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WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (Nov. 10, 2020) – Victory tasted sweet last Saturday evening for Derek Hagar, who capped the 12 th annual USCS Flip Flop 50 and USCS Fall Nationals by charging from ninth to score his ninth win of the season.
The two-day event at Riverside International Speedway began on Friday with Hagar maneuvering from ninth to sixth place in a heat race.
“We started Friday with what’d normally be a good pill draw,” he said. “We started last and we always look forward to getting good passing points. Unfortunately we were in the first heat and the track was greasy with no passing. We only picked up three spots, which didn’t put us into the pole scramble or the main event.”
Hagar was relegated to the second B Main to open Saturday’s action. He won the consolation race to garner the 16th starting position in the first of twin A Mains.
“Everybody was ripping the top,” he said. “It was kind of slow everywhere else so everybody was married to the top. That was the dominant line for the first feature. We made the best of it and got up to sixth.”
The rally from 16th to sixth marked Hagar’s 19th top 10 of the season. It was the second-most positions gained. The second main event inversion lined Hagar up on the inside of the fifth row.
“We made quick work and got up to third fairly quick,” he said. “The top two were sliding each other. I was able to get a run on both and slide both going into turn three. We held onto it for the remainder of the race.”
Hagar took the lead approximately one quarter of the way through the main event and pulled away to win by half a lap. He also lapped up to seventh place.
“We had a really, really good car,” he said. “I planned on running the middle. Once I got to the top the car felt really good. I could carry speed from the center off where we were lacking that in the first feature. When we got into traffic I could time it perfect and not get held up by cars. I’ve won the first feature during the Flip Flop 50 three or four times, but had never won the second feature so that was neat.”
Hagar has added one last event on his 2020 schedule as he plans to race this Friday and Saturday at Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., with the USCS Series.
“I think we’ve ran more laps in a non-wing car than anything there,” he said. “I don’t even know if we’ve run a winged car there. I’ve been there to help a couple of guys before. We’ll take what I’ve learned from helping people and try to finish the year strong.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 6 – Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. – Heat race: 6 (9).
Nov. 7 – Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. – B Main: 1 (1); Feature #1: 6 (16); Feature #2: 1 (9).
SEASON STATS –
23 races, 9 wins, 16 top fives, 20 top 10s, 20 top 15s, 23 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., with the USCS Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.DerekHagarRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HagarDerek
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Hedger Brothers Ready Mix
“These guys are awesome people,” Hagar said. “My dad does contracting so he deals with them a bunch for concrete. They’re just race fans who love the sport and wanted to help us out. It takes people like that to keep this sport going and we really can’t thank them enough.”
Hagar would like to thank B&D Towing and Recovery, Dynotech Performance, J&J Auto Racing, Summit Truck Group, FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, Killer Coatings, Petra Construction, Administrative Consulting Services, Xtreme Race Graphics, Southern Collision Centre, Jeff’s Heating and Cooling, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Weld Wheels, DHR Suspension, Hinchman Racewear, Wix Filters, Wings Unlimited, Valvoline and Ti64 for their continued support.