SALISBURY, N.C. – An opening-lap slide job gave Brent Crews command during night one of the HMS Motorsport Patriot Shootout presented by Osmond at Millbridge Speedway, and a fast race car did the rest of the job from there.
Crews led all 40 laps of the headlining non-winged 600cc micro sprint feature at the sixth-mile dirt oval, holding off a late-race charge from Jade Avedisian – Crews’ teammate at CB Industries in POWRi National Midget League action – in lap traffic by .223 seconds for the $1,000 victory.
It was Crews’ fourth micro win of the year at Millbridge and his third without a wing overhead.
Even though Crews knew Avedisian was bearing down on his rear bumper in the waning moments of the race, he stayed cool under pressure and never faltered down the home stretch.
“Lapped cars were being real nice to me there at the end,” Crews tipped in victory lane. “They weren’t racing me too hard and gave me a lot of space [to get past], so I was happy about that with how one-groove the track was there in the second half of the race.
“I sent it as hard as I could around this place all night long,” Crews added. “I just had to be conservative in traffic to get the job done. It was really sketchy around the top … but I’ve been doing it so long here that it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I heard [Jade] coming at the end, but just kept driving.”
Crews’ winning move came in turn two on the first lap, when he crossed underneath Avedisian’s polesitting No. 14 exiting the corner and beat her back to the dominant top groove in turn three.
From there, despite three caution periods and restart opportunities, Avedisian couldn’t get close enough to attempt a move back on Crews and had to settle for runner-up honors in the end.
The final yellow flag waved with 17 laps left for a two-car crash in turn four that involved eighth-running Caden Kvapil and Matt Francis, leading to a longer green-flag run to close the Tuesday night feature.
That meant that the leaders got back to traffic in the final laps, but Avedisian said it wasn’t quite enough.
“I think I was a lot better than Brent was in traffic; once we got spaced out, I think our cars were about even,” said Avedisian. “I’d make a few mistakes, then he’d make a few mistakes, and it would pretty much balance out. Lap traffic came on at the end … and they were tough to get around because the track was so top-dominant tonight.
“We were good, but not quite where we needed to be. Hopefully tomorrow we can change that.”
Nick Drake filled out the podium finishers, followed by Gavan Boschele and Buddy Kofoid, a five-time POWRi midget winner this season who wheeled Christopher Bell’s black No. 21 on Tuesday night.
Aiden Price, Ethan Burdett, Carson Kvapil, Nigel Standish and Eli Adams closed the top 10.
Kofoid kicked off the night by setting the fastest time during qualifying, with a lap of 10.113 seconds (59.330 mph) around the sixth-mile dirt oval.
Caden Kvapil, Dillon Welch, Trevor Cline and Avedisian won their respective heat races, with Avedisian earning high-point honors and starting from the pole as a result.
Eli Adams and Will Boprey split the wins in a pair of 12-lap Last Chance Showdowns prior to the main.
Wyatt Miller, the son of JR Motorsports co-owner Kelley Earnhardt Miller and grandson of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, took the win in the undercard Beginner Box Stock class.
Miller held off Brexton Busch, son of two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, for the $500 triumph in the 20-lap feature. Beckham Malone, Parker Ives and Chase Johnston filled out the top five in that division.
Action at Millbridge Speedway continues Wednesday night with the second act of the HMS Motorsport Patriot Shootout presented by Osmond, highlighted by another 40-lap, $1,000-to-win micro feature.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.