This was classic Madman, as far as it being a hard fought win and an entertaining race to watch. Kyle Cummins was the early leader, with Jordan Kinser in second, being hounded by surging drivers Ballou and Hopkins. Both seemed to be able to run high and low, especially Ballou. Robert would eventually take second and a few laps after that, the way he sped down the backstretch and dove into turn three, you knew he was ready to try to take the lead. I don't know whether he hit a hole or ran over one of the infield tires, but he bounced, regained control and finished the slider to take the lead coming out of turn four. For a couple of laps, he, Cummins and Hopkins were all right together and it looked like we would have a 3 car free for all, to decide this thing. But then the battle intensified for second, between Kyle and AJ. This allowed Robert to escape a little bit. At one point AJ made a move on Kyle down the backstretch and had the momentum to pass on the outside, but a little bit of contact between the two pushed AJ over the berm. But he wasn't done and was able to regain control and come back over, onto the racing surface. But that was costly, as he had dropped a few positions. The rest of the drama in this one was centered around "Would Kyle be able to chase down Robert?" How many times have we seen Kyle do just that? Chase down someone and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And several times he did chase him down and looked to be on his way. Especially when Robert was approaching heavy lapped traffic. But, on this night, every time this would happen Robert would answer with an aggressive slider on a group of lappers or just make one of those moves where he found a keyhole in one of those groups that he could barely fit his car through. There were probably 8 or 9 times that I thought Ballou was either going to go take a drink out of the ditch on the turn 3/4 end or use the catch fence on the other end as a backstop. But he didn't and he won. But they made him earn it.
Jerry
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
Originally Posted by Jerry Shaw:
This was classic Madman, as far as it being a hard fought win and an entertaining race to watch. Kyle Cummins was the early leader, with Jordan Kinser in second, being hounded by surging drivers Ballou and Hopkins. Both seemed to be able to run high and low, especially Ballou. Robert would eventually take second and a few laps after that, the way he sped down the backstretch and dove into turn three, you knew he was ready to try to take the lead. I don't know whether he hit a hole or ran over one of the infield tires, but he bounced, regained control and finished the slider to take the lead coming out of turn four. For a couple of laps, he, Cummins and Hopkins were all right together and it looked like we would have a 3 car free for all, to decide this thing. But then the battle intensified for second, between Kyle and AJ. This allowed Robert to escape a little bit. At one point AJ made a move on Kyle down the backstretch and had the momentum to pass on the outside, but a little bit of contact between the two pushed AJ over the berm. But he wasn't done and was able to regain control and come back over, onto the racing surface. But that was costly, as he had dropped a few positions. The rest of the drama in this one was centered around "Would Kyle be able to chase down Robert?" How many times have we seen Kyle do just that? Chase down someone and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And several times he did chase him down and looked to be on his way. Especially when Robert was approaching heavy lapped traffic. But, on this night, every time this would happen Robert would answer with an aggressive slider on a group of lappers or just make one of those moves where he found a keyhole in one of those groups that he could barely fit his car through. There were probably 8 or 9 times that I thought Ballou was either going to go take a drink out of the ditch of the turn 3/4 end or use the catch fence on the other end as a backstop. But he didn't and he won. But they made him earn it.
Jerry
Thanks Jerry sounds like an almost typical bullring exercise for Robert.
