8/27/2022
RacinBoys
Sweet scores fourth World of Outlaws win of the season
By Jordan Delucia, WOO Sprint Series PR (Grand Forks, ND) -- With its small size and high speeds, it pays to be good in traffic at River Cities Speedway. Brad Sweet shined bright in that department Friday night, and it paid him his fourth victory of the season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Sweet, beginning a push toward a fourth-straight Series championship as the tour enters the final third of the season, bagged his second career victory at the high-banked 1/4-mile oval in convincing fashion, making the pass for the lead on Sheldon Haudenschild in traffic and fending-off all challengers to secure the win.
PHOTO CREDIT: Trent Gower
“That’s kinda what makes it racey here at [River Cities] – the lapped traffic is really tricky, and being so small, you’re in traffic so quick,” Sweet, of Grass Valley, CA, said. “You’ve got to make quick decisions and you’ve got to have a car that maneuvers on different parts of the racetrack.”
Taking the green from third on the starting grid, Sweet wasted zero time in his drive to the lead, getting around outside polesitter Spencer Bayston on Lap 2 and making a beeline for leader Haudenschild.
Haudenschild started his charge through slower traffic strong, making moves quickly and maintaining space between himself and Sweet. That was, until he reached the tail tank of Jade Hastings on Lap 11, who was also running the top side through Turns 3-4. This impeded his path just enough for Sweet to make a dive down low and take the spot away at the exit of Turn 4.
Sweet (49) holding off Gravel (2) on a restart (Trent Gower Photo)
From there on out, it was smooth sailing for Sweet. Inside, outside, it didn’t seem to matter where the lapped cars in front of him were racing – Sweet was passing them with little-to-no hesitation.
“I felt good once I got to lapped traffic,” Sweet said. “You always want to get to those first couple of lapped cars and be able to clear them pretty quick. It makes you feel like you’ve got a little bit of a gap.”
As Sweet’s gap widened, David Gravel was making moves of his own toward the front. With a big head of steam out of Turn 2 and into Turn 3 on Lap 14, Gravel threw a big slide job on Haudenschild to take second, and from there began his trek to Sweet’s rear bumper.
A few caution flags bunched the field back up multiple times over the next 15 laps, giving Gravel and third-running Carson Macedo more opportunities to make a move for the lead from behind.
But neither seemed to have anything for the defending Series champion. Though Gravel and Macedo tried in the final laps, both were unable to catch the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 as Sweet drove away with the $10,000 check.
“On that final run with 11-to-go, I felt like I was able to pace [Sweet], but once I got to that first lapped car, I did not get around him very good and he was able to set sail,” Gravel, of Watertown, CT, said. “I think we had a car capable of winning, just needed a couple little things to go our way.”
Macedo, trailing both Gravel and Sweet in the championship standings, crossed the stripe in third after starting fifth. The run was his third-straight podium finish and 19th of such kind this season, backing-up he and the Jason Johnson Racing team’s momentum swing from a big win last weekend.
“We got to traffic and it would just start to play-out, then a caution would come,” Macedo, of Lemoore, CA, said. “Sometimes, that’s just the way it works.
Macedo, Sweet and Gravel in Victory Lane (Trent Gower Photo)
“I thought the only way we were going to get by [Sweet and Gravel] would have been if they really got to mixing it up in traffic. I was praying for that.”
Sweet’s win now gives him three victories in the last nine World of Outlaws standard points events. It’s coming at a great time to make a push for the points title, especially after the win-shy start to the year they endured.
“It’s been a trying year, no doubt,” Sweet said. “We’re not used to the struggles, but I noticed a lot of teams are having similar struggles. I think everybody’s just searching with their race cars and trying to figure out what’s changing on a nightly basis.”
“With the slow start, we’re a little light in the win column. Obviously, [my] guys deserve to win a lot more.”
UP NEXT
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are back in action Saturday night, August 27, at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, ND. Tickets are available online at WorldofOutlaws.com or at the gate on race day.
If you can’t be at the track in person, watch every lap live with a FAST PASS subscription to DIRTVision.
