Trey Bright was running on a quarter tank of sleep Saturday when he arrived at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
Bright, who won the Street Stocks feature at Columbus Motor Speedway on March 27, blew a motor for the second time in a month while turning laps Friday at Magnolia. After borrowing an engine and spending most of Saturday morning preparing his No. 82 car for that night’s $2,000-to-win feature race, Bright turned down for a couple of hours before returning to the track.
Bright eventually left Magnolia with money to put toward another motor, winning the $2,000 Golden Egg Classic Street Stocks feature. Bright was fortunate enough, too, to race in the $1,000 feature race originally slated for Friday. That race, in which he finished third, was bumped to Saturday’s slate.
“It came through and worked out for us,” Bright said of the borrowed motor.
Bright started third, trading places for second with Richie Stephens as Brooks Strength, who won the $1,000 feature earlier in the night, built an eight-car length lead on the field.
But after Blaine Davis spun out and the yellow was thrown on lap 17, Bright, who was third on the restart, began his charge to the front. He passed Stephens on lap 21, and changed his strategy to mow down Strength. Bright avoided the deep ruts on the low side of the track, particularly in turn four, to pass Stephens and Strength on the outside. After a strong run off the higher line in turn four, Bright passed Strength on the home stretch on lap 25 of the 30-lap race.
“When Rocket Man (Stephens) got by me, I knew there was no way to pass him on the bottom,” Bright said. “I passed him the same way he’d passed him. I got to thinking about it, ‘I got to ride in there one car above him.’ I rode it in there and it stuck, so I just started to cut a groove in the track, and it paid off.
“The guys I was racing with, Rocket Man and Brooks, they can handle their cars pretty good and usually won’t run into you intentionally. They’ll race you clean, so even though it was tough holding them off, I didn’t have to worry about them wrecking me.”
Strength and Stephens finished second and third, respectively.
Bright said the ruts in track were “extreme” and tough to navigate.
“You really didn’t know what the car was gonna do when you ran across it at times,” Bright said. “You just had to hope for the best.”
Ashley Newman sweeps NeSmith races
Justin McCree was the only driver to break 14 seconds in NeSmith Late Model qualifying for Saturday’s feature race, earning the pole for the $1,000 race.
And for the first 19 laps of the 25-lap feature, all signs pointed toward McCree winning the race. He’d built up a seven car-length lead by the fourth lap and began navigating lap traffic by lap seven.
But Ashley Newman, who started fifth and moved to second on Lap 6, started to close the gap with McCree, eventually reaching McCree’s bumper by lap 18.
With just five laps to go, McCree and Newman entered turn three side by side, with Newman holding the inside groove. The two tangled off turn four before McCree spun out and collided with another car. Newman went on to win the race, while McCree didn’t finish.
Newman pocketed $1,800 for winning both Late Model races.
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