Detroit, Michigan (June 3, 2016) – Coming off a top-25 finish in the 100 running of the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday; Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia driver Matt Brabham raced to his first SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS victory Friday at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix Race 1.
Filling in for driver Robby Gordon, whom is in Ensenada, Mexico competing in Baja 500 this Saturday, Matt Brabham would not let down his new boss down tracking down early leader Scottsdale, Arizona driver Arie Luyendyk Jr. from his ninth starting position after the competition caution to race away to an extensive lead.
Brabham whom has been on absolute fire in Stadium SUPER Trucks competition in 2016 has been on the podium in every event and Friday’s race did not prove no different as Brabham proved Gordon’s choose to put him in the truck was a great decision as he ran away to his first victory in Stadium SUPER Trucks competition.
“It was terrific when Robby called and offered me the seat for today and tomorrow and I could not be happier to bring the Arctic Cat/ Toyo Tires truck home in first place. I really enjoy my Stadium Super Truck racing and to get my first ever win today to cap off an amazing three weeks of racing was a real bonus” Stated and ecstatic Matt Brabham in Victory Lane.
Luyendyk whom lead the first six laps in the Quicken Loans backed entry would go on to finish in the second position, while local hero Aaron Bambach of Rochester Hills, Michigan would place his 3Dimensional.com /Titan Wealth Advisors truck back on the podium in the third spot repeating his 2014 efforts.
Paul Morris of Norwell, Queensland, Australia driving the United Fiber & Data/ LIVE truck No. 67 would drive a calm and conservative race in his new blue livery except for the last lap where the driver known as the “The Dude” made an aggressive move to work his way past TRAXXAS driver Keegan Kincaid to nab the fourth position.
Filling in for SafeCraft Safety Systems driver Tyler McQuarrie, whom had another race event scheduled for Friday and Saturday’s events would make the call to Scotty Steele of Peoria, Arizona to make his first start of the 2016 season. Steele would settle into the seat of the No. 6 right where he left off in Sydney of last December hanging with the front-runners and making moves towards a podium finish. In a last lap shuffle of positions Steele would fall back to respectable fifth place finish.
Dustin Scott of Inver Grove Heights, Minn. would once again show strong signs of competing for a podium early in the event keeping up with the quick pace of Luyendyk and Bambach, but would find trouble on the ultra tight course nosing the SPEED Energy/ Cobra Transportation truck into the tire barrier and having to work his way back through field. Scott would go on to finish his fifth Stadium SUPER Trucks race in the sixth position.
Fast Qualifier and current point leader Sheldon Creed of Alpine, Calif. would start his first ever race on the Belle Isle Street Circuit in the last position. In typical Sheldon Creed fashion the young driver would work his way to the front of the pack challenging Luyendyk and Bambach for the second position quickly. However, contact with the outside wall would see Creed loose his hood and the handle on his No. 1 TRAXXAS truck in the closing laps to fade back in the pack with suspension damage. Limping his truck across the finish line Creed was credited with the seventh position.
Making his return to Stadium SUPER Truck competition after a year hiatus E.J. Viso of Caracas, Venezuela driving the United Fiber & Data/ Think Loud Investments No. 83 would fight the handling of his truck early in the event finishing with a eighth place finish.
Australian SST regular Matt Mingay of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia making his debut on American soil on Friday substituting for SST regular Pat O’Keefe would struggle getting familiar with the braking of the new course hitting the tire barriers multiple times to bring home the SafeCraft Safety Systems SST home in the ninth position.
TRAXXAS driver Keegan Kincaid of Crandon, Wisc., would experience a bent a-arm after making contact with Los Angeles, California driver Burt Jenner who bounced off the outside wall on Lap-1. Recovering from that contact Kincaid would work his way back into fifth on the last lap, but contact with Morris would spin the No. 47 around ultimately forcing Kincaid to a tenth place finish.
United Fiber and Data/ LIVE driver Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Penn., would go on to finish the twelve-lap event in the eleventh position ahead of Los Angeles, California’s Burt Jenner who made his first start in the Royal Purple Synthetic Oil truck would hit the wall on the first lap and retire his truck early.
