FRANKLIN, Pa. – A.J. Flick drove to victory in the Shawgo Real Estate LLC 410 Sprint Car division during a busy Sunday of racing at Tri-City Raceway Park.
Flick blasted out to the early lead in the 410 sprint car feature with George Hobaugh, Dan Shetler, Greg Wilson, Bob Felmlee and Carl Bowser next in line. Flick was impressive, opening up a substantial lead over Hobaugh as the race progressed.
Just before the halfway mark, Brandon Spithaler nailed the water barrels on the outside of the second turn. He was unhurt, but the leaking water caused a red flag situation for some track maintenance.
On the restart, Flick zoomed out ahead of Hobaugh again. At the same time, Sodeman rode the rim to take the third position. Flick continued to pull away from Hobaugh, who also began to separate himself from Sodeman. Wilson cruised along in fourth with Shetler in his wake.
Flick swept under the checkered flag to get his first win of the season. He was more than three and a half seconds ahead of Hobaugh at the finish. Sodeman, Wilson and Shetler followed.
In other action, Keith Hoffman earned his first victory Krill Recycling LLC 358 Modified division on Sunday.
Hoffman sailed into turn one ahead of Nick Joy and then dropped to the inside line. Jimmy Holden nestled into third, followed by Kyle Fink, Kyle Inman, Max Smoker and Eric Beggs. While Hoffman was pulling away from Joy, Holden stopped inside turn one with a flat left front tire arising from some contact with Joy on the opening lap.
When racing resumed, Hoffman continued to lead over Joy, Fink, Inman and Jeremiah Shingledecker. Joy slid out of the groove and lost two positions. Fink then began chasing Hoffman, with Inman in third and Shingledecker up to fourth. Beggs spun out of contention just after the halfway point to setup a restart.
That put Fink on Hoffman’s bumper for the restart. Fink tried to duck under Hoffman coming off turn two, but there was not enough room. He jammed on the brakes and slid up the surface, losing several spots in the process. That gave Hoffman some extra breathing room.
Hoffman polished off the final ten laps, with Inman holding off Shingledecker to get the runner-up position. Fink recovered for fourth with Joy finishing fifth.
Other winners included Tyler Wyant in the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Pro Stocks while Justin Bailey and Dalton Speer split a pair of 4 Your Car Connection Mini Stock events.