RENO, Nev. — Colby Copeland pulled off a three-peat during the opening night of the inaugural High Desert Hustle, winning the Open 500, Non-Wing 500 and Caged Clone features on the temporary dirt track.
Copeland overcame contact in a fierce battle for second in the Open 500, then made a power move around the top for the lead.
“It really says a lot about the team I got behind me here. To run with these guys and beat this competition in one class, your stuff just has to be on point. To do it in three is pretty incredible,” Copeland said. “These guys work super hard and it showed tonight. It’s how we wanted to start the weekend but it’s all about Saturday and getting the big money on Saturday.”
The opening night of the High Desert Hustle featured 290 Outlaw Kart racers from across the country competing at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.
Thursday’s action started the run to the Saturday features, where the richest pay days in Outlaw Kart racing history will be awarded including $10,000 to win in the 500 division. The top-five finishers of each feature locked in for Saturday’s action.
Casey McClain led the 30-lap feature with Aiden Larimer and Copeland in pursuit. Copeland and Larimer collided on the backstretch battling for second position. The ensuing melee sent Jennifer Osborne into a flip but she was able to keep racing.
Larimer kept the pressure up on McClain until Preston Carr and James Edens crashed in turn three. Larimer barreled into them to surrender second.
Copeland was the next driver to turn his attention towards McClain for the top spot. Copeland worked to the outside and swooped past him on the front stretch to lead lap 26.
A caution flew a lap later to set up a three-lap shootout. Copeland prevailed followed by McClain, Holmes, Jesse Colwell, and Schmitz to be the locked in drivers for Saturday’s feature.
“If you had to pick out of the opens a guy you want to race clean side-by-side with, Casey is one of them,” Copeland said. “He got loose off the bottom so I saw an opportunity there.”
Steven Snawder topped qualifying for Non-Wing and led the way before spinning out of the lead. Jayce Hudson took over with Carr and Copeland ready to pounce.
Carr dove inside of Hudson in turn one for a slide job for the lead. Copeland crossed them over to lead lap 11. Copeland never relinquished the top spot over Carr, Hudson, Luke Hayes and Camryn Varrichio.
Copeland then proceeded to dominate the Cage Cloned feature. John Tevis, Elijah Jones, Justin Reinolds and Frank Benuzzi rounded out the top five.
250cc Fast-Time qualifier Braxton Foster followed up with a main event win in that 20-lap feature. Racin Gramps, Landon Henry, Logan Pike, and Parker Mockridge also locked in to Saturday’s action with their top-five finishes.
Jaxon Fuchs looked poised to win the 20-lap Box Stock feature, as he led the field through lapped traffic with a commanding advantage. That was nullified on lap 17 when Gianni Tolson went airborne and collected Fuchs in turn two.
Bryce Nelson of Merced grabbed the lead for the final three-lap run to the finish. He held court, topping Ayden James Saiz, Knox Reeves, Sawyer Vanpool and Blake Rollag.
Bentley Nelson led the first 14 laps of the Beginner Box Stock feature before colliding with a spinning slower car, handing the lead to Miles Boertje.
Boertje stumbled in turn four with four to go, allowing Nelson to reassume the lead. Nelson faced heavy pressure from Logan Barnes and Tyce Domingos.
Barnes steered to the outside on the white-flag lap and executed a thrilling win. Nelson finished a close second ahead of Boertje, Domingos and Zane Ritcheson.