SALISBURY, N.C. – Caden Kvapil wrote a page of history at Millbridge Speedway on Wednesday night with his victory in the 20-lap Open division outlaw kart feature at the sixth-mile dirt oval.
By taking his first win in the premier class, Kvapil became the first driver in track history to earn triumphs in all four outlaw kart classes – Beginner Box Stock, Box Stock, Intermediate and Open.
In other racing action, Landon Rapp (Intermediate), Landon Sartain (Box Stock) and Brody Snyder (Beginner Box Stock) took home win in their respective classes during the fifth week of Wednesday weekly competition at Millbridge.
Kvapil, who started seventh in a 17-car field, took control of the Open feature on lap eight when he threw a deep slide job on polesitter and early-race leader Kyle Beattie in turn one.
Once he got out front, Kvapil quickly pulled away.
The 12-year-old opened up a half-second lead in two laps and later survived two restarts – including a green-white-checkered finish after his older brother Carson and Nick O’Dell crashed on the backstretch – en route to the history-making score.
“This really means a lot to me and it’s a really special night,” the younger Kvapil said in victory lane. “I’ve been racing here since I was eight years old and to finally be able to say I’ve won in every class I’ve raced in here; that means a lot. I was a little nervous when Nick (Hoffman) got up behind me, but I knew if I hit my marks on the last restart we could pull it off and everything worked out in our favor.”
Hoffman settled for second in the end, followed by Ethan Mitchell, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson and Tom Hubert, who rallied back to fifth from a turn-four spin with eight laps to go.
Both O’Dell and Carson Kvapil were disqualified for the entire event for unsportsmanlike conduct, after a brief altercation following their incident on the backstretch with two laps remaining in the feature.
Rapp cruised to victory, his first of the season, in the 20-lap Intermediate feature by grabbing the top spot on the third lap after Laci Ferno’s engine began sputtering down the backstretch.
Ferno’s issues drew a caution flag and set up a restart, after which Rapp pulled away uncontested.
The win ended a two-race stretch of bad luck for Rapp, who said early in the night that he wanted to get “back in the game” and did so on this night.
“It feels really good to bring one home tonight,” Rapp said. “We’ve been really struggling the last few weeks and had a lot of bad luck that’s set us back. Tonight was great, though; the kart was fast and everything came together for us, which is something we’ve needed. We needed a little bit of luck.”
Trevor Cline finished second to Rapp, followed by Aidan Turner, Gavan Boschele and Will Boprey.
The 20-lap Box Stock main event featured a few harrowing moments, including a violent flip in turns three and four that saw two-time season winner Biscuit Williams go up and over before his kart came to rest and caught briefly on fire.
Williams and Lucas Sandifer, who also flipped during the incident, both walked away uninjured.
Separate from all of that chaos, however, was Sartain and his No. 16, which powered around the outside on the final lap after trading slide jobs with Colt Currie and edged out the Box Stock win by .058 seconds.
“I knew the outside would help us,” Sartain noted. “We had to keep the momentum up, and on that last lap it worked out perfectly. It’s always fun to have a race like that right to the finish line.”
Behind Sartain and Currie, Dallas Griggs, Landon Totherow and Coen McDaniel completed the top five.
Brody Snyder took down his second-straight Beginner Box Stock victory on Wednesday night with another dominant performance, coming out on top of a frantic four-kart battle for the win and then holding off Jayden Cordell in the final laps.
Tristan Hurley, Grayson Price and Brody Measmer were third through fifth, respectively.
The results of both the Box Stock and Beginner Box Stock features are unofficial, pending the outcome of post-race technical inspection.
To view complete results, advance to the next page.