RESULTS
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[3]; 2. 2-David Gravel[4]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[11]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 7. 83-James McFadden[7]; 8. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[10]; 9. 5T-Ryan Timms[17]; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen[9]; 11. 13-Mark Dobmeier[8]; 12. 14T-Tim Estenson[13]; 13. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[12]; 14. 7S-Robbie Price[14]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser[21]; 16. 11M-Brendan Mullen[18]; 17. 6-Bill Rose[16]; 18. 20G-Noah Gass[19]; 19. 2A-Austin Pierce[20]; 20. 8H-Jade Hastings[22]; 21. 9N-Wade Nygaard[15]; 22. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 23. 20A-Jordan Adams[24]; 24. 0-Nick Omdahl[23]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 11K-Kraig Kinser[2]; 2. 8H-Jade Hastings[10]; 3. 0-Nick Omdahl[1]; 4. 20A-Jordan Adams[3]; 5. 8-Jack Croaker[5]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland[7]; 7. 10-Josh Swangler[4]; 8. 31-Shane Roemeling[12]; 9. 17S-Zach Omdahl[8]; 10. 811-Todd Mickelson[13]; 11. 99-Jordan Graham[11]; 12. 13T-Ty Hanten[9]; 13. 41T-Travis Strandell[6]; 14. 6N-Greg Nikitenko[14]; 15. 14-Tom Egeland[15]
DIRTVision FAST PASS Dash (6 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[3]; 4. 2-David Gravel[4]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 7. 83-James McFadden[7]; 8. 13-Mark Dobmeier[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83-James McFadden[2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen[3]; 4. 14T-Tim Estenson[4]; 5. 5T-Ryan Timms[5]; 6. 20A-Jordan Adams[8]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]; 8. 13T-Ty Hanten[9]; 9. 6N-Greg Nikitenko[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 13-Mark Dobmeier[3]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[4]; 4. 7S-Robbie Price[2]; 5. 11M-Brendan Mullen[5]; 6. 10-Josh Swangler[7]; 7. 41T-Travis Strandell[8]; 8. 8H-Jade Hastings[6]; 9. 811-Todd Mickelson[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 4. 9N-Wade Nygaard[5]; 5. 20G-Noah Gass[4]; 6. 8-Jack Croaker[6]; 7. 26-Blake Egeland[7]; 8. 99-Jordan Graham[8]; 9. 14-Tom Egeland[9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 2. 2-David Gravel[1]; 3. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[3]; 4. 6-Bill Rose[7]; 5. 2A-Austin Pierce[5]; 6. 0-Nick Omdahl[4]; 7. 17S-Zach Omdahl[6]; 8. 31-Shane Roemeling[8]
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:09.885[31]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:09.894[28]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:09.912[6]; 4. 2-David Gravel, 00:09.912[22]; 5. 83-James McFadden, 00:09.929[16]; 6. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:09.992[32]; 7. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:10.021[24]; 8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:10.031[15]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:10.038[18]; 10. 13-Mark Dobmeier, 00:10.051[14]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:10.075[2]; 12. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, 00:10.094[1]; 13. 14T-Tim Estenson, 00:10.107[25]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:10.139[19]; 15. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:10.155[27]; 16. 0-Nick Omdahl, 00:10.195[9]; 17. 5T-Ryan Timms, 00:10.226[8]; 18. 11M-Brendan Mullen, 00:10.245[13]; 19. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 00:10.252[20]; 20. 2A-Austin Pierce, 00:10.254[10]; 21. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 00:10.257[12]; 22. 8H-Jade Hastings, 00:10.268[29]; 23. 8-Jack Croaker, 00:10.291[17]; 24. 17S-Zach Omdahl, 00:10.486[4]; 25. 6N-Greg Nikitenko, 00:10.495[11]; 26. 10-Josh Swangler, 00:10.520[33]; 27. 26-Blake Egeland, 00:10.557[23]; 28. 6-Bill Rose, 00:10.680[5]; 29. 20A-Jordan Adams, 00:10.712[7]; 30. 41T-Travis Strandell, 00:10.906[26]; 31. 99-Jordan Graham, 00:10.911[21]; 32. 31-Shane Roemeling, 00:10.928[30]; 33. 13T-Ty Hanten, 00:11.076; 34. 811-Todd Mickelson, 00:11.076[34]; 35. 14-Tom Egeland, 00:11.076[3]
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WISSOTA LATE MODEL
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben[2]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson[1]; 3. E85-Jason Strand[9]; 4. C4-Ryan Corbett[5]; 5. 70-Jesse Teunis[4]; 6. 21S-John Seng[6]; 7. 17-Lance Schill[18]; 8. 12S-Brad Seng[10]; 9. F9-Brandon Fuller[7]; 10. T1-Tom Corcoran[11]; 11. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[13]; 12. 12F-Greg Friestad[3]; 13. 1M-Nicholas Minske[16]; 14. 97-Dan McNamee[15]; 15. 54-Terry Nelson[17]; 16. 16S-Jeff Hapala[12]; 17. (DNF) 71S-Dustin Strand[8]; 18. (DNF) 2*-Cole Babcock[14]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson[3]; 2. 21S-John Seng[2]; 3. F9-Brandon Fuller[5]; 4. 12S-Brad Seng[1]; 5. 29K-Ryan Kereluk[6]; 6. (DNF) 54-Terry Nelson[4]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. C4-Ryan Corbett[3]; 2. 70-Jesse Teunis[2]; 3. 71S-Dustin Strand[1]; 4. T1-Tom Corcoran[6]; 5. 2*-Cole Babcock[5]; 6. 1M-Nicholas Minske[4]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben[6]; 2. 12F-Greg Friestad[4]; 3. E85-Jason Strand[3]; 4. 16S-Jeff Hapala[2]; 5. 97-Dan McNamee[1]; 6. (DNF) 17-Lance Schill[5]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
