YORK HAVEN, Pa. – Add another victory to Kyle Larson’s ever-growing win total.
The Elk Grove, Calif., hotshoe raced to his 38th overall dirt-track victory of the season – and 29th in a 410 sprint car – during Thursday night’s Select Collison Kevin Gobrecht Classic at BAPS Motor Speedway.
Larson started from the outside pole, raced to the lead on the opening lap past polesitter Lucas Wolfe and never looked back.
He eventually won by .645 seconds over Danny Dietrich, banking $5,100 for his efforts.
Though Larson led all 30 laps of the main event, he explained afterward that the race wasn’t nearly as simple as the box score might have made it appear to be.
“I had to work for that,” Larson noted in victory lane. “The last half (of the race), I just wasn’t very good. I could see Gio’s nose in (turns) one and two, just about every lap, and knew I needed to do something different in three and four … so I decided to move up and I felt like that was a good decision. I just really struggled in turns one and two.
“I could see Danny (Dietrich) coming on the bottom, and was just hoping the laps were going to wind down to where he couldn’t get another shot at me,” Larson added. “The race was fun; it was just nerve-racking from my seat.”
The feature was slowed multiple times by caution, starting on the initial green, when Doug Hammaker ended up on his side exiting turn two and forced a complete restart.
Larson took control of the race upon its resumption, but a lap-12 caution for a spin by Anthony Macri erased a lead of more than four seconds for Larson and the No. 57 team.
Two laps later, then-second-running J.J. Grasso slowed from second place with front-end damage to end his night prematurely. All the while, Larson was holding serve out front.
Though Dietrich attempted to make a late run at Larson after taking second from Gio Scelzi with six to go, he couldn’t catch the Silva Motorsports machine and had to settle for runner-up honors. Scelzi completed the podium.
Wolfe faded to fourth and Rico Abreu crossed fifth, followed by Kyle Reinhardt, Tanner Thorson, Brock Zearfoss, Tyler Ross and Brian Montieth.
With 38 wins on his resume and counting, Larson has his sights set even higher.
“This is win No. 38. I’m hoping to get to 50,” he pointed out. “We’ve been fortunate to win a lot of memorial races this year. To win the Kevin Gobrecht Classic is special, and maybe one day when I’m a World of Outlaws rookie I can win the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Rookie of the Year Award as well.”
The finish:
1. 57-Kyle Larson, 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 3. 18-Gio Scelzi, 4. 24-Lucas Wolfe, 5. 24a-Rico Abreu, 6. 91r-Kyle Reinhardt, 7. 20-Tanner Thorson, 8. 3z-Brock Zearfoss, 9. 75-Tyler Ross, 10. 21-Brian Montieth, 11. W20-Greg Wilson, 12. 19-Troy Wagaman Jr., 13. 91-Anthony Fiore, 14. 73b-Brett Michalski, 15. 44-Dylan Norris, 16. 4-Dwight Leppo, 17. 90-Jordan Givler, 18. 16a-Aaron Bollinger, 19. 37-J.J. Grasso, 20. 54a-Zach Newlin, 21. 49h-Bradley Howard, 22. 39m-Anthony Macri, 23. 15-Jeff Rohrbaugh, 24. 4r-Doug Hammaker.
