Bradford, Prater, Barnard & Whipkey Take Home Week One Wins
4 min read
BARBERTON SPEEDWAY: When the green flags wave, the drivers come to play! With the opening week finally here, months of tinkering finally gave way to racing. Fans were not only treated to some intense racing, but a wonderful musical performance by the Manchester Marching Band. After the early heat races and intermission, it was time to go!
Tim Bradford took home his first win in the compacts after moving through the field and battling hard with Tony Barbuscio. When the green flag flew, Barbuscio took the early race lead. As the laps ticked away, Bradford worked his way through the field and found himself running in Barbuscio’s tire tracks. After a quick yellow from multi car incident in the back of the pack, the remaining cars bunched up. On the restart, Barbuscio and Bradford took off and were followed closely behind by 2017 champion Sheldon Sommers and 2010 champ Tim Farrar. The quartet battled hard until Bradford got a nose under Barbuscio in turn three. When Bradford took the lead, Barbuscio stayed and took every advantage he could. Trying every line he could, he put the #48 right beside Bradford’s #14. The duo battled side by side weaving through lap cars. Eventually the #14 prevailed as the #48 fell back and had to battle Farrar. It was Bradford’s first win and first race since deploying for active duty last year.
2016 champion Aaron Prater took the Modified feature after taking an off season in the division. Running Late Models last year, Prater’s return to the modified division was made possible by car owner Dan Burden. When the green flag flew for the modifieds, Prater quickly found his way to the point. Though the winning move came early in the race, it was filled with action. Prater battled hard with fellow racer Dave Dobbins before gaining sole possession of the lead. Dobbins fell back to third as the 2017 season champion Bob Sibila worked into 2nd. Sibila got to work as he attempted to close the distance between his red #82 and Prater’s white #44. The two drivers traded fast laps as one would pull on the other each and every lap. The two kept fans on the edge of their seats as they put on a wonderful and professional display of driving. The race came to an end and Prater took the win.
The Street Stock feature was won by Greg Barnard. The division had the largest field. Scott Curto brought the field down to the green flag and the racing got intense fast! Curto ran side by side with Jim Raines III, Tim Schmitt Jr. and Dennis Wood. The four ran hard side by side two rows deep until Schmitt and Raines made contact drawing a yellow. When the field got going again, Schmitt started 2nd and tried to pass Curto, but could not complete the pass and fell back. Dennis Wood made a bid for the lead but also could not pass the #7 of Curto. Enter Roger Arbogast. Arbogast made a move under Curto but made contact, triggering a multi car crash that took out the likes of Jim Raines Jr. and hurt Justin Alexander’s bid for the win just before halfway. When the carnage was cleaned, the race once again got going. Curto kept his lead position, but gave it up to a fast hard charging Richard Price. Price took the lead and began to gap the field. Leading from the restart, Price led the most laps in the street stock race. Disaster struck with four laps to go when his right front tire began losing air. It let go coming off of turn four and ended his chance for a win. When the race restarted once again, Barnard took the lead over and battled with Dennis Wood. Barnard took home the win after only leading the final three laps.
Gary Whipkey took home the late model win after using the high line to pass Dino Compolito early. While Whipkey led the bulk of the race, the field kept tight behind the purple #59. Doug Sommers moved into 2nd and kept his nose right behind the #59. While Sommers was able to get a run off the corner, he could not match the straitaway speed that the Whipkey machine held. It was a tale of two cars with different strengths. Unfortunately on the white flag lap, the #3 of Sommers and #59 of Whipkey made contact coming off of the turn. Sommers took blame and fell back. On the restart, Tony Urdiales made a move under Whipkey but also made contact sending the #59 around again. When the race restarted, Whipkey held off 2017 champion Roger Smith and Sommers and took the win home for the Taylor-Whipkey Racing crew.
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