SALISBURY, N.C. – Brent Crews became the first driver in Millbridge Speedway history to win in five major divisions on Thursday night with a wire-to-wire victory in his No. 1 winged 600cc micro sprint.
Crews, who took the lead off the initial start from the pole, never looked back despite heavy pressure from Mike Carber in traffic just past the mid-way point of the 30-lapper.
Once a caution flag waved with six laps left, Crews appeared to be home free in open track, but a final yellow after the white flag for the slowing kart of Carson Kvapil set up a quick one-lap dash to the finish.
Crews never faltered, however, darting away from Carber once the green and white flags waved and came back around to collect the victory by .326 seconds.
“Thank goodness for power steering, because that was a long 30 laps,” Crews said in victory lane. “I’ve put a lot of time into testing this micro and have been working hard on my starts and restarts. They had (a last lap pass) in the Open race, but I felt like I had it covered as long as I hit my marks.
“It’s a great feeling to win in the micro and to win in everything here … we did it once before but we’re back in that category now and it feels really good.”
Behind Crews and Carber, Steven Snyder Jr., Max McLaughlin and Sam Corry completed the top five.
Christopher Bell, who set fast time in qualifying with a No. 21 micro dressed in the same colors as his sprint car, had to rally from last in the B-main after a mechanical problem at the start of his heat race.
Bell came from last in the B-main to win it, then had charged from 13th to fifth and was looking for fourth at lap 25 when Snyder got crossed up in front of him on the backstretch, forcing Bell to spin to avoid running into the back of the slowing No. 21s.
Despite having to fall to the rear of the field, Bell still came back to finish eighth over the final six laps.
An impressive turnout of 26 winged 600cc micro sprints was in attendance at the sixth-mile dirt oval on Thursday night, continuing the momentum for the class from last year’s TRD Micro Showdown event.
Thursday’s race was the first for the micros during the 2020 season at Millbridge. They did not compete during opening night back in March, prior to the stoppage in racing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social distancing was observed at the race track by fans, drivers and teams, with several rows of grandstands cordoned off to allow for space between spectators and gaps between haulers in the pits.
Millbridge Speedway returns to action on Tuesday, May 19 with a program for the Beginner Box Stock and Box Stock classes, followed by the Intermediates, Opens and micros on Thursday, May 21.
RESULTS: Millbridge Speedway; Wednesday Series Week Two; May 14, 2020
Winged 600cc Micro Qualifying (best of two laps): 1. #21 – Christopher Bell, 9.7319; 2. #11 – Mike Thompson, 9.9194; 3. #9c – Mike Carber, 9.9361; 4. #1 – Brent Crews, 9.9973; 5. #17m – Christian Bruno, 9.9894; 6. #163k – Carson Kvapil, 10.0504; 7. #45 – Eli Adams, 10.0533; 8. #17z – Max McLaughlin, 10.0625; 9. #163 – Jeremy Harshman, 10.0828; 10. #21s – Steven Snyder Jr., 10.0898; 11. #63jr – John Nicholson Jr., 10.1345; 12. #16 – Matt Francis, 10.1361; 13. #55 – Trevor Cline, 10.1813; 14. #14c – Sam Corry, 10.2254; 15. #95 – Nick Fauci, 10.2398; 16. #42 – Austin Barnhill, 10.2733; 17. #81 – Tyler Walker, 10.2751; 18. #62 – DJ Shuman, 10.2753; 19. #5 – Gavan Boschele, 10.3037; 20. #14 – Ethan Burdett, 10.4013; 21. #10m – Preston Lattomus, 10.4815; 22. #33 – Joey Robinson, 10.5923; 23. #04 – Brett Carruth, 10.6725; 24. #21m – Hunter McFadden, 10.9268; 25. #17 – Jeremiah Simonis, 11.7427; 26. #42n – Tim Nye, NT.
Winged 600cc Micro Heat #1 (8 laps, top three transfer): 1. Brent Crews [3], 2. Trevor Cline [1], 3. Tyler Walker [5] / 4. Preston Lattomus [6], 5. Jeremiah Simonis [7], 6. Christopher Bell [4], 7. Jeremy Harshman [2].
Winged 600cc Micro Heat #2 (8 laps, top three transfer): 1. Steven Snyder Jr. [2], 2. Sam Corry [1], 3. Carson Kvapil [3] / 4. Mike Thompson [4], 5. Joey Robinson [6], 6. DJ Shuman [5], 7. Tim Nye (DNS).
Winged 600cc Micro Heat #3 (8 laps, top three transfer): 1. Mike Carber [4], 2. John Nicholson Jr. [2], 3. Nick Fauci [1] / 4. Eli Adams [3], 5. Gavan Boschele [5], 6. Brett Carruth [6].
Winged 600cc Micro Heat #4 (8 laps, top three transfer): 1. Max McLaughlin [3], 2. Christian Bruno [4], 3. Matt Francis [2] / 4. Hunter McFadden [6], 5. Austin Barnhill [1], 6. Ethan Burdett [5].
Winged 600cc Micro B-Main (15 laps, top four transfer): 1. Christopher Bell [7], 2. Gavan Boschele [5], 3. Mike Thompson [2], 4. Eli Adams [3] / 5. Joey Robinson [6], 6. Preston Lattomus [1], 7. DJ Shuman [8], 8. Hunter McFadden [4], 9. Jeremiah Simonis (DNS), 10. Austin Barnhill (DNS), 11. Brett Carruth (DNS), 12. Ethan Burdett (DNS), 13. Jeremy Harshman (DNS), 14. Tim Nye (DNS).
Winged 600cc Micro A-Feature (30 laps): 1. Brent Crews [1], 2. Mike Carber [3], 3. Steven Snyder Jr. [2], 4. Max McLaughlin [4], 5. Sam Corry [6], 6. Tyler Walker [9], 7. Mike Thompson [15], 8. Christopher Bell [13], 9. John Nicholson Jr. [7], 10. Eli Adams [16], 11. Matt Francis [12], 12. Nick Fauci [11], 13. Carson Kvapil [10], 14. Trevor Cline [5], 15. Christian Bruno [8], 16. Gavan Boschele [14].