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Yet Another Unpredictable Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series Event Nets Thomas the ‘W’ at HOT!
Elm Mott TX (5/15/21) by DarinShort.com. Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series fans are frequently commenting how unpredictable the race outcomes are from event to event – and last night’s ‘Children Tumor Foundation Night’ at Heart O' Texas Speedway (HOT) was certainly no different, with 7th place starter Marcus Thomas, piloting the beautiful Ray Williams owned #22x, would end up in victory lane collecting $2,000 in the process.
Event recap:
On what would be a ‘Chamber of Commerce’ weather night, with temps in the upper 70’s and no precip threat, a great crowd and 30 Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series teams would converge upon HOT to battle it out. The field was split into three-10 car qualifying heat races, with the top 16 in combined finishing and passing points lining up the straight-up feature event lineup, with the balance of the 24 feature race starters advancing from the B-feature.
Lots of passing would highlight the mainly non-stop heat races with heat race winners Chase Randall (started 4th), Austin Mundie (1) and Blake Mallory (2) all advancing to the feature. But the top four overall qualifiers - after passing points were added in - ended up being Chase Randall (2), Dalton Steed (8), Channin Tankersley (10) and Blake Mallory (2).
This set the stage for literally a repeat of the March 12th 2021 ‘Bandit event at HOT, as the top three racers for a large part of that feature event included the trio of Randall, Tankersley and Steed.
When the green flag dropped for the 25-lapper, the slick and smooth racing surface would allow racers to utilize both the very bottom and upper deck of the speedway with Dalton Steed taking the point for the first four laps until a quick yellow flag would come out for DJ Estes who suffered mechanical woes and sidelining him for the rest of the event.
On the restart Steed would pull away from Chase Randall to a 10-car length lead with Channin Tankersley in tow. Meanwhile, Marcus Thomas was starting to pick his way through the field, advancing up to the 4th position.
Tankersley would take over the 2nd position from Randall on lap 8 setting his sights on Steed, while Thomas began pressuring Randall for 3rd. Thomas would take over 3rd from Randall – when disaster struck for 2nd place runner Tankersley.
On lap 9, Junior Jenkins #23 sprinter would experience severe rear end issues and was slowly making his way through the extreme upper shelf of the track at the apex of corner 3 and 4, when 2nd place runner Tankersley would pancake Junior and knocking down the RR tire of the Old School Racing #17g in the process – resulting in his night ending abruptly.
Now that moved Thomas back into the 3rd spot next to Randall for the restart, setting up yet another dynamic as the event resumed.
On that restart, Steed and Thomas would pull away from the field as Randall got wide going into corner one and losing two spots in the process.
The battle between Steed and Thomas would intensify on lap 10 when Thomas would blast by Steed on the low side taking the lead until a quick yellow would come out on lap twelve when Austin Saunders would get crossed up in corner two, and bringing out another quick yellow.
When the green flag emerged, there was a bit of a stack-up of cars getting together resulting in ‘Bandits points leader John Ricketts pulling to the infield with suspension damage – and 3rd place runner Chase Randall getting a flat LF tire.
Once the race resumed, that would move Austin Mundie into the 3rd position – who quickly shot by Steed on lap 13 taking over the 2nd spot. Meanwhile, seemingly out of nowhere, Jeb Sessums had been making his way through the field from his 17th place starting position to enter the top 5.
By now the track was taking rubber, as evidenced by some smoking RR tires, when the race was paused for a quick spin in corner 4.
The top three at that point on lap 19 were Thomas, Steed and Sessums. Thomas would pull ahead on the restart with Steed and Sessums resuming their top three in running order. At that point, the cars of Steed and Sessums were heavily smoking their RR tires while Thomas would streak across the checkers in the win position – and picking up $2,000 in the process.
We’d like to thank the Heart O’ Texas Speedway staff, especially track promoter Selby Holder and staff for providing a smooth racing surface after the several inches of rainfall just a few days prior to the event. It is not an easy process after that much rainfall to make a track surface perfect, but it did stay smooth the entire event – which resulted in virtually no cars being torn up in the process.
Thank you also the appreciative HOT fans, who were both plentiful and very much ‘in to’ the racing program – as they were cheering on their favorite drivers and the action the Series brought them.
NEXT UP for the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series is a trip up to Texas’ Dirt Track Palace – Monarch Motor Speedway in Wichita Falls – on Saturday, May 22nd. Note early start times are in effect, with 6:30pm hot laps and at 7pm the first heat race will hit the track. The ‘Bandits will be racing 2nd division out all night long.
Also note that on Monday May 17th, we will be launching the All Star Sprint Showdown at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track www.raceXR.com – and teams are urged to enter the moment it launches, as there is an entry cap of 50 sprint teams of this highly anticipated 2-day event kicking off NASCAR All Star Weekend. The Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series are the headliner on Thursday June 10th and Friday June 11th. The events each pay $2,500 to win and $400 to start, with all non-qualifiers receiving $150.
Of course with it being NASCAR weekend, a few special ‘invaders’ can be expected, and we will keep all the fans notified just who those drivers will be in the weeks leading up to the event.
Until then, thanks once again to all for their support of this series focused on sustainable – yet high quality – outlaw winged sprint car racing!
Here are the posted A-feature results from the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series event at Heart O’ Texas Speedway on May 14, 2021:
22x – Marcus Thomas
26 – Dalton Steed
5 – Austin Mundie
71 – Colby Estes
b99 – Blake Mallory
12w – Dale Wester
74e – Claud Estes III
01j – Jeb Sessums
72p – Gary Floyd
87x – Briley Stone
64x – Will Eggimann
41 – Joshua Harner
17 – Matt Etzelmiller
3 – Brett Engstrom
72 – Daniel Estes
27 – Kodey Keimig
9 – Chase Randall
5r – John Ricketts
83 – Jett Hays
82 – Austin Saunders
17g – Channin Tankersley
23 – Junior Jenkins
74 – DJ Estes
7 – Jerrad Warhurst
Series points after the HOT event will be posted when they become available.
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