The inaugural event for Kubota High Limit Racing at Eldora Speedway lived up to all the hype on Wednesday night.
As Kings Royal week started, 64 of the best Sprint Car drivers in the world piled into the pits at "The Big E" for a split-field program called the Double Down Duel$ - two shows in one night, both paying $12,000-to-win. After two flights of Qualifying, eight Heat Races, two wheel spins, and two B-Mains, the Twin 25 Features capped the night in style.
The Group A Feature left some fans saying it was the best race they've seen in recent memory at the Roseburg, Ohio oval. At one point near halfway, Logan Schuchart, Brad Sweet, and Justin Peck were trading the lead what seemed like every corner as they went three-wide, crossed over sliders, and somehow never touched once. It became a four-car fight when Donny Schatz caught them before the caution took a sensational battle away from us.
On the restart, Schuchart was able to sneak away but this race was far from over. Making it close in the final laps in lap traffic, Sweet and Schatz both reeled in Schuchart to create some last-lap drama. With Schuchart bottled up, both of them built one last lap run at the #1S and what unfolded was a near photo-finish at the checkered flag.
Ultimately, Schuchart's momentum on the outside was enough to propel the Shark Racing #1S ahead of Schatz by 0.242-seconds at the line. It was his sixth-career victory at the Eldora Speedway and sets him up nice for the $100,000-to-win Joker's Jackpot tomorrow.
Donny Schatz's Tony Stewart Racing #15 fell just short of the win in second, while Brad Sweet's Kasey Kahne Racing #49 rounded out the podium. Closing out the top-10 in the first Twin 25 was Justin Peck, Anthony Macri, Kalib Henry, Carson Macedo, Garet Williamson, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Danny Sams.
In the second Twin 25, a green-to-checkered sprint saw Giovanni Scelzi put on a clinic by leading every lap from the pole and scoring his first-ever win at Eldora Speedway - bringing plenty of emotion to victory lane in the process. The KCP Racing #18 was unstoppable in the second race, building a massive six-second advantage over the field at one point as he swept through lap traffic with ease.
Kyle Larson drove the Paul Silva #57 to the runner-up spot and was certainly catching Scelzi in a hurry as traffic stalled the #18 late in the running, but there was no time to eat away completely at Scelzi's giant lead. Tyler Courtney capped a great points night by charging form eighth-to-third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #7BC.
Closing out the top-10 in Feature #2 was David Gravel, Spencer Bayston, James McFadden, Brent Marks, Sye Lynch, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Cory Eliason.
Kubota A Feature - Group A (25 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[8]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[6]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[4]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri[7]; 6. 101-Kalib Henry[3]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[21]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[1]; 9. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[22]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III[12]; 11. 87-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 12. 2KS-Chase Randall[15]; 13. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[5]; 14. 24-Rico Abreu[9]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee[17]; 16. 88-Tanner Thorson[24]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]; 18. 23B-Devon Borden[20]; 19. 32-Bryce Lucius[16]; 20. 25-Daison Pursley[14]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch[11]; 22. 50YR-Gary Taylor[13]; 23. 14-Corey Day[23]; 24. 16T-Cole Macedo[19]
Kubota A Feature - Group B (25 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 4. 2-David Gravel[7]; 5. 5-Spencer Bayston[13]; 6. 83-James McFadden[11]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[14]; 8. 42-Sye Lynch[2]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 10. 8-Cory Eliason[15]; 11. 9P-Parker Price Miller[5]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[24]; 13. 1A-Jacob Allen[16]; 14. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 15. 1K-Kelby Watt[4]; 16. 9-Kasey Kahne[12]; 17. 27-Emerson Axsom[21]; 18. 18T-Tanner Holmes[17]; 19. 23J-Cale Thomas[22]; 20. 55V-Kerry Madsen[10]; 21. 45-Landon Brooks[20]; 22. 29-Logan McCandless[19]; 23. 70-Kraig Kinser[18]; 24. 49X-Tim Shaffer[23]
UP NEXT: Kubota High Limit Racing will now host the biggest event in series history on Thursday, July 18 with the $100,000-to-win Joker's Jackpot finale at Eldora Speedway. If you can't be at "The Big E" yourself to witness, it, you can watch every lap live on FloRacing.
- administrator on Jul 18, 2024
- Article Date: 7/18/2024 by Brian Walker