BELGRADE, Mont. — Battling a fueling issue for the better part of a month, Saturday saw things finally flowing for Australian Scott Bogucki, with his third victory of the season coming at Gallatin Speedway’s NAPA of Bozeman Grizzly Nationals with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
Bogucki’s first win at the Grizzly Nationals, the triumph is his seventh overall in National Tour competition.
Like Hahn on Friday, Bogucki entered the Grizzly Nationals following a rough ending to the tour’s Washington swing. A destroyed car and continued fueling issues that cost him a shot at winning on Friday, the SawBlade.com No. 28 was firing on all cylinders Saturday.
Asked what it meant to have a bit of rebound run, Bogucki said, “We needed it. Between the destroyed car and the fueling issues last night, it was pretty good to get this win. Had a little hump there, but you know me, I’m not going to shut it down.”
Wheel to wheel with Logan Forler to open the 25-lap feature, the No. 2L held the upper hand through the first eight laps. Pursued through traffic, Forler’s lead was under fire with a barraged of slide-jobs the following lap.
Able to turn and run, Logan held the advantage on lap nine. Setting up again in the first and second turns, the No. 28 finally bolted into the lead as the pair hit the back straightaway.
Caution on lap 13, Bogucki adjusted his line as the track began cleaning off.
Migrating to the middle groove in a matter of laps, traffic was quickly an issue. Splitting slower cars as fast as he could a few times forced Scott out of the groove but never presented an opportunity for anyone as he crossed under the checkered flag with a 1.277-second gap over Logan Forler, who fought the final few laps to keep J.J. Hickle at bay.
Putting the No. 63 on the final podium step, Hickle was quickly followed by Matt Covington and Dylan Westbrook to complete the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki[1]; 2. 2L-Logan Forler[2]; 3. 63-JJ Hickle[3]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[9]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 7. 17B-Ryan Bickett[4]; 8. 33T-Tyler Driever[12]; 9. 77X-Alex Hill[10]; 10. 19-Colby Thornhill[5]; 11. 4L-Lane Taylor[7]; 12. 9K-Kory Wermling[15]; 13. 74U-Chauncey Filler[14]; 14. 34-Trevor Plambeck[21]; 15. 38B-Bryan Brown[16]; 16. 00B-Michael Bingham[18]; 17. 31-Shane Moore[20]; 18. 77-Damon McCune[13]; 19. 2X-Mike Manwill[19]; 20. 2J-James Setters[11]; 21. 88-Travis Reber[17]