Mooresville, N.C. – June 27, 2013 By Tom Baker – We were sitting at Millbridge Speedway preparing for the night’s Mini Outlaw and Clone Kart racing action around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon when Mother Nature unleashed her wrath on the speedway grounds, complete with thunder, lightning, wind and lots of liquid sunshine.
That didn’t stop the Speedway’s co-leader Jeremy Burnett and his capable crew from re-packing the dirt track and making it into one of the most raceable tracks they’ve had there in a while!
It’s always fun to see a first time winner in racing, It’s even more fun when it’s someone as young as Eli Bodine, son of NASCAR’s Brett Bodine. Wednesday night, Eli swapped the lead several times with fellow Mini Outlaw Beginner Box Stock racer Estella Sawyer and picked up the victory for the first time. Proud Poppa Brett and the entire family were all smiles in victory lane as the young man celebrated.
Sawyer drove a strong race to finish in second with Gavin Bochelle also right there third. Fourth was Hunter Kohn while Tyler Dolack came across in fifth.
In the Box Stock division it was another second generation racer, Max McLaughlin, who got the win on this night subbing for Karsyn Elledge in the Nickelodeon sponsored No. 3. Max, whose father Mike “Magic Shoes” McLaughlin won scores of races on both dirt and pavement in the Northeast before enjoying success in NASCAR, is a 13-year-old with a lot of talent and the desire to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Clark Houston, son of former NASCAR racer Andy Houston, finished second with Zack Wolfe, Alex Bodine (Brett’s stepson) and Jacob Hammock rounding out the top five. Sixth was last week’s winner Brooke Benge, Georgia’s Ahnna Parkhurst was seventh and Macy Scearce crossed the line in 8th.
Here is Max McLaughlin’s post-race interview June26MillbridgeMaxMcLaughlin
The 125 Mini Outlaw division saw 15-year-old KC Otto take the win over the No. 11 of Caitlyn Benge. KC was also subbing for Karsyn Elledge in this division, racing the No. 3. Otto’s victory lane comments can be heard here June26MillbridgeKCOttoVL
The “Open” Mini Outlaw class is the fastest class, and it started off with a “bang” in qualifying as Kyle Beattie broke a right rear hub and punched the fourth turn wall with his SKE Karts No. 21 . Kyle was uninjured but the kart was done for the day. Max McLaughlin also scratched his CraZ8 from the feature event due to mechanical issues on his machine.
The Trick Shot Clone Karts saw yet another “celebrity” hopping behind the wheel as NASCAR Nationwide Series racer Austin Dillon took a ride in K.C. Otto’s kart and finished second to winner D.J. McQueen. Tim Giesen was third. This is another example of Millbridge being a “midweek throwdown” where you never know who may be walking around or hopping behind the wheel and it’s truly a family atmosphere.
In feature competition it was the 30 of Tom Hubbert taking the early lead. Brandon LaChance in the No. 57 gave chase along with Aaron Latourell in the No. 69 but Hubbert had the right combination of speed and handling for the track on this night and he walked away with the win. LaChance was second, Latourell third, Sean Vardell fourth, Trenton LaChance fifth and Chaz Woodward coming home in sixth in the night’s final event.
We talked with Hubbert in victory lane. His interview is right here! June26MillbridgeTomHubbertVL
Millbridge will be silenced for a couple of weeks, returning to action on Wednesday, July 17th. For more information go to www.MiniOutlawSeries.com or find Millbridge Speedway on Facebook!