Hickory, NC (July 14, 2011) - 20 haulers pulled into the pits at BLS_Superspeedway to see who was going to be the top drafter of the night. The temperatures were hot but 12,592 fans made it out to see their favorite drivers of the Lucas Oil Summer Sizzler Series. We kicked off the night with BLS_00 walking away with the heat 1 win while Ice was able to make a last lap pass on Wheel for the 2nd transfer spot.
Ranger would win heat 2 as Doit5 was able to come back from a near spinout to pass JSN in the last corner of the last lap. Heat 3 would see Doit11 show off as he was able to motor away from the field with the victory. Current LOSSS point’s leader Rainman would find the final transfer spot and cross the line in 2nd.
In “C” feature action IFRT_14 would pick up the win as Doit87 would keep it close and finish in 2nd. BLS_42 would keep his night alive and come home 3rd and BLS_34 would be the final car to transfer to the 20 lap “B”.
JSN would get a great start in the “B” Main and was able to hold off Wheel for the win. BLS_42 and Doit87 would prove that you can come from the “C” and make the feature as they would finish 3rd and 4th.
The “A” feature started off with BLS_00 leading the field of drivers to the green flag. Ranger used the outside to get around with Ice pushing him for all he was worth. Lap 3 “B” Main winner JSN found out that if you hit the tires that bad things happen as he destroyed his front end and his night ended early.
Lap 5 Ice made his move to get to the lead and was able to get around Ranger who lost his draft and Ice was able to extend his lead to .4 seconds. Wheel had teamed up with Doit11 and was able to get around Ranger for 2nd and 3rd and they set their sights on Ice. By lap 11 they had caught and passed Ice and the 3 drivers would stay close and fast. The top 3 drivers would swap the lead several times but Doit11 seemed to be the best car of the bunch, as Ice and Wheel would be content to run 2nd for a while and let him D11 pull them around the track.
00 and Ranger would hook up and try to run down the leaders but just didn’t have the motor get back to them. Lap 24 Rain would get around Doit5 and go 3 wide with 00 and Ranger. Ranger would run off the top side of the track and Rain would move to the 4th spot. 00 car would veer off the track after his right rear tire exploded and would bring out a caution on lap 27. Rain was excited to see this caution as he had just moved from 7th to 4th and seemed to have the momentum going into the final 23 laps.
On the restart Rain would show his nose on the top 3 drivers but D11, Wheel, and Ice was able to pull back away from the hard charging Rainman. Lap 35 outside pole sitter Ranger would experience his 2nd blown motor in 2 weeks at DOIT. Lap 39 would end D11’s chances of winning (DUH) as he would move to the bottom of the track and get loose and Wheel would have nowhere to go and finished him off and he would go spinning leaving Ice and Wheel to battle for the lead.
Wheel would get around Ice quickly and Ice would take his time staying right on his bumper until the final lap. As they got the white flag Ice would move to the inside and take the lead going into turn 1 and would lead down the back strait. Wheel would make a final attempt to grab the win but Ice would move to the bottom to block and the 2 would make contact and both would get very loose.
Wheel was able to lift enough to let Ice catch his car and not spin but that would end Wheel’s chances of winning but he would motor home .2 seconds behind Ice. Rain would finish up in 3rd and D11 would recover and get back to 4th. Doit5 was able to stay in the top 5. 00 would finish 6th and BLS_42 came from the “C” Main to finish 7th and DOIT87 came home in 8th. Ranger, and JSN were ending their nights early for the 7th-10th spot.
We caught up with Ice in victory lane. “This was the 1st time I’ve run this car and had good luck with it so far. D11 had the car to beat tonight but made a mistake and that left me and Wheel fighting for the win. I got around him on the last lap and blocked for all I was worth in that last corner and luckily he lifted and let me save it. Wheel showed a lot of class there.”
Wheel seemed content with the 2nd place finish, “I never win on these tracks but I’m always running in 2nd or 3rd at the end of the night. I felt bad for D11 but I didn’t have time to do anything once he got loose. Then I about got into Ice who did anything he could keep me behind him. Was a great race and hopefully I can do a little better on Monday."
Point leader Rain was happy to see his teammate win, “Ice is really good on these draft tracks and if I can’t win I want a WFO guy to come away with it. Looked like a hell of a race up there. Just wish I could have gotten up there with them to try to make it 3 in a row in this series.”
D11 wasn’t nearly as happy. “I’m just so upset with myself. Not to sound narscisitic but I think I was the best car tonight. Goes to show you that the fastest car doesn’t always win."
The Lucas Oil Summer Sizzler Series will be at this same track Monday at WFO. Expect another great show and hope to see a ton of drivers to show up.