PINELLAS PARK, Fla. – Troy DeCaire captured Saturday’s Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series event Sat Showtime Speedway in thrilling fashion.
It was his second consecutive Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series victory of the year.
It didn’t appear a victory was in the works for DeCaire as he was involved in a second lap five-car pile-up and had to restart at the back of the pack during the 40-lap feature.
In addition, he narrowly missed getting collected in a mishap at the start-finish line on the start when Joey Aguilar ran over the left rear tire of Phil Haddad, sending Aguilar pointing skyward. Miraculously, Aguilar landed on all four wheels and continued.
DeCaire found his groove and began to work his way to the front of the field as the laps counted down. With one lap left, DeCaire caught race leader Mickey Kempgens, who had led since the outset.
As Kempgens encountered two slower lapped cars, DeCaire made a thrilling pass on Kempgens for the lead entering turn three. The two made contact, sending DeCaire through the grass. He miraculously kept control but crossed the finish line first despite running through the infield grass.
DeCaire’s winning car finally came to a stop in the grass in turn one to complete one of the most spectacular finishes seen in Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series competition in some time.
“I think the start was as confusing as the finish was,” explained DeCaire in victory lane. “We couldn’t seem to get through turn number one for 10 different tries it felt like. Once it started, I was able to get into second pretty quick and chased Mickey down. It seemed like every time I got to him there was some sorta lapped traffic. The flagman showed two to go and I was about eight or nine car lengths back. You can’t take the tires home at that point so I ran as hard as I could for two laps and was able to close the gap.
“I closed the gap and he seemed to make the wrong decision going into one. A lapped car went to the middle and it allowed me to pull up behind him. I shot the bottom and got him in three. Mickey caught me in the tail, and I tried to peddle it as best as I could. I tried to slow it down before I hit a couple light poles, but I beat him to the line. It was a good show with all the chaos. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes you the bug sometimes you’re the windshield. That was my first pass in the grass to win a race. A little Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt throwback.”
Shane Butler finished third ahead of Dylon Reynolds and Aguilar.
The finish:
Troy DeCaire, Mickey Kempgens, Shane Butler, Dylon Reynolds, Joey Aguilar, Daniel Miller, Keith Butler, Sport Allen, Chaz Hambling, Mike Tharp, Phil Haddad, Travis Bilemeister, Clayton Donaldson.