LOCUST GROVE, Ark. — It was a longer wait than anticipated, but Blake Hahn and his championship-winning team are back in victory lane with the American Sprint Car Series.
Coming into Saturday’s event at Batesville Motor Speedway, Hahn — the two-time series champion — had posted four top-five finishes in his last five races, including two second-place finishes, but had not yet triumphed.
He knew he and his team were close. He could feel it. And finally, great speed and good fortune fell his way. Hahn inherited the lead on Lap 14 of the main event and led the final 12 laps for his first win of the year on the national 360 sprint car circuit and 23rd of his career.
“We’re happy to be on the podium, that’s the way to chip away at the points lead,” Hahn said. “I feel like we definitely have the car to contend for a championship at the end of the year, we’ve just got to get everything dialed in and narrow-down the mistakes.”
Though he walked away victorious in the end, Hahn spent the first half of the race in pursuit of Austyn Gossel, who took the lead from the pole on the opening lap and began to open up a gap on Hahn and the rest of the field.
Gossel, 25, appeared to be on his way to a first career Series win until he collided with a lapped car on Lap 14. Hayden Martin was slowing on the top side of Turn 1 when Gossel came into the corner at full speed and made hard contact with the rear of Martin, sending his No. 67 car flipping and landing on the track exit ramp outside Turn 1.
“(Martin) was in front of another car, and that other car in front of me veered out of the way, and by that time, I couldn’t see,” Gossel said. “The next thing I know… it looked like he was trying to exit the track, which I don’t know who in the right mind does that and stays out there that long and not think that the leaders are coming… it’s just devastating.
“Definitely had the car to win. Best car I’ve ever felt. And now it’s destroyed.”
Both drivers were uninjured in the incident, but damage to the cars was too much to continue and were both hooked off the racetrack.
This handed the lead to Hahn, who got the advantage on the restart and held the field off the rest of the way to bag the win and the $4,000 grand prize.
“I just knew that if I made sure not to blow through the rubber on the first lap, I should be pretty good,” Hahn said. “Just get up there and get some good, consistent laps and just keep that momentum up. Really, just try and keep the tires underneath me and not blow them off too much.”
After coming within one spot of victory in the Series’ previous event two weeks earlier at Texarkana 67 Speedway, Hahn’s hunger for victory only increased, as did his team’s. Though the appetite has been settled for now, Hahn still wants more in pursuit of a third national championship.
“Having my grandpa (Series founder Emmett Hahn) in my corner is definitely a great thing — he pushes me to be the best driver I can possibly be,” Hahn said. “Even after finishing second at Texarkana, he wanted more. Our team’s never happy anything other than a win.”
Home-state racer Brady Baker, 17, crossed the finish line second, marking his best career Series finish. 2023 Series champion Jason Martin rounded out the podium in third, tying his best finish of the season with the series this year.
Seth Bergman topped set a track record with his lap of 12.429 seconds during qualifying.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 2. 71-Brady Baker[3]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[5]; 4. 3-Derek Hagar[10]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 6. 88-Terry Easum[9]; 7. 8X-Brad Bowden[20]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[15]; 9. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 10. 14-Jordon Mallett[17]; 11. 938-Bradley Fezard[12]; 12. 10-Landon Britt[19]; 13. 2B-Garrett Benson[8]; 14. 17W-Harli White[13]; 15. 12W-Dale Wester[18]; 16. 45X-Kyler Johnson[11]; 17. 16G-Austyn Gossel[1]; 18. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 19. 67-Hayden Martin[23]; 20. 2J-Zach Blurton[22]; 21. 84-Brandon Hanks[14]; 22. 47-Dale Howard[16]; 23. (DNS) 8-Joseph Wray IV; 24. (DNS) 17-Hayden Brinkley
