GIBSONTON, Fla. (Jan. 27) — Saturday night’s Rogers-Dabbs Performance Parts Crate Racin’ USA Winter Shootout Series finale at East Bay Raceway Park wasn’t necessarily a slugfest. It was more like competitive ballet. It was definitely a battle, but the two main combatants—Kyle Hardy and Ashton Winger—never touched.
Despite repeatedly firing sliders at each other through much of the 50-lap main event, they each did so with such deft ability that rather than look like a pair of bloodied boxers going 15 rounds in the ring, they were as pristine as a pair of principal dancers going toe to toe on a stage. Yes, it was that kind of night at the historic third-mile oval just south of Tampa.
Taking the lead for good on lap 44, Hardy, of Stephens City, Va., led the final seven laps after a back-and-fourth battle with Winger to win the final Florida Winternationals race of the season on the miniseries. Winger, the Hampton, Ga., driver who led four times for 21 laps, settled for second while seeing his personal five-race win streak in Crate Late Models at the quirky Tampa Bay-area track snapped.
“I ain’t ever drove a Crate car so hard in my life,” said Hardy. “Ashton Winger’s a dog … such a wheelman. He raced me really clean. I just can’t say enough about this car. I’m sure everybody back home was thinking we were down and out running third with I think less than 10 (laps) to go …I was counting myself out. I was willing to pile it into the fence to be able to win it. I just pulled my belts tighter one last time, and just gave it all she had.”
All she had was just enough as Hardy held Winger off by 0.338 seconds for a $5,000 payday. After taking a provisional to join the starting field, Richie Stephens of Phenix City, Ala., made a stirring rally from 25th to finish third. Will Roland of Jasper, Ga., started 13th and gained nine positions to finish fourth, while also regaining the miniseries points lead, and Zack Carley of Freedom, N.Y., completed the top five after starting 11th.
When Hardy and Winger battled side by side on lap 11 before Hardy officially grabbed the lead two laps later, Hardy suspected he was in for a tough night. Then Winger drove back by him on lap 20 and he was certain of it. On lap 30, Hardy led by only seven one-thousandths of a second as traffic began to come into play. Then Winger surged ahead again on lap 35.
“I got really tight there with like 15 [laps] to go,” said Hardy. “I was really upset because I seen Ashton was a little tight before me. I thought I was gonna be okay, and we started to get a little tight. I had to change my driving style, and I thought we were doomed. That’s just why you never give up. Wow. Awesome race car tonight. Just can’t say enough about Ashton Winger racing me clean. Every time he slid me, I was trying to figure out which way to go on the track. I guess I chose the right spots, because when I would slide him I would choose where to go, and I wouldn’t see his nose.”
Winger thought about what he could have possibly done to change the outcome, but had little answer.
“I know we went different on tire, and it was pretty obvious for five to seven laps,” Winger said. “He could just fire off better than me and I’m pretty sure it was because of tire choice. Whenever I’d fire off, I couldn’t really get going and I’d get tight and I couldn’t really enter up by the wall like I needed to in [turn] three to start like the first few laps. I’d have to enter about a car length off of it and then I’d push all the way across the racetrack and end up where I didn’t need to be without any momentum built up. He just did a little better job than I did.
“My car was good. It definitely got better the longer we went. I just couldn’t really get going, and I probably didn’t do the best job of driving when I realized my front tires weren’t working like I needed them to. I felt like I kinda ran back to him there at the end and then he just did a pretty good job of blocking my air where I couldn’t enter in the corner like I needed to … as hard as I needed to to stay propped (in the air). I thought I had a shot at him with two (laps) to go, and I just went down there and hit that hole wrong. I probably should have tried to slide him, but heck I slid him 10 times and he slid me 10 times. It was just a good race, man. He just did a little better job than me.”
Little did either of the frontrunners realize how close Stephens was to stealing the lead away in the closing laps. Rallying from the tail of the field, Stephens marched forward until he found himself within the shadows of Hardy and Winger with just three laps remaining. But just as he was about to enter the fray, his car shot up the track in turn one and he lost the leaders.
“I got to rolling on that top there with about five [laps] to go and I picked up the pace as hard as I could, and I run them down,” said Stephens. “They were racing really hard up front and I felt like I had a chance to get by them both. I run to (Winger) and I lost the nose. I made a dumb mistake and got in under him and lost the nose, and about fenced this thing over in [turns] one and two. I gathered it back up and fell back to fourth and made it to third on the last lap. I want to thank Will Roland. He raced me one of the cleanest races I’ve raced in a long time.”
Florida Winternationals: 1. Kyle Hardy, 50 laps; 2. Ashton Winger, 50; 3. Richie Stephens, 50; 4. Will Roland, 50; 5. Zack Carley, 50; 6. Tyler Millwood, 50; 7. Tucker Anderson, 50; 8. Nick Davis, 50; 9. Jeremy Wonderling, 50; 10. Doug Horton, 50; 11. Bryson Mitchell, 50; 12. Steve Mathis Jr., 50; 13. Mario Gresham, 50; 14. Andy Nezworski, 50; 15. Baily Cardwell, 50; 16. Corey Neil Jr., 50; 17. John Winge, 49; 18. Kurt Stebbins, 49; 19. Jason Welshan, 44; 20. Daniel Woody, 43; 21. Colton Leyendecker, 39; 22. Freddie Carpenter, 39; 23. Anthony White, 28; 24. Nevin Gainey, 21; 25. Brent Trimble, 20; 26. Matt Henderson, 7; 27. Anthony White Jr., 5; 28. Matt Dooley, 1.
Entries: 91
Fast qualifier: Anthony White Jr., 15.933 seconds (during Friday’s prelims)
Lead changes: Seven among two drivers.
Lap leaders: Ashton Winger 1-12, Kyle Hardy 13-19, Ashton Winger 20, Kyle Hardy 21-34, Ashton Winger 35-40, Kyle Hardy 41, Ashton Winger 42-43, Kyle Hardy 44-50.
Cautions: 5
B-main winners: Jason Welshan, Bryson Mitchell, Zack Carley, Nevin Gainey, Will Roland, Baily Cardwell, Freddie Carpenter, Anthony White.
Thursday’s qualifying feature winners: Kyle Hardy, Ashton Winger, Tucker Anderson, Nick Davis.
Friday’s qualifying feature winners: Tucker Anderson, Mario Gresham, Kyle Hardy, Ashton Winger.