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DILLON BUHR SCORES NIGHT #1 WIN AT GATOR DIRT NATIONALS
By Zach Tasker
The first night of the 2015 Gator Dirt Nationals at the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida had an upset winner as Dillon Buhr held off all the northern invaders and made sure that at least for one night the trophy stayed in the home state of the Southern States Midget Series. Buhr started on the outside of the front row for the 20 lap feature. He got the jump on pole sitter Adam Pierson and held control for the rest of the race. There were multiple late-race restarts where he had to hold off the 2014 USAC DMA and Lucas Oil Powri Outlaw Midget Series champion Pierson. The Jacksonville native also made some dramatic passes through lapped traffic to take his biggest career win.
“We started on the outside pole with a 21 car field and I led from the start. I thought he was going to hang with me on the inside for a while because the track was so slick, but we were able to run out front for most of the time. We had a couple of cautions, and then the car started cutting out a little bit in the last five laps, but we had some lapped traffic and got by them pretty easily. We had a lapped car at the end that hit the wall, and them came across the track and I about creamed him going into turn 3 coming to the checkered flag. I just told myself to hold on; if I hit him I hit him. I was already committed to the line, as soon as I set it into the corner I saw him come across, and I thought oh my god. "
The driver of the #24 Super Shox/MWR/Atlantic Powder Coating/Denton Motorsports Eagle/Ecotec is hoping to capitalize on this win for the next two nights of racing. “It feels great. I thought that coming off of winning the heat race was an accomplishment in itself with these guys down here but a feature, I couldn’t ask for more than this right here. I hope we can continue this tomorrow night and Saturday night. ”
2nd place Adam Pierson tried to throw the kitchen sink at Buhr the last few laps but couldn’t mount a challenge to try to get a run on him. “Every time we would restart he just would get me on that jump. The way our motors are with the cam, it just doesn't come off the corner like that one would. I was trying to time it right so I could keep the motor up and keep with him but he just jumped me every time. I think we were pretty even except he was getting me from the center off the corner but for the first time being here coming from Vermont I'll take it a second spot is definitely a good starting spot for this weekend.”
The driver of the #76m Blackwatch Farms/Brad Noffsinger Racing Acadamy/BMRS Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Spike/Focus out of East Corinth, Vermont thinks just some small tweaks will put him in the front tomorrow night. “We just need to do a little research on the tires and the rear suspension stuff to make it not dig so hard and not wear the tire out basically.”
Rounding out the podium was the #7 Ellis/Ecotec driven by Seth Carlson out of Brimfield, Massachusetts. The winner of a 2014 NEMA midget race at Oswego Speedway was surprised by his pace. “We are still new to this, we haven’t been to many tracks and I haven’t been driving dirt for that long. We got the car going pretty good for the feature, and hopefully we will get it better for tomorrow. We were right there, I was trying a couple of different lines to see if I could reel them in at the end and I fell back a little bit but with a couple of adjustments on the car I think we will be alright. “
A strong field of 21 D2 midgets from across the nation were on hand at the 3/8 mile dirt oval. Pierson, Buhr and Josh Sunn were heat race winners. Racing continues on Friday night with a full show including the special invitational race of champions and the Gator Dirt Nationals finale on Saturday.
FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS): 1)#24 Dillon Buhr 2)#76m Adam Pierson 3)#7 Seth Carlson 4) Josh Sunn 5)#0 Daniel Robinson 6)#33 Tim Gallant 7)#10b Patrick Bruns 8)#47 Scott Holcomb 9)#45 Brandon Denton 10)#4 Lance Newton 11)#49 Scott Anderson 12)#1 Bradley Mcdaniel 13)#30 Terry Becker 14)#10C Jimmy Clark Jr. 15)#51 Clayton Mullett 16)#20x Jeff Hafeke Jr. 17)#11c Chett Gehrke 18)#6 Franke Malec 19)#92 Darrin Davis 20)#29 Anthony Nocella 21)#46d Andy Barrows
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