Brady Bacon (21) en route to victory Saturday at Tulsa Expo Raceway. (Richard Bales photo)
Brady Bacon (21) en route to victory Saturday at Tulsa Expo Raceway. (Richard Bales photo)

Brady Bacon Leads Tulsa Shootout Victors

TULSA, Okla. — Popular open-wheel racer Brady Bacon picked up his fourth career Tulsa Shootout victory on a night that also saw five first-time winners as the 35th annual Lucas Oil Tulsa Shootout wrapped up at Tulsa Expo Raceway Saturday night.

Picking up his first Outlaw Non-Wing Golden Driller, Bacon charged from seventh to add to his legacy with his fourth Tulsa Shootout triumph.

Trey Marcham to the early lead, the race for second was all over the track the first few laps with Cannon McIntosh finally getting ahead of the battle. Railing the cushion with Thomas Kunsman in tow, the pair began reeling in the No. 32x before the caution flew on lap five.

Battling on the restart, McIntosh ripped the cushion to the lead on lap seven with the caution following soon after.

Under caution again a couple laps later, a new challenger was up as Bacon set his sights on the No. 51. Rolling wheel to wheel, McIntosh held off the charge, but it was not in the cards as the engine let go on lap 19, handing the lead by Bacon with Johnny Boland nipping on his heels. Working all over the Tulsa Expo Raceway, Boland with Kris Carroll in tow missed the line on lap 25, moving the No, 3k into second.

Caution with four laps to go, Carroll gave it his best shot, but it was Bacon by 0.291 seconds at the line. Carroll in second was, followed by 15th-starting Dylan Kadous. Daison Pursley crossed fourth with Johnny Boland fifth.

Thomas Kunzman took the early lead in the Outlaw feature with Jonathan Beason in second. Glued to the bottom, Beason stayed close to Kunzman as the field worked into traffic on lap 19. Bobbling on the exit of turn four, the misstep allowed Beason to sneak by on the bottom.

Caution on lap 20, Kunzman was collected by the spinning No. 61 of Eli Bookout. On the restart, Beason pulled away. Racing to the mid-point of the feature, the cushion started to come into play as the remainder of the top five moved to the top. Starting to match speed with Beason, the No. 721 worked into traffic on Lap 31.

Slowed again on lap 34 as fourth running Anton Hernandez flipped and collected Kyle Spence, the restart saw Emerson Axsom on the hunt, getting the lead on lap 40.

Putting distance on Beason, the closing laps saw the bottom come back into play with Beason taking a shot at the lead in the closing laps, but without the speed to pull it off, Axsom adjusted his line and won by 0.262 seconds. Harley Hollan, from 12th, finished third, followed by Layden Pearson and Blake Hahn.

In Stock Non-Wing, Pennsylvania’s Alex Bright sailed to his first Tulsa Shootout victory.

Alex Bright (Richard Bales photo)
Alex Bright (Richard Bales photo)

Trailing the first pair of laps, a restart on lap two saw leader Daison Pursley drop to the deck to block the charge of Brian Carber in turn three, only to leave the cushion open for Bright to shoot past the pair off the fourth turn.

Bright held a 1.139-second advantage at the finish as Pursley fought back to a runner-up finish. Curtis Jones crossed third with Kyle Spence and Cannon McIntosh completing the top five.

Picking up his second Golden Driller, and first in A-Class, Kyle Spence led start to finish in the winged division. Untouched the first third of the race, Spence found traffic on lap 11 with a 3.001-second advantage on Joe B. Miller as the caution came on for Miller who stopped in the second turn.

Spence survived a green-white-checkered finish to win by .465 seconds with Robb second.

Emerson Axsom, Brian Carber and Frank Flud, who started 18th, rounded out the top five.

Dedicating her victory to her mother, Jade Avedisian picked up her first Tulsa Shootout victory in the Restricted A-Feature.

Avedisian charged from third to the lead when leaders Brenham Crouch and Ryan Timms tangled on lap 19. She cruised to a 0.566-second victory over Crouch, with Timms finishing third. Mason Daugherty and Gauge Garcia made up the top five.

In Junior Sprints, Jett Barnes picked up his first Golden Driller.

Starting from the front row, Barnes battled Cash Lovenburg throughout and won by 0.181 seconds. Garett Benson, Levi Hillier, and Lathe Griggs completed the top five.

Taking the win in the 600cc Modifieds, Chad Dugan dominated to win his first Golden Driller.

Dugan took the checkered flag 1.403 seconds ahead of Timothy Estenson.

The 35th Lucas Oil Tulsa Shootout officially received 1,397 entries with 1,364 of those entries checking in among 608 drivers.

To see full results, turn to the next page.