OCALA, Fla. — Emerson Axsom may have a baby face, but he’s got the heart of a pirate.
The 17-year-old pilot of the Clauson Marshall No. 47bc sprint car shadowed early leader Chase Stockon for 25 of the 35 laps in Saturday night’s Winter Dirt Games finale at Bubba Raceway Park, then cut Stockon’s heart out with an inside move off of tricky turn three and stole the $10,000 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship series victory.
Tanner Thorson, who started 14th, also passed Stockon, who finished third. Justin Grant and Buddy Kofoid rounded out the top five.
“We set the car up for late in the race and I knew if I could stay close early, we’d be there at the end,” said Axsom. “I knew the top would go away for Stockon and the bottom in three and four always comes into play here. That’s where I got under him.
“Not getting into a lot of lapped cars helped. The race went as perfectly as it could have. I feel like I earned this one compared to our first win, when the track was all rubbered up. Tonight the track was great and everyone had a chance to run up top.”
With the track requiring a lengthy run in after the track crew watered and tilled it during intermission, a red was thrown to allow teams to top off their fuel before the extra length race went green.
But once the initial green flag waved, Stockon blasted by dash winner and front row companion Kyle Cummins when they came off turn two with the fourth-starting Axsom settling into third.
They ran that way until a lap seven spin tightened the field up, but Stockon looked strong again on the restart, going right back to the cushion to maintain command.
Lap 11 saw Axsom begin to pick up his pace, sliding by Cummins for second and then steadily drawing in on the high-flying Stockon.
Behind the leaders Grant and Kofoid were tussling for fourth, with Grant winning that battle and then picking off Cummins just before halfway. By then, Axsom was right on the rim riding Stockon’s tail but before he could get a run on him, the night’s second yellow flew for Jake Swanson, who spun on the frontstretch and landed in the infield. He apparently thought he had help, as he walked out in traffic and brandished his steering wheel at the offender before being towed off. His crew tried to repair the car and get him back in the race but ran out of time, as did Thomas Mesaraull’s crew, who attempted to change a left rear that went flat under caution.
When the race went green again, the top five were Stockon, Axsom, Grant, Kofoid and Cummins but Thorson was right behind them and ready to continue his impressive charge. He shot down Cummins and Kofoid immediately and went to work on the top three.
Axsom got his nose under Stockon on lap 23 but didn’t quite make it but two laps later he took the short line off turn four and drove off to his second win in three nights. Three laps later Thorson caught and passed Stockon and the podium finishers were set.
“If we’d started a little farther up, we’d have had a shot at winning,” said Thorson. “We were good early, but we weren’t as good as Axsom at the end. But I’m happy. That Emerson is a badass driver.”
Stockon was also pleased with his finish, saying “We weren’t there for all 35 laps. It turned out that we had a 25-lap car. But I’m happy, even though it’s tough to lose all that money. We’ve gone forward every night and have nothing to hang our heads over.”