IRVINGTON, Ala. — It didn’t appear a victory was in the works for Ronnie Roberts Saturday night at Mobile Int’l Speedway during the winged sprint car opening night event.
Lady Luck came through and Roberts captured his first winged pavement sprint car feature event driving for veteran car owner Terry Broadus.
Todd Fayard, who started on the outside of row two in the feature, appeared to be the car to beat. After winning his heat in dominating fashion, Fayard took the lead going down the backstretch and appeared as if a victory would be certain in the 25-lap main.
Fayard’s car came to a complete stop exiting turn four due to engine issues on lap 12. Roberts assumed the lead at that point and held off Shane Morgan by 0.962 seconds to capture the victory followed by Cody Karl, Brandon Blenden and Blake Carrier.
“When he (Fayard) got by me I kinda stayed with him for a little bit and I felt like I kinda reeled him in” explained Roberts. “Then he started pulling away, especially around lapped cars. Then I saw him start slowing up. Then he really slowed down, and I thought it just fell in my lap. Then the caution came out late in the race while I was leading. Those last 2 laps felt like 15 or 30 to me. Then the white flag finally came out and I just held it together and got the win.”