By Kaleb Hart
12 drivers took their XXX chassis to victory this past weekend, highlighted by Brian Montieth’s second win at Williams Grove. Other race winners included Sean McClelland in Missouri, Robert Ballou at Eldora, Chuck Hebing in New York, and Rob Eyler in Western PA. Also hitting victory lane was Jonathan Beason, Jeff Wignall, Justin Sturch, Seth Hespe, Kyle Miller, Danny Smith and Bob Martin.
Starting deep in the field has not been a deterrent for Brian Montieth. After picking up his first Williams Grove win starting in the 17th position, Montieth again parlayed a double digit starting position into a race win. Coming this time from 10th, Montieth put himself into position to challenge for the lead late race. After executing a daring three wide pass, Montieth secured the point then powered his way to victory, opening up a full second advantage over second place on the final circuit. The win is the fourth of the year for Brian and the Premier Auto Works team.
For a guy who’d never run Jesse Hockett’s XX Speedway in Missouri before, Sean McClelland sure found his way around the track in a hurry. After winning his heat race, McClelland wasted no time in getting to the front. After starting 6th, McClelland ascended to 2nd place after the first set of turns and was into the lead for good by the conclusion of the second lap on his way to victory lane on Sunday night, aboard his XXX chassis.
Robert Ballou currently sits atop the leader board for Team XXX wins in 2010, and he added another tally to his already impressive resume this past Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. Ballou won his eighth feature of the year in his MPHG Promotions #81 XXX, and second of the year at Eldora. It was a XXX 1-2 finish, as Robert held off hard charging Matt Westfall in the closing laps.
It was back to school time for the drivers of the ASCS Patriot region, as Chuck “Cobra” Hebing taught them a lesson in speed Saturday night at Woodhull Raceway in New York. While running almost every lap of the main under the current track record, Hebing took his Roush Yates powered XXX to victory lane while lapping all the way up to 5th place in the first of two mains. Hebing was in contention to take the second main as well when late race contact stopped his run.
Despite running a limited schedule in 2010 due to budgetary concerns, Rob Eyler came away with a popular victory on Sunday night at Tri City Speedway in Franklin, PA. Cast as the hometown hero, Eyler charged out to an early lead before falling to second on the 8th lap. Rob wasn’t about to give up, as he surged forward and back into the lead on lap 10, then stretched his advantage in traffic to take the win, his first victory in only five starts on the year.
Jonathan Beason took top honors this past Saturday night at Creek County Speedway in Oklahoma. Beason by all accounts was super fast, as he picked his way through to second by lap 12 and took the lead for good on lap 15, finding nary a challenge the rest of the way.
Jeff Wignall has been towing a very long way for a very long time to race with the Black Hills Mini Sprint Tour. All the long hours and long miles paid off on Saturday night, as Wignall took his Honda powered XXX 600 mini sprint to victory lane in Sturgis, SD at Broken Spoke Speedway, dominating the race for his first win with the tour. Congratulations from all of us at XXX Jeff!
With his very pregnant wife joining him in victory lane, Justin Sturch won his second main event of the year, as he won at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, AR. Sturch, the defending I-30 champion, took the lead from fellow Team XXX driver Cody Gardner on a lap 23 restart and zoomed the rest of the way to victory. Justin and his wife are currently in the hospital delivering their second child! Congratulations on what promises to be a special week Justin!
Seth Hespe put the Brownfield family back in victory lane for the first time in over a decade at Skagit Speedway, as Seth led all 20 laps of the Ford Focus Midget A Feature. Driving the Skagit Speedway sponsored #92 XXX, Hespe was perfect in clicking off consistent, fast laps around the high groove.
Kyle Miller and Gary Davis have been putting XXX chassis on the podium for the better part of the last four years down in Oregon, and on Saturday night’s non-wing feature, the helped Team XXX dominate the field. Miller was the main event winner at Cottage Grove Speedway, by a margin of almost six seconds over Davis, who himself enjoyed a three and a half second advantage over the third place car.
Bob Martin outclassed the field Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND for his second feature win of the year. After going 5th to first in his heat race, Martin replicated the feat by going 5th to first in the A Feature, his second victory of the year in his XXX chassis.
Oklahoma’s version of Danny Smith scored a victory with the OCRS series on Friday night at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas. Piloting his familiar orange and white #5$ XXX, Smith hung on over the final laps to take the victory, despite only having 4 lbs of air pressure remaining in the right rear tire.
The feature win list is getting awfully long at www.xxxraceco.com. Your chance to add to the list is only a phone call away at 866.632.9925. Triple X Race Co – Race Inspired. Race Proven. Race XXX and Save!