Donald Bradsher ?The Hitman? Captures First Career FASTRAK Touring Victory at Friendship Motor Speedway
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 14th, 2013 FASTRAK PR
(Four Oaks, North Carolina) ? The FASTRAK City Chevrolet Touring Division made their 1st visit back in 3 years Saturday night to the 4/10th mile Friendship Motor Speedway. Over 30+ ?warlords? made the trip to the facility bringing the ?sell-out? crowd to their feet for Round #6 of the year and Points Race #3 in the FASTRAK City Chevrolet Touring Division. What a great reunion it was as for the 2nd consecutive weekend in a row it was #93 Burlington, North Carolina?s #93 Rocket of Donald Bradsher would prevail on top as a FASTRAK first time winner.
It started off with daytime conditions in VP Race for the Pole Qualifying. Donald Bradsher set fast time with a speed of 16.212 seconds. The top 8 drivers we?re locked in from Time Trials for the 40 Lap feature paying $2,000 to win. Still in daylight conditions due to the idea from Promoter Les Wooten and Jerry Farley trying to not prolong the night for fans. The 2 Heat races we?re interesting. In B-Main #1 a lot of drivers testified it was like an extra practice session for the field as the race went ?clean and green? in RockAuto Heat #1 won by #8 Bellwood, North Carolina?s Ron Parker. In Chevy Performance Heat #2 the story was totally different. Drivers we?re ?fighting and clawing? their way around the clay oval going through anybody in their path. The yellow flag waved on many occasions but after the 3rd try at a one lap shootout, #11 David Smith the two-time and Defending FASTRAK City Chevrolet Touring Division Champion went on to win B-Main race #2. The Top 7 cars across the line went in from the 2 heats race and 2 provisional we?re up for grabs for Row 12. The driver?s #99 Teddy Tate and #300 Bill Tesh locked in those spots. After the 4 wide salute to a packed house in the western part of the ?Tarheel State? before sunset it was time for the ?best of the best? in FASTRAK to go to battle for 40 laps and $2,000 to win.
The initial start was spectacular as #93 Donald Bradsher and #44b of 2011 FASTRAK Champion Brandon Umberger muscled their way side by side the first 10 circuits around the track while the other 22 contenders that made up 24 battled their way around the track astonishing the Elkin crowd that hasn?t seen racing like that in a good while as many fans stated at night?s end. Caution #1 would fall on lap #10 when #P4 Doug Price looped his car around on the backstretch. On the restart after the ?choose rule? big trouble ensued. #9 Ryan Atkins in the Top 5 tried to make a move battling to the front hard drifted up high and looped his car around ?blocking the path? collecting a number of cars including ? #22 Dale Barneycastle, #24 Tim Byrd, #21C Mark Crowe, #27h Justin Hudspeth, #4 Taylor Hicks, #300 Bill Tesh and #39 Greg Clark who sustained severe damage ?see-sawed? up on the pit retaining wall outside Turn 1 causing a Red Flag to be displayed for extensive clean up. Many cars we?re done for the night and forced to retire the event while others made frequent stops to make repairs. On the restart #15 Chase McCormick stuck it to the bottom forcing a ?wild and exciting? 3 wide move battling all the way around the complex bring the crowd to a roaring crescendo. Umberger battled with Bradsher holding off McCormick. Stopping the excitement was #27h Justin Hudspeth looping his car around off turn 3. Another yellow flag quickly came out again after #24f Jensen Ford and #22 Dale Barneycastle made contact with #P4 Doug Price lock horns in unison off the 4th corner.
Scary moment in the race was on the restart 3 laps later on the front stretch after #4 Bryan Nance spun on his own in turn 4. Dale Barneycastle?s car got high up in the air and ended up on the top of the wall and near the catch fence area. #8 Landon Mitchell and #25 Matt Long also got collected and taken out after the long Red Flag to be displayed for the 2nd time in the feature at Friendship Motor Speedway. All driver?s we?re reported to be okay and the race would continue after clean up. On the restart the Yellow would fall again on lap #18 when #8 Landon Mitchell spun solo on his own. Might I add this was just the excitement during the first half of the race.
