced Speedway last Friday night. On the restart, a red flag would fly for contact with Bud Kaeding and Austin Wheatley. The ensuing restart was single-file as Brown continued to lead. On lap 11 the leaders hit lapped traffic at the half-mile oval. A bobble in traffic on lap 12 cost Brown the lead as Sweet, behind the wheel of the Kasey Kahne Racing SurePointMedical.com #49 drove by him in turn four. (more…)
SEYMOUR, TN – Adam Beeler of Knoxville, TN finally got it all together to win his first NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series race in the Ole Smoky Moonshine 50 on Saturday night at 411 Motor Speedway driving the Mighty Muffler and Brakes CVR. Beeler swept the program as fast qualifier, and then led all 50 laps for the $3,000 victory.
New Smyrna Speedway was the place to be Saturday night for some outstanding racing as the NASCAR Whelan All American Series continued for 2014 featuring 100 laps for the Super Late Models as leg number two of the 2014 Bright House Challenge. Twenty-five Super Late Model cars went through afternoon tech inspection, but before time trials could be held, three top teams already had their cars in the trailer after suffering mechanical woes in practice. All Wayne Anderson, Daniel Keene, Jr. and Kevin Dicks could do was sit back and watch the action as the 22 remaining drivers hit the track for qualifying. Defending Bright House champion Travis Cope of Weeki Wachee was first out to take time and he set the standard at 17.333 seconds that no one would be able to touch. T. J. Duke was the closest at 17.413 followed by a 17.459 second lap for Rich Clouser. David Rogers, Brad May and Daniel Webster rounded out the top six qualifiers. Cope’s luck was not so good when it came to the inversion pill draw as he pulled a ten to invert the top five rows for the start of the century grind placing tenth fastest qualifier Jesse Dutilly on the pole and Stephen Nasse on the outside pole after an uncharacteristically slow time trial lap for the young driver out of Pinellas Park that would ultimately work in his favor. 
VIVIAN, LA (April 5, 2014) – Scott Bloomquist raced to his 47th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win on Saturday Night at ARK-LA-TEX Speedway in thrilling fashion. Bloomquist took the lead on the 48th lap and led Ray Moore and Ryan Gustin to the checkered flag in a close finish. Bloomquist took over the second spot on lap 20 and trailed Moore until the two entered lapped traffic in the final ten laps when he began closing on Moore’s rear bumper.
ATTICA, Ohio – Dale Blaney rewarded his new car owner with a $10,000 victorySaturday to open Attica Raceway Park’s 2014 season. “The Low Rider” led all 40 laps of the HD Supply/Construction Equipment and Supply Spring Nationals to score his 100th career University of Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions win.
There was no full moon Friday night at Orlando SpeedWorld but it sure seemed like it as the fans saw plenty of slam-bang action that kept wrecker driver Tim Cordell busy most of the night. A very nice field of Sportsman cars saw their pair of heat races won by Richard Fiore, Jr. and Daniel Conlin, Jr. but it would be pole sitter Ron Gustafson jumping out to an early lead in the 25-lap feature. Gustafson would lead the first five circuits before Earl Beckner got by to assume the point as he was looking to make it two wins in a row. Timmy Todd, Jr. spun his brand-new mount coming off turn four to bring out the first caution flag on lap seven. Beckner continued to set the pace until yellow flag number two was thrown for debris on the track at the completion of lap ten. On the restart, Gustafson found himself in the backstretch wall, coming to rest in turn three with a badly crunched car and out of the event. By this time Derrick Wood, who started deep in the 14 car field, had worked his way to second place and looked like he might have something for leader Beckner. However, Wood’s car suddenly slowed coming off turn two during the 12th lap and he coasted to the infield. Two laps later Fiore and Roger Blevins collided going into turn one with Blevins’ car in the wall and ultimately done for the evening. On the restart Conlin, now up to second, got into the back of Beckner’s car going down the backstretch sending Beckner’s machine hard into the wall. A not so happy Beckner walked back to the pits, done for the night. It was even more frustrating for the Orlando driver as he and his crew had to thrash for several days just to get here for the action after blowing an engine and crashing the car badly at Auburndale Speedway two weeks ago.