It wasn’t necessarily a straight line, but it was the fastest one for Trevor Nelson at Brown County Speedway Saturday night.
The Warner driver won the Super Stock feature and the $3,012 prize money that came along with it, during the Andy Daly Memorial Super Stock Special.
Nelson started in front and never trailed, although he switched his line multiple times during the 35-lap feature. Nelson started out running the high side and then switched to the bottom on a restart after he saw William Lund of Brandon, Minn., getting solid traction on the low side of the track.
“Kind of fortunate to see that first yellow come out. I kind of went back to my routine at the top and I saw Lund down on the bottom, and I just kind of figured I’m going to go down there,” Nelson said. “I don’t know if too many people could get me on the outside here, so I just decided to hang around the bottom and just kind of be patient of lap cars, and it just all played out in our favor.”
Nelson later jumped back up to the high side to the finish off the victory. His car hooked up regardless of which path he chose.
“We’ve been experimenting all week and we just came up with the right combination tonight,” Nelson said, “and I know we’ve got something to base off the rest of the year.”
The win was significant for multiple reasons, including the biggest payout of the season for Super Stocks at the local track.
“It’s nice to run for this kind of money,” Nelson said. “Can’t thank Mike Stearns enough for putting this deal together and Brown County Speedway. It’s not every often you get to race for this kind of money and it sure is nice.”
Daly was a member of the Stearns racing team, and ever since the memorial weekend of racing started Stearns has finished well in it. That trend continued as Stearns won the Modified feature.
“That feels good to do that,” Stearns said.
The Aberdeen driver has been instrumental is getting the memorial weekend up and running in honor of his longtime friend.
“We’re hoping to make it big for everybody,” Stearns said. “Obviously, it’s been a very successful weekend for us since they started doing this deal. It’s just funny how that stuff works out.”
Stearns was running the low side of the track early in the race before switching to the top on a restart later in the event.
“My guys, we were under that one caution, were telling me to move up. I suppose somebody was probably getting around there pretty good,” Stearns said. “Our car was so good around the top (Friday) night and I thought it looked pretty similar, so I was pretty comfortable making the move when we went back to green and never looked back, I guess.”
It was the second Modified win of the weekend for Stearns.
“This one’s for Andy,” he said.
The night had multiple tight feature races, including the Late Model main where Huron’s Cole Searing pulled out a win in the closing laps.
Searing led nearly the entire race, lost his lead briefly, and was able to get it back in time to take the checkered flag.
“We’ve been working on some things lately and we hit on it pretty early there,” Searing said. “The last few (laps), I feel like I lost it a little bit, so I don’t know if my tires cooled down or it was too hot. I don’t know what happened, but I was lucky to hold on.”
While Searing won the race, he was a bit disappointed in the way he finished it.
“That was tight. I didn’t feel very good about those last 6-7 laps,” he said. “So we’ll go back to work on it and make sure we’re a little better at the end.”
Preston Martin of Lincoln, N.D. outdueled Donavin Wiest of Wishek, N.D., to win the Legends feature in a classic battle of high side vs. low side.
Martin ran on the high side and it would take him about three laps to make up the ground he would lose on restarts, because Wiest was quicker off the line on the bottom.
“I knew he could get me off the restarts,” Martin said, “but if I hit my marks and I just got it wound up, I’d be able to slowly get him back on the top.”
The two ran nearly even the entire way. The biggest issue for Martin was a restart with only a couple of laps left, meaning he had to make up that ground quickly off the restart, so he tried a different strategy at the end.
“I was going to go to the bottom at least for the first corner just to get the speed up,” Martin said, “and then as soon as I went to go bottom I saw his fender … he beat me to his line and I didn’t even block him at all.”
Martin was able to get back in front of Wiest just in the nick of time at the checkered flag to win by less than a car’s length.
When asked when he knew he had won, Martin responded, “I didn’t. I absolutely didn’t. That’s why I darn near blew it off the top at the checkered, because I was trying to run on every bit of moisture I possibly could at the top. I had no clue I had him. That’s why I ended up taking an extra pace lap. I was waiting to see who did (win).”
Jason Grimes of Jamestown, N.D., officially led from start to finish in winning the Midwest Modified feature, but was passed briefly by Selby’s Dawson Zabel before a yellow flag restored the positions back to the last completed lap.
“I kind of made a mistake there,” Grimes said, “and then kind of gathered it up at the end there.”
It was the second career feature win at BCS for Grimes, the other coming more than a dozen years ago.
“I haven’t raced much the last five years,” he said, “so I’m pretty happy.”
Grimes said the win meant even more because of the racing legacy of Daly.
“I’m just really glad to have this event,” Grimes said. “Andy was a really great guy for everybody. I’m glad to be a part of this deal.”
Winner’s Grady Myers won the Street Stock feature race in unique fashion. He trailed most of the race until he noticed that a barrel on the bottom of the oval got bumped off its spot, allowing him to circle the track even tighter than before.
“After I saw that, then I was ready,” Myers said. “I was like, oh man, that looks good down there.”
Myers said the new-found opening changed his race strategy.
“I was thinking to stay up top until I saw that,” he said.
Myers was pumped after taking the checkered flag.
“I’m just so happy,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest win of my life.”
Racing continues at 7 p.m. Friday.
To see Saturday’s complete results, click on the following link:
