Night one of the Tommy Wilson Memorial at Gulf Coast Speedway is now in the books. 23 WInged 600's and 7 Restrictor's checked in to compete with the Lonestar 600's presented by K&K Earthworks. Teams were challenged with trying to unhook there cars at Gulf Coast gave drivers something they haven't seen in a while. The track was challenging. Heat race winner in the Restrictor's was Caleb Rouser. In the 600's were as follows. Heat 1 James McNeil, Heat 2 Caleb Martin, and Heat 3 was Caleb Padgett. After all the heats were finished 7 winged 600's would find themselves having to try and qualify out of the B-Main. Wyatt Rector would bring home the B-Main win. This would set the field for the 20 lap A-Feature
First out for the features was the Restrictor's. Brady Hilton who was high point man would lead the field to the green. The green would drop and Caleb Rouser would jump out to an early lead. He would be chased by Brady and Maverick. Maverick would find a way to get around Brady and take second. All while Caleb stretched his lead. Maverick would make a great effort to try and run down Caleb. But there just were not enough laps left in the feature to do so. Caleb Rouser would park his 44 machine in victory lane.
Out next were the Winged 600's. Caleb Padgett and Dustin Bottoms would make up the front row and show the drivers around as we waited to go green. The drivers would get the one to go. They would take a deep breath and tighten them belts down one last time. Caleb would pace the field to the turn 4 starting line. The green would drop. Caleb and Dustin would stay side by side all the way around the first corner and back straight as to show this is going to be a great race. However Wyatt Rector would find himself sitting the wrong way in Turn 1. The yellow would fly. Drivers would get lined back up and try again. This time Dustin bottoms would get a great start. He would be the leader. On lap number 2 Isaiah Garcia would face a sideways Steven Padgett. Isaiah would help him finish out the spin. They would both be sent to the tail. Dustin would still be in the lead. On lap 4 Caleb would get a great run and get around Dustin for the lead. Lap 6 2 cars would come together and Oscar Aguilera would get his nose wing ripped off. Oscar would be sent to the tail. Caleb would still have the lead. We would get the field lined back up again and take the green. A few laps later Steven Padgett and Wyatt Rector would tangle in Turn 1. Steven would flip several times. Driver would be ok. He and Wyatt would be done for the night. Due to retaliation Steven Padgett will serve a one race suspension. Caleb would still have the lead but Dustin Bottoms was on his back bumper all night. The green would drop once again and Dustin would finally find a line that would work and get around Caleb. Dustin would hold the lead for just a few short laps. As the 3rd place car of James McNeil would come alive and get around both Bottoms and Padgett. James would lead the field for the final 2 laps and take it to victory lane. James McNeil, Caleb Padget, John McAfee, and Aaron Barmore were your Top 4 that lock into Sundays A-Main.
Congrats to both winners Caleb Rouser and James McNeil.
The Dragon Fly Aviation Hard Charger award goes to Mike Walling as he passed 11 cars. Starting 18th and Finishing 7th.
We will do it all again today for the second night of the Tommy Wilson Memorial $500 to Win
- Scot Maust on May 28, 2017
- Article Date: 5/28/2017