It is just under a 250-mile drive to Gas City I-69 Speedway, Indiana. Located between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, the drive paid off for Fenton’s Steve Irwin on Friday night. Irwin drives a non-wing sprint car and he took the feature victory on “Beach Theme Night/Summer Thunder.” The show brought out a grandstand packing crowd to the speedway for a fun themed Friday night of racing.
Five divisions competed with the ever-popular Sprint Cars highlighting the evening. Battling it out over 25 laps in the feature race. Gas City I-69 Speedway regular Shane Cottle, second in the point standings, dominated the race. After a huge tangle in Turn 4 forced a complete restart. Kyle Simon flipped his car. Fortunately, he walked away without injury.
Cottle passed polesitter and points leader Clinton Boyles early when Boyles spun on the backstretch. Boyles was forced to work his way back to the lead lap. Cottle built a sizeable lead over Jacob Gordon and then Boyles. On lap 6 Boyles passed Gordon for second and brought Irwin along with him into third. Despite three more cautions that tightened up the field and allowed Boyles to draw close on restarts, Cottle had things well in hand, building up a sizeable lead over Boyles each time.
With 21 laps complete an incident between Boyles and Cottle in Turns 1 and 2 opened the door for Irwin. Cottle spun and saw Boyles as the cause. So did race officials. Boyles was penalized, went to the rear, and finished tenth. Cottle’s damaged car was credited with 14th.
All Irwin had to do was hold on for four more laps. Which the “2017 Engine Pro Sprints On Dirt” Champion did. Becoming the sixth different non-wing sprint car feature winner at Gas City this season. Driving his Flying Zero, Irwin earned his first non-wing sprint feature victory in the Hoosier state. Adam Byrkett finished second, Kayeleb Bolton came from 20th to third. Travis Hery placed fourth. Braydan Willmington, an Aussie who was making his first start ever in America in a non-wing sprint car, placed fifth.
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