By Darin Short
Petty, TX (07/04/21) Skirting around several of the recent storms in the North Texas area, 82 Speedway in Petty Texas was not only able to get the event in but provide fans with another thrilling feature event that saw the 10th place Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series starter advance his way to emerge as the winner at the ‘Flags & Fireworks 25’ presented by Smiley’s Racing Products, Griffith Truck & Equipment and The Peterson Agencies/Globe Life.
As the night kicked off, a Texas-sized crowd would assemble at Shelley & Tracey Peters 82 Speedway for a night of fireworks, winged outlaw sprint car racing, a massive Toys For Tots drive and to celebrate 4th of July weekend.
Even all the ‘Bandits teams were all properly fed, as series sponsor www.KoolTrikes.com delivered 30 pizzas the teams in competition, which was a pretty awesome way to kick off their evening.
After three G-W-C heat races, the field would be set with Casey Burkham amassing the most points to become high qualifier and the right to start on the pole position of the 25-lapper. Blake Mallory would earn the outside-pole after garnering the most points he ever has in ‘Bandits competition. 22 drivers would take the green flag at the start of the feature event.After the initial start was waved off resulting in the front row being sent back a row, the second start would go yellow in corner two after a wild wheel-banging scramble would result in a car stopping on the racing surface.
On the third attempt at a start, the field would not make it much further after contact on the backstretch would result in Casey Burkham crashing hard into the concrete wall and ending his night.
The next restart would be the one that stuck, as the next 4 laps would click off in a hurry with Dalton Stevens leading the field and through dense lapped traffic. Meanwhile, 6th place starter Claud Estes II, 7th place starter Channin Tankersley and 10th place starter Chase Randall would begin their charge through the field.
On lap 4, the yellow lights would flicker when Steve McMackin would spin off the racing surface at the apex of corners one and two.
McMackin would rejoin the field at the tail when the race would resume, with another 7 laps clicking off in short order with Stevens still in control of the lead and Jeff Day Jr. and Blake Mallory in pursuit. Most teams opted for the high upper ledge of the track as their preferred racing line at that point, when a brief yellow would appear for the slowing car of McMackin.
With 14 laps to go, Stevens would remain the leader with Blake Mallory and Chase Randall up to 3rd place. Randall would take over the 2nd position on the restart with John Ricketts moving up to third after starting in 5th.
As the lead pair of cars would pull away from the field, Randall continued to pull closer and closer to Stevens, when on lap 19 Randall would drop all the way to the bottom of the entry in corner one and make a massive slide job, with Stevens sneaking by, only to have the same thing happen on the next pair of corners. The pair raced each other cleanly and flawlessly throughout the entire event.
It was on lap 20 when Randall would dive low in corner three and make another bold move on the bottom – but this time the pass stuck, and he would cruise to a 5-car length win over Stevens, Ricketts, Tankersley and Mallory.
If the pass would have happened just a few laps later, Randall would have also picked up the $500 KoolTrikes.com ‘Last Lap Pass for the Win’ award money, which rolls on to LoneStar Speedway tonight at 8pm.
We would like to thank sponsors that stepped up and added $2,700 cash into the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series purse – resulting in all drivers from 2nd to 20th taking home added money – and even more money added from that point as the sponsors made up the difference from non-qualifier money, to feature starter money, so it allowed for all 22 teams in the field to start the feature event – which paid $400 just to take the green flag.
We would also like to thank Shawonna Rhoades for orchestrating the Toys For Tots drive at the speedway and a pre-race parade through downtown Paris (with race cars). Those activities definitely helped to create a more festive atmosphere on this Independence Day weekend.
And finally, we would like to thank 82 Speedway for overcoming the soaking rains from earlier in the week and providing teams with an extremely smooth racing surface that did not become a ‘tire eater’ – as no cars dropped out of the event due to an over-worn tire.
NEXT UP: the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series moves about 120 miles SSE of Petty Texas to LoneStar Speedway near Kilgore, Texas TONIGHT, with racing firing off at 8pm! JOIN US if you can, as we return to this fabulous 3/10-mile high-banked oval. The series was rained out last year, so everyone is excited to head back to Lisa and Sam Hafertepe’s speed plant.
Dry weather conditions are forecast with a race time temperature in the mid-80s will greet fans. Click www.LoneStarSpeedway.com for complete track and event information.
LoneStar Speedway is located at 3131 FM 1252 Kilgore, TX 75662, Track Phone on race day is: (903)-986-9731. Specifically, if you are on I-20 (either direction) take Exit 583 and head north to the 4-way stop light (about 1/2 mile). Go east (right) about 1 mile and you will see the track entrance on the south (right) side of the road. The web address is www.LoneStarSpeedway.com or search Facebook by entering: “LoneStar Speedway.” Adult GA to this event is $20, with Seniors/Military $15, Ages 6-11 are $5; while Pit Passes are $35.
Here are your results from Saturday night’s Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series ‘Flags & Fireworks 25’ at 82 Speedway:
Finish Start # Driver Purse
1 10 9 Chase Randall $2,000
2 4 99X Dalton Stevens 1200
3 5 99B John Ricketts 850
4 7 17G Channin Tankersley 700
5 2 B99 Blake Mallory 600
6 6 74E Claud Estes III 500
7 3 3D Jeff Day Jr. 480
8 16 80 Josh Hawkins 460
9 12 91 Michael Day 440
10 19 23 Junior Jenkins 420
11 13 42P Preston Perlmutter 400
12 14 74 Colby Estes 400
13 11 17 Matt Etzelmiller 400
14 18 41M Steve McMackin 400
15 20 72 Daniel Estes 400
16 15 44C Cody Price 400
17 8 13M Chance McCrary 400
18 21 4 Austin Mundie 400
19 22 90M Mark Seiple 400
20 17 33 Michael Merrell 400
21 1 45B Casey Burkham 400
22 9 01J Jeb Sessums 400