Photo by 357Studios
MARION Ill. (July 24, 2020) Night one of the 8th Annual Highbanks Hustle at Southern Illinois Raceway was awesome. Multiple grooves of racing were in effect throughout the night, but at the end of round one Alex Bright shined the brightest standing in victory lane.
Bright started his night off right by gaining five spots to win his heat and then he won his qualifier race. After two good races Bright started on the outside of row one for the feature with Scott Sawyer on the pole. Bright wasted no time taking the lead. Heading into turns one and two on lap 1 he went to the cushion and pulled a slingshot move around Sawyer.
Sawyer was not going to give up the precious lead easily throwing a slide job in turns three and four. This caused Bright to pull a cross over move which proceeded to be successful as he was neck and neck with Sawyer at the stripe. Bright went low into turn one starting to pull away from Sawyer.
Brian Carber, who finished second, challenged Bright multiple times but was never able to get around him. Bright would stay strong and go onto win night one. Bright is no stranger to running up front at the Highbanks Hustle, last year he ran second to Kameron Key on both nights of competition. Could this be the year for Alex Bright? We will just have to find out tonight!
Frank Galusha, a former winner of the Highbanks Hustle, started 17th and had worked his was up to 6th, battling Dylan Kadous for the last transfer spot into tomorrow nights big money race. Unfortanetly for Galusha, he had a left rear go flat with just a few laps left, his crew could not get it replaced in time causing him to lose a chance at a transfer spot and to not finish the race.
The biggest mover of the feature was 12-year-old, Gavan Boschele, he gained eleven spots throughout the feature. Boschele started last in 24th and ended up 13th.
The top six drivers from last nights A-Main automatically transefred to tonights $12,000 race. Those drivers are Alex Bright, Brian Carber, Nathan Benson, Harley Hollan, Frank Flud, and Dylan Kadous. Those who did not transfer will line it up and do it again tonight! Hot laps start at 6 P.M., your not going to want to miss it as the nations best Wing Outlaw Micro drivers try and master the highbanks at Southern Illinois Raceway!
-Lucas Halbert
Heat Winners: 1. Nathan Benson, 2. Logan Null, 3. Russ Disinger, 4. Scott Sawyer, 5. Alex Bright, 6. Trevin Littleton, 7. Christopher Townsend, 8. Chase Cabre, 9. Andrew Peters, 10. Trey Robb, 11. Dylan Kadous, 12. Chris Cobin
Feature Results (30 Laps): 1. (20) Alex Bright [2], 2. (41C) Brian Carber [3], 3. (2B) Nathan Benson [4], 4. (14H) Harley Hollan [5], 5. (81) Frank Flud [11], 6. (21L) Dyaln Kadous [7], 7. (51B) Joe B Miller [12], 8. (39) Russ Disinger [10], 9. (12T) Trey Robb [15], 10. (2J) Jaxon Bishop [14], 11. (11) Laydon Pearson [21], 12. (29) Scott Sawyer [1], 13. (5) Gavan Boschele [24], 14. (8B) Mickey Bullock [20], 15. (6C) Christopher Townsend [8], 16. (R7) Brendan Bright [22], 17. (12) Frank Galusha [17]-DNF, 18. (2) Chase Cabre [18]-DNF, 19. (47) Craig Ronk [9]-DNF, 20. (23T) Trey Marcham [13]-DNF, 21. (12C) Cody Christensen [6]-DNF, 22. (47R) Tyler Rennison [16]-DNF, 23. (0) Connor Wolf [19]-DNF, 24. (7G) George Hertter [23]-DNF