5/3/2024
Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series
Sam Seawright collects $10,000 in first-career Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series triumph
ELKINS, N.C. (May 3) — Sam Seawright survived a challenging forecast, a challenging racetrack and challenges from Daulton Wilson and series points leader Brandon Overton to claim his first career Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series victory Friday at Ultimate Motorsports Park. The 20-year-old Fort Payne, Ala., native led the final 23 laps for a $10,000 victory aboard his Troy Baird-backed, Andy Durham-powered Longhorn Chassis, but not before a pair of lengthy delays pushed the tour’s first-ever visit to the 4/10-mile Elkins, N.C., oval late into the night.
After a long break for rain that delayed the program just as the first group of Hunt the Front Series drivers wrapped up time trials and a 25-minute red flag to clean up an 11-car scrum on lap 10, Seawright finally took the checkers ahead of Evans, Ga.’s Overton at 1:20 a.m. Wil Herrington of Hawkinsville, Ga., rallied from 25th to third, while reigning series champion Josh Putnam of Florence, Ala., improved five positions to finish fourth. Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., completed the top five after starting 13th.
Starting from the outside of the front row, Seawright took advantage of a second start on the opening lap to power by Overton, who started alongside from the pole. The two heat race winners couldn’t pull away from fellow heat winner Wilson, who slid by Overton for the runner-up spot on lap three. Wilson, of Fayetteville, N.C., pressured Seawright for the first seven laps before getting by on the outside, only to have the move negated thanks to a caution for Christian Thomas, who looped his car in turn one.
Four laps later, however, Wilson did wrestle the lead away with an inside move exiting turn four. He led the next 13 laps before slowing with mechanical problems on lap 27. With Wilson’s car trailing a plume of smoke as he turned into the infield, Seawright resumed the lead and held on over the final 23 laps for his second victory of the season.
“I hate that for Daulton (Wilson), ya know, he got by me there and I feel like we was as good as him. It was track position, I kinda got beat,” Seawright said. “My crew was down there telling me what to do, but I just wasn’t doing it hard enough. I finally got ‘er going there at the end. We were sitting down there under that red flag and (my crew) was hollering at me saying (there) was were bogies all over ya. I didn’t know what to do. I was just giving it all I had every lap and it worked out.”
Seawright finished 2.731 seconds ahead of Overton, who had slipped from second to fifth by the halfway mark. The tour’s points leader was back in third by lap 28 and retook the runner-up spot with two laps remaining when second-running Benji Hicks of Mount Airy, N.C., suddenly slowed.
The race was slowed on lap 10 when Scott Bloomquist and Cla Knight made contact as they raced onto the frontstretch, triggering a multi-car melee that also collected Chris Ferguson, Ashton Winger, Jamison McBride, Zack Mitchell, Caleb Fulp, Jeff Smith, Trey Mills and Jackson Hise.
Six of those involved, including Bloomquist and Ferguson, whose cars were heavily damaged, were finished, while four others made a few more laps before calling it a night. Knight was the last of the drivers involved to park, doing so after completing 16 laps.
With the series’ scheduled stop at Lancaster (S.C.) Motor Speedway rained out, the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series now heads to Meridian, Miss., for a May 17-18 doubleheader at Whynot Motorsports Park. The Friday opener pays $5,000-to-win, while the weekend finale will pay $15,000-to-win.
Article Credit: Robert Holman | ZSK Photography
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