7/17/2020
RacinBoys
Robinson Steals Summer Nationals win at Spoon River
By Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar PR (Lewistown, IL) -- Pulling into the Spoon River Speedway Thursday afternoon, Kent Robinson had never turned a single lap around the high-banked 3/8-mile. By the time he pulled out of his parking space eight hours later, a big $5,000 DIRTcar Summer Nationals winner’s check was heading out with him.
PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan Bauman
Robinson brought the fans to their feet with a dramatic ending to his third career Summer Nationals Late Model win – a last-lap pass on defending tour champion Brian Shirley in Turn 2 after chasing him down from his ninth-place starting spot.
Shirley, of Chatham, IL, had led from the drop of the green with three-time tour champion Bobby Pierce hot on his tail, but once Pierce gave up his podium spot after falling off the pace just shy of halfway, the door opened for Robinson to stake his claim with the leaders.
Tyler Erb and Tyler Carpenter were locked in a battle of their own for the runner-up spot when Robinson got to them, and he wasted no time diving in. Using his preferred bottom lane, K-Rob got a great run to Erb’s inside, grabbed the spot down the backstretch and started his pursuit of Shirley.
Lap-by-lap, Robinson reeled in defending race winner Shirley and pulled almost even with him off Turn 4 as they took the white flag. Shirley moved down and drove hard into Turn 1 in an attempt to seal the bottom lane off from Robinson’s taking, but he had too much speed. Shirley slipped up and Robinson went by underneath out of Turn 2, making slight contact as he drove by.
Shirley tried to rebound in Turns 3-4 but it was not enough to get around Robinson’s #7 MB Customs Race Car. The Bloomington, IN-driver had pulled the rabbit out of his hat and stunned the crowd with excitement.
“I didn’t want to get into Brian like that,” Robinson told Summer Nationals Announcer Ruben Mireles in Victory Lane. “But once I had a door on him, I couldn’t lift. He was on my door, and we both would have gotten passed. I’ll apologize to him, but I’m pretty happy.”
Shirley hung on for second while Summer Nationals rookie Tyler Carpenter scored his best career finish on the Hell Tour in third. Billy Drake came from 12th to finish fourth while Tyler Erb hung on to complete the top-five. Pierce rebounded from his pit visit earlier in the race to come back and finish 10th.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals action continues Friday night with a $10,000-to-win show at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL. Catch all the action LIVE on DIRTVision with your Fast Pass subscription!
Feature (40 Laps) 1. 7R-Kent Robinson [9]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley [2]; 3. 28-Tyler Carpenter [5]; 4. 75-Billy Drake [12]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb [3]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast [19]; 7. 9-Devin Moran [16]; 8. 1ST-Johnny Scott [17]; 9. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [18]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce [1]; 11. O-Rick Eckert [13]; 12. 33M-Tim Manville [14]; 13. 4G-Bob Gardner [22]; 14. 15-Kolby Vandenbergh [11]; 15. 32S-Chris Simpson [10]; 16. 25-Jason Feger [8]; 17. 48-Tim Lance [20]; 18. 40B-Kyle Bronson [4]; 19. 18-Shannon Babb [6]; 20. 2S-Stormy Scott [7]; 21. 25W-Allen Weisser [15]; 22. 14B-Britan Godsey [23]; 23. 24-Ryan Unzicker [21] Hard Charger: 99JR-Frank Heckenast[+13]
Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds
Shakespeare & Co. have done it again. Will Krup cooked the field Thursday night at the Spoon River Speedway, leading all 25 laps of the Feature for a big $1,500 check and the second DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals victory of his career over Nick Hoffman and Josh Harris.
Simply put, Krup grabbed the lead on Lap 1 and flat-out never looked back. And it showed, as the JHA Motorsports #19 was never seriously challenged for the lead through 25 laps.
A bit further back in the field, two-time and defending champion Nick Hoffman started his long journey to the front of the field right away, advancing three positions on the opening lap to get his Hard Charger-winning run started.
Hoffman really started pushing the envelope in the closing laps, threading the needle in between Kenny Wallace and Josh Harris with four laps remaining to take third, and eventually second after winding it up on the outside of the track to get by Harris.
Krup and Hoffman crossed the finish line over 2.7 seconds apart – displaying the size of the lead Krup had built to that point. In Victory Lane, Krup was proud of the work he and his team had done recently to make the car better and will be preparing for Friday’s race at Farmer City Raceway.
Points leader coming into the weekend, 15-year-old Hunt Gossum, did not have the night be was looking for, as he suffered mechanical failures in the Last Chance Showdown, putting an end to his night. Meanwhile, 2012 tour champion Kenny Wallace stayed smooth through 25 laps and earned himself the best finish with the Summit Modifieds in 2020 – a fourth-place effort.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals action continues Friday night with a $1,500-to-win show at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL. Catch all the action LIVE on DIRTVision with your Fast Pass subscription!
Feature (25 Laps) 1. K19-Will Krup [1]; 2. 7-Nick Hoffman [14]; 3. 22-Josh Harris [2]; 4. 36-Kenny Wallace [4]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser [7]; 6. 292-Josh Allen [5]; 7. 77-Ray Bollinger [13]; 8. 80-Rich Dawson [12]; 9. 3L-Jeff Leka [17]; 10. T6-Tommy Sheppard [16]; 11. 3-Mike Brooks [21]; 12. 24-Zeke McKenzie [19]; 13. 64-Dawson Cook [18]; 14. 28B-Lucas Pace [23]; 15. 18L-Michael Long [9]; 16. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt [11]; 17. 31-Mark Anderson [8]; 18. 96M-Mike McKinney [3]; 19. 59R-Jacob Rexing [6]; 20. 35-David Stremme [20]; 21. 48-Casey Lappin [15]; 22. 22B-Ryan Blakeman [22]; 23. 45-Kyle Hammer [10] Hard Charger: 7-Nick Hoffman[+12]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
