DACONO, Colo. — Aaron Willison bided his time and waited for the perfect opportunity to take the lead in night one of Gilpin & Lodge Casino Sprint Car Spectacular at Colorado National Speedway Friday night.
The win was worth $10,000 for Willison’s efforts.
Willison earlier in the night bested a strong field of 32 cars when he toured the three-eighths-mile oval at 13.451 seconds during qualifying.
Troy DeCaire took command of the race at the drop of the green. He led the first 15 circuits before Bobby Santos III took control of the top spot.
Willison had worked himself into the runner-up position at that point with a pass of DeCaire shortly thereafter and trailed Santos III closely. Willison got under Santos entering the third turn on lap 23 and it stuck. He then drove by Santos III to secure he top spot.
The new race leader Willison would build a sizeable lead until the yellow flag flew for the first time on lap 35 for the stalled machine of Davey Hamilton Jr. Willison survived three late restarts to secure the win.
Following Willison to the checkered flag was Evan Margeson and Santos rounding out the top three. Santos narrowly edged Kody Swanson at the checkered for third position after the duo had raced side-by-side in the closing laps.
“This thing was rolling,” stated Willison. “We had a great car. I just had to bid my time. The pill draw didn’t quite go my way. We started a little further back and Bobby (Santos) had track position on me. I waited around and let them guys use their stuff up. I rolled by him when it counted.
“Restarts are always tough with these cars. You always hope the motor takes off good. This baby took off all night. You always want to make sure you don’t spin the tires. We didn’t like to see those yellow flags, but that’s racing,” concluded Willison.
The finish:
Feature (45 laps): 1. 36-Aaron Willison; 2. 57-Evan Margeson; 3. 22a-Bobby Santos III; 4. 50m-Kody Swanson; 5. 6g-Bryan Gossel; 6. 15-Eric Humphries; 7. 1r-Ryan Land; 8. 24-Troy DeCaire; 9. 41-Ryan Willison; 10. 91-Bryan Warf; 11. 99-Cory Lockwood; 12. OH6-Adam Hilton; 13. 12b-Monty Bergener; 14. 61-Willie Ginn; 15. 16g-Austyn Gossel; 16. 18-AJ Luttmer; 17. 36j-Jarett Burdett; 18. 22-DJ Lyons; 19. 2f-Michael Fanelli; 20. 14-Davey Hamilton Jr.; 21.68-Mike Anderson; 22. 27-Mike Hathaway; 23.1-Natalie Waters; 24. 36d-Devin Burdett; DNS 69-Trevor Anderson; 77-Cole MacEwen; 15L-Josh Lewis; 92–Casey Tillman; 28-Ryan Riggs; 8a-Tony Offutt; 55-Gary Land; 22L-Richie Larson
