TULARE, Calif. — David Gravel defeated Spencer Bayston in a photo-finish to win Saturday night’s Dennis Roth Classic at Thunderbowl Raceway.
The opening stages of the $83,000-to-win main event for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series pitted a pair of California natives against each other.
Kaleb Montgomery led from the pole but had Corey Day close behind. Day slid ahead on Lap 5 restart and took control until Montgomery returned the favor on a restart on the 18th circuit. The two came together down the back straightaway and again in Turn 3 as Montgomery charged back at Day.
Montgomery slowed with damage to bring out a caution, and Day ducked into the pits under the yellow also with damage.
Gravel and Bayston inherited first and second for the next restart. The laps clicked away, and Bayston kept the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 within his sights as he fended off challenges from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid. Bayston was fully committed to the cushion as Gravel opted for the top in Turns 1 and 2 and the bottom in Turns 3 and 4.
The run Bayston was looking for came when the white flag flew as he pulled the Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 alongside Gravel.
Bayston then got tight in the first corner and pounded the right rear tire on the fence, which looked to seal the deal for Gravel. But Bayston wasn’t done. He turned down the hill exiting Turn 2 for a run, and Gravel struggled with a lapped car heading into the final set of turns.
Gravel drifted across while Bayston ripped the top and slipped under him exiting the last corner.
A side-by-side drag race to the checkered flag resulted in Gravel edging Bayston by just .021 seconds for the Dennis Roth Classic victory.
“I saw him (Bayston) go around me coming to the white and knew I had to fill the hole in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gravel explained. “I knew I wanted to get under Gauge (Garcia) there and just drove in way too hard and couldn’t stick the middle and had to slide all the way across, and I figured he was coming with a run. What a race. Crazy deal what happened in the front there (between Kaleb and Corey) and gave us a shot to win there. I think if those two guys don’t get together, we probably don’t have a shot to win the race.
“I’m just glad to hang on. You don’t want to lose races like that, especially big paying ones. It feels good to win another race at Tulare. The track had a lot of character.”
Gravel and the Big Game team pocketed $83,000 and took home 30 pounds of ribeye from Roth Motorsports for their 14th win of 2025.
With every joy of victory, there’s the agony of defeat. That’s what Spencer Bayston was left with following Saturday’s feature. Yes, it was an encouraging run with the Tarlton team. Yes, he continued to add to the list of impressive runs he’s put together since parting ways with Jason Meyers Racing in August. Yes, it was a healthy $40,000 runner-up. But Bayston so badly wanted that first sprint car win since August of 2023 and had to settle for second by inches.
“I did because I saw him enter down in the bottom of (Turn) 3 and knew I had the top to myself to get a big run,” Bayston said of his chances on the final lap. “I saw him come flying across. I know when you’re racing for $83,000, he doesn’t care where I am to the right of him, so I knew he was coming all the way up. So, I tried to just kind of time it off the cushion as hard as I could to have the advantage on the drag race back to the line. I just didn’t hard enough and spun a little bit. I was looking dead right at him as we went to see if I was edging or not. It was close. It absolutely burns to lose that way when I was in second but kind of had him where I wanted him the whole time.”
Kofoid put the Roth Motorsports No. 83 on the final step of the podium at the Dennis Roth Classic.
“Once I got to third, I felt pretty good and felt like I was kind of starting to contend with Spencer and David a little bit,” Kofoid said. “I was waiting for traffic, but it just never came. I wanted to be on the top, and Spencer was up there. It was just really dirty and gritty up there and hard to make speed behind someone, but I just felt like I was giving up too much on the bottom in (Turns) 3 and 4. It sucks to run second and third now at Dennis’ race, but again I’m really thankful to be driving Dennis and Teresa Roth’s famous No. 83.”
Carson Macedo and Donny Schatz completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[5]; 2. 21-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 5. W-Donny Schatz[10]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[9]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[13]; 8. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[12]; 9. 7S-Chris Windom[27]; 10. 15S-Kerry Madsen[15]; 11. 18-Emerson Axsom[25]; 12. X1-Chance Grasty[14]; 13. 2C-Cole Macedo[18]; 14. 73-Ryan Bernal[24]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee[17]; 16. 21L-Landon Brooks[21]; 17. 17B-Bill Balog[26]; 18. 0-Tim Kaeding[19]; 19. 2K-Gauge Garcia[23]; 20. 121-Caeden Steele[20]; 21. 88N-DJ Netto[8]; 22. 14BC-Corey Day[3]; 23. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[22]; 25. 23-Garet Williamson[7]; 26. 17W-Shane Golobic[11]; 27. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[28]; 28. 45-Cory Eliason[16]
