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Brent
Nelson Rebounds for July Jennerstown SCSCS Sweep
Jennerstown,
Pennsylvania (July 9, 2017) – Brent Nelson entered the 2017
Super Cup Stock Car Series season poised to improve one more
position from his 2016 runner-up championship effort.
Unfortunately, that quest derailed right off the bat at
Midvale Speedway due to a mechanical failure early in the first Twin
50 at the Ohio track.
The Petersburg,
West Virginia driver would not let the dismal results get his team
down as they rallied back to claim the pole award and both victories
in Saturday’s American Racer “Night at the Races” presented by
United Tire at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in Pennsylvania.
The
first 50-lap event was a flag-to-flag fourth career victory for
Nelson, but involved numerous restarts after on track altercations
bunched the field. The
scariest accident of the evening involved Midvale winner Trent
Gossar and veteran racer Mike Potter.
Gossar lost the steering to his car entering turn one sending
the Potter machine outside of him into the outside wall with an
incredible impact that caught some air.
Thankfully, both drivers were okay despite their demolished
stock cars.
Nelson easily
gained the lead from the start navigating by most recent race winner
Stephen Cox, whose night was cut short only seven laps in after his
motor let go. Nelson
later cruised to the checkered flag in the closing laps followed by
Jim Crabtree Jr. with his third consecutive second place finish and
Kevin Kromer rounding out the podium.
During the second
Twin 50, Nelson’s competitors would not make it easy on him to
advance to the front. After
redrawing the fourth starting position, the No. 80 Airtek Inc. /
Precision Auto Collision / Berg Construction Chevrolet maneuvered to
second, but was thwarted during a number of attempts to get around
Brian Harrison, who continues to search for his first career SCSCS
victory.
“The
second one I really had to work my butt off,” Nelson commented.
“Brian ran a heck of a race and I had to wait for him to
make a mistake. When he
did I had to jump in and capitalize.”
That moment came
with 10 laps to go when Nelson dove under Harrison on the
backstretch and had the top spot coming back to the line.
The next time around, Crabtree and Harrison got together
battling hard for the second position.
From there, Nelson
held off Kevin Kromer and Freeport, New York SCSCS first-timer Ron
Langdon to sweep the night.
It was definitely a
turn in the right direction for Nelson, who has now won at four
different SCSCS tracks. Despite
the flag-to-flag effort in the first race, he knew there were
changes to be made in preparation for later in the evening.
“It
was fun and, hey, we’ve got two in a row,” Nelson remarked.
“This is a huge rebound for us.
We made the right changes and had to loosen the car up.
The car was tight in the first race and I knew as the night
went on it was going to get colder.
All I can say is we made the lucky guess and it was right.”
Crabtree recovered
to a fourth place finish in his No. 63 Jim's Automotive / Judy's
Apartments Chevrolet, which gives the Muncie, Indiana driver a
comfortable point lead heading into the next event.
“First race the
car was real tight,” Crabtree explained.
“We did free it up a little bit, but then we freed it up
too much off. If we
wouldn’t have had that little altercation there with Brian near
the end of the race I think we maybe could have gotten another
second or maybe could have snuck in there and won.”
After a couple
disappointing seasons, Kevin Kromer has fortune changing back toward
his side. At times, it
appeared the No. 77 Nobody Fights Alone / Racing for a Cure
Chevrolet had the fastest car on the 1/2-mile surface, but a charge
from 14th starting position in Twin 50 No. 1 used some of the car up
which was still not entirely to his liking.
Nevertheless, the Walnutport, Pennsylvania driver was pleased
and leaves Jennerstown with possession of second place in the
standings and momentum when the series comes back in late August to
decide the 10th Anniversary champion.
“Brent
was rotating real good through the center of the corner, but this is
the best run I’ve ever had here,” Kromer indicated.
“I tried a new setup and worked with a couple guys –
(2014 champion) JJ Pack, (2015 champion) Dan Bainey, (2013 champion
crew chief) Keith Wolfe. All
those guys helped me the past two or three weeks and we put
something totally different in that I never ever drove before and I
sort of like it, but it needs a little tweaking.”
Next up for the
Super Cup Stock Car Series will be a rescheduled 50-lap event at
Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee on Friday, August 4.
The day after, the teams will cross less than an hour into
Virginia for the regularly scheduled Lonesome Pine Raceway event on
Saturday, August 5. Both
races will kick off the start of the Southern Division championship
in addition to the continued search for an overall series champion.
American Racer
“Night at the Races” presented by United Tire will air at a
future date on MAVTV and LucasOilRacing.TV.
Please visit the
official web site at www.supercupstockcarseries.com,
the Super Cup Stock Car Series Facebook
or Twitter for more
information on the 10th Anniversary season.
Click
here for Results...
Click
here for Current Points...
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