[Task Force]

JOSH SUNN WINS A WILD NIGHT #2 OF GATOR DIRT NATIONALS
By Zach Tasker

Night number 2 of 3 for the inaugural Gator Dirt Nationals at the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida lived up to its billing as a race on Friday the 13th. That can only explain the craziness that occurred in the 20 lap feature. The race started out as a fairly straightforward affair as pole sitter Dillon Buhr led the field to the green fresh off of his Thursday night feature win. Alongside the 2014 Southern States Midget Series Rookie of the year would be Lucas Oil Powri Outlaw Midget Series competitor Josh Sunn.

The race was highly attrition filled as defending SSMS champion Darrin Davis saw his engine expire on lap one. After a couple of early race yellow flags the race started to develop a rhythm. Adam Pierson had taken the lead early on and was looking to sweep the night after winning his heat race and the race of champions. The Vermont native would hold a steady lead until he hit heavy lapped traffic, and then Anthony Nocella would rocket by him using the lapped cars as a pick to perfection. The Seymour Racing driver was looking to bounce back after a rough opening night on Thursday that saw him get tangled up in a lap one turn one crash thus ending his night. After thrashing and repairing the car for Fridays event, it looked as if Nocella would go from zero to hero in a span of 24 hours. He had built up a comfortable lead on Pierson until when two laps to go coming off of turn four heartbreak struck again as the Woburn, Massachusetts drivers car grinded to a halt on the front stretch as his Focus powerplant gave up the ghost.

This would lead to the nights first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Josh Sunn pounced on leader Pierson right on the get-go and took the lead. However, this topsy-turvy race was yet to be completed as a 3rd place Daniel Robinson dove into turn 3 with one lap to go while running third and pushing hard to make a move on the two leaders. Robinson lost control and spun in the middle of the track leaving nowhere to go for Dillon Buhr as he piled hard into the side of the #0 machine. Both drivers were ok, but a red flag was displayed for cleanup.

This lead to another restart that again went yellow with one lap to go due to the stalled machine of Frank Malec. On the third and final attempt at a Green-White-Checkered finish, Josh Sunn scooted away ahead of his teammate and won by a half of a car length over Pierson. The White River, Vermont driver was overjoyed in victory lane. “I just found something on the bottom and then I knew he (Pierson) was going to get me on top the last restart, so I kind of stayed up there a little bit but me and him we race back in Vermont back and forth and we have so much respect for each other I knew we were going to give each other room so it's awesome. Frank Manafort, he's the man; he's the best car owner in the world. He does everything, Brad Noffsinger, Matty, everybody that came and helped me out, it's just amazing. Both cars go so good and it’s the best feeling. I never thought I would come to Florida and win a race; I didn’t win a race last year and it's just amazing!”

The driver of the #76 Blackwatch Farms/Brad Noffsinger Racing Acadamy/BMRS Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Spike/Focus relished the chance to be able to race for the win with a teammate. “We are like brothers together, I really wanted to get a win and 1-2 for Frank and its an awesome feeling.”

Runner-up Adam Pierson in the #76 Blackwatch Farms/Brad Noffsinger Racing Acadamy/BMRS Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Spike/Focus was just one spot away from sweeping the night, but still has three wins on the weekend (Thursday heat race win, Friday heat race and race of champions win). “The cars were a little too tight tonight, we tightened them up way too much, it was really tight in the center, but that was one heck of a race for first. If I'm going to finish 2nd that’s how to do it. Especially against my teammate, he knew that I was going to go for it that last lap because that was the end of the race when I did it the first time but then they went back after the yellow so he knew that I was probably going to do the same thing again. That’s racing so we will do it again tomorrow, that’s great to have a 1-2.”

The East Corinth, Vermont native knew he would have had to work for it to get back past Nocella before he broke. “I mean I thought I was going to be good, I was like ok he's not here. I know the 24 is coming , I know my teammate is coming somewhere and I just got caught in traffic but its too bad that he blew up or had problems because that would have been a good race at the end too if I could have caught him and we could have went and battled for the lead. If he was going that good he should have deserved that win, it's just too bad. The lapped traffic is a little hairy, because you don’t know where they are going to go sometimes and one guy goes high and you try to go low and he cuts down low but that’s racing.”

Rounding out the podium with a strong run was Scott Holcomb out of North Granby, Connecticut. The driver of the #47 Brignole-Bush-Lewis Attornies at Law/Roarke Tree Farm Hawk/Quad 4 just stayed cool the whole 20 laps and let the positions come to him. “It was good, a couple cars got tangled up there at the end and I almost got involved in that one but we got around it. The little Quad 4’s that we are running were down on horsepower without a doubt. I think we got all we could get out of that car tonight, I really do. It’s a great little track, it's fast, a nice racy place for a midget. I'm sure it's good to watch.”

In the special six lap Race of Champions dash, Pierson would pick up the win by a comfortable margin. Heat races were won by Pierson, Dillon Buhr, who made up multiple positions on the race start and Josh Sunn, who passed Scott Anderson late for the win.

The third and final night of the Gator Dirt Nationals is Saturday February 14. A full show of practice, heat races, dashes and a special 33 lap feature as a salute to the late Patrick Wilda Jr is on tap. Grandstands open at 5pm with practice at 5pm and racing at 6pm. Adult general admission tickets are just $18.

FEATURE (20 LAPS)
1ST JOSH SUNN #76
2ND ADAM PIERSON ‪#‎76M‬
3RD SCOTT HOLCOMB #47
4TH SETH CARLSON ‪#‎7RI‬
5TH TIM GALLANT #33
6TH BRANDON DENTON #45
7TH LANCE NEWTON #4
8TH ANDY BARROWS ‪#‎46D‬
9TH DANIEL ROBINSON #0
10TH DILLON BUHR #24
11TH PATRICK BRUNS ‪#‎10B‬
12TH JERRY BECKER #30
13TH FRANK MAKL #6
14TH ANTHONY NOCELLA #29
15TH SCOTT ANDERSON #49
16TH CHETT GEHRKE ‪#‎11C‬
17TH DARREN DAVIS #92
18TH BRADLEY MCDANIEL #1 DNS
19TH CLAYTON MULLETT #51 DNS
20TH JIMMY CLARK ‪#‎10C‬ DNS

RACE OF CHAMPIONS (6 LAPS)
1ST ADAM PIERSON #76M
2ND SETH CARLSON #7RI
3RD SCOTT HOLCOMB #47
4TH ANTHONY NOCELLA #29
5TH PATRICK BRUNS #10B
6TH DARRIN DAVIS #92
7TH ANDY BARROWS #46D
8TH JIMMY CLARK #10C DNS