During the second half of the event the big climatic moment was when #8 Ron Parker and Friendship regular #4 Bryan Nance locked and hooked together to the inside retaining wall in front of the ?Elkin Faithful? sending the crowd into a frenzy. On the final restart it was the Bradsher vs. Umberger match which quickly turned into a Fatal 4 Way battle to the end as #22 ?Iceman? Jordan Dill also capitalized to the front for the win taking #33 Chris Meadows with him also. These four drivers tried to etch their name in the history books at Friendship Speedway ounce again under the FASTRAK Racing Series banner. However it wasn?t enough as the #93 Rocket Chassis of ?The Hitman? Donald Bradsher came to the flag to win his first career FASTRAK City Chevrolet Touring Division race leading every lap in a WILD spectacle. It was also a special way to close adding the announcement that him and his wife we?re celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary earlier in the week. A great run for Umberger settling for 2nd in his brand new ?Big RED? Barry Wright Chassis. Rounding out the top 5 were #22 Jordan Dill, #33 Chris Meadows and #11 David Smith.
OFFICIAL RESULTS FROM FRIENDSHIP MOTOR SPEEDWAY ELKIN, NC
1st #93 Donald Bradsher ? Burlington, NC
2nd #44b Brandon Umberger ? Rural Retreat, VA
3rd #22 Jordan Dill ? Landrum, SC
4th #33 Chris Meadows ? Crab Orchard, WV
5th #11 David Smith ? Inman, SC
6th #15 Chase McCormick ? Dobson, NC
7th #c4 Mitchell Coble ? Mount Airy, NC
8th #24 Tim Byrd ? Jonesboro, TN
9th #24f Jensen Ford ? Piney Flats, TN
10th #99t Teddy Tate ? Rural Retreat, VA
11th #24n Matthew Nance ? Roaring River, NC
12th #4 Taylor Hicks ? Gaffney, SC
13th #4n Bryan Nance ? Roaring River, NC
14th #8 Landon Mitchell ? Jonesville, NC
15th #300 Bill Tesh ? Germantown, NC
16th #25 Matt Long ? Concord, NC
17th #22b Dale Barneycastle ? Elkin, NC
18th #p4 Doug Price ? Kingsport, TN
19th #8p Ron Parker ? Bellwood, NC
20th #9 Ryan Atkins ? Mount Airy, NC
21st #39c Greg Clark ? Jonesville, NC
22nd #21c Mark Crowe ? Madison, NC
23rd #27h Justin Hudspeth ? Elkin, NC
24th #39 Rob Favre ? Mocksville, NC
Drivers that didn?t start A-main but we?re in attendance include the following: #00 Jeremy Livingood, #80 Les Blankenship, #23 Derrick Brown, #41 Joe Cox and #2 Michael Bland
The next stop on the road through the 2013 FASTRAK ?Decade of Speed Tour? will be a Double Header weekend on Friday and Saturday May 10th and 11th. Friday night May 10th we battle it out again at Beckley Motorsports Park in Prosperity, West Virginia for a $2,000 to win FASTRAK City Chevrolet Touring Division race. This is the first stop back in 2013 at Beckley after the successful 2012 FASTRAK $250,000 World Championships, which drew 186 entrants in the weekend spectacular. Then Saturday night May 11th we will return to the West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, West Virginia for the first time since being a part of the 30th Annual Dirt Track World Championships in 2010. This will be a FASTRAK National Event paying $5,000 to the winner.
Stay tuned to www.fastrakracing.com as well as the FASTRAK Racing Series Fan Page on Facebook and/or follow @FASTRAK_Racing on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.
FASTRAK Companies International would like to thank all of its marketing partners for their great and continuing support. Those 2013 sponsors include: Hoosier Race Tires, VP Racing Fuel, City Chevrolet, Sweeney Cars Chevy Buick GMC, Chevrolet Performance Parts, Vicci Apparel, TNT Race Cars, Rocket Chassis, RockAuto.com, FK Rod Ends, Genesis Race Shocks, Cool Shirt, Five Star Bodies, Hooker Harness, Velocita USA Driving Suits, Beya Headers, Kooks Custom Headers, R2C Filters, Sisco Fire and Safety and Tiger Rear Ends to our line-up of product sponsors.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the Premier Pro Late Model Series in the Country please contact Stan Lester at the FASTRAK Corporate Office at (678) 935-7304 or Brian Haynes at (706) 340-4781. Also Visit the FASTRAK Racing Series online at www.fastrakracing.com and be sure to like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter at @FASTRAK_Racing!!