Lexington, Ohio (August 10, 2019) – Returning back to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the second time in three weeks Robby Gordon would withstand a contact filled Stadium SUPER Trucks Round No. 11 to capture his first SST win of 2019. First starter Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Pennsylvania would jump out to the early lead in his United Fiber & Data truck before Casey Mears of Scottsdale, Arizona driving the bright yellow SPEED Energy entry this weekend would quickly apply pressure and drive past into the lead.
As the field worked thru only two corners things quickly escalated as Scottsdale, Arizona driver Cole Potts would make contact with Inman Park, Georgia driver Ryan Eversley upon landing of the KMC Wheels jump. The contact would send Eversley and the Continental Tires truck sliding across the track into the Toyo Tires entry of Jeff Hoffman. The two trucks would slide off the track thru the grass into the sand pit where Eversley’s Continental Terrian Contact A/T tires would bite into the dirt causing the truck to roll over twice. Landing on the wheels in stuntman form Eversley would continue on with the race.
At the start of Lap-2 Mears would continue to increase a sizeable lead on the rest of the field as third starting Robby Gordon of Orange, California would move into the second position as fast qualifier and current Stadium SUPER Trucks points leader Matt Brabham of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia was right there banging on the door of the leaders looking to challenge for the top positions. Seventh starting Cole Potts of Scottsdale, Arizona driving the Security State Bank truck was also on the move as he followed Brabham to the front of the field before moving past him and setting his sights on Gordon for the second spot.
A caution would wave over the track on Lap-4 bunching the field back up for a restart.
Mears would quickly jump back out to the lead, as Potts would battle hard with Gordon for the second spot. The two drivers would trade the position multiple times until Potts would drift high into the grass and loose two positions.
The start of Lap-6 would see Gordon look to apply pressure to Mears for the lead. Going side by side off the KMC Wheels ramp Gordon would use all of the racing surface and more completely the pass on Mears. However, at this point of the race you could not count out the ultra fast truck of Potts as he was back in striking distance of the leaders, and quickly setting his sights on Gordon for the lead.
Going side-by-side with one another Gordon would out brake Potts for the position, but the young Arizona driver would look to bang doors with the off-road veteran the next corner. The contact between the two drivers would send Potts in a spin cycle loosing multiple positions. This would open the door for Phoenix, Arizona driver Jeff Hoffman at the start of Lap-8, Hoffman would battle his way back into contention after the mishap with Eversley on the first lap. The driver of the Toyo Tires truck would pull up along side Gordon for the lead and out brake him into the corner to over take the top position from the bright orange SPEED Energy truck.
As caution would wave over the field, Hoffman would prepare himself for a good restart with only three laps remaining, but Gordon would quickly have something to say about that looking to challenge Hoffman for the lead right away. Hoffman would miss his braking mark and drift wide into the grass allowing Gordon to go back to the lead.
Hanging on in the top four Brabham was doing all he could do to remain there as he would begin to encounter brake issues bouncing off every truck he could to point his truck in the right direction. As the truck became an extreme handful Brabham would drop back in the field and out of contention.
The last lap would see Potts go side by side with Gordon for the lead in the same exact fashion he did with Greg Biffle just two weeks ago. Out jumping Gordon off the KMC Wheels ramp Potts would power to the outside of Gordon for the lead. Gordon would battle back and make contact with Potts sending him into the grass. Potts would then decide to take a short cut cutting significant distance of the racecourse.
Gordon would go on to win his first race of the 2019 Stadium SUPER Trucks Championship, while capturing his twentieth win of his career. Mears would capture his first ever SST podium position in the second position, while Potts would right his truck to round out the top three. After the completion of the event USAC Officials would apply a penalty of one position to the No. 60 truck of Cole Potts for not getting back on the racecourse in the closest point where he went off track.
From flipping over on the first lap and battling thru the entire field avoiding the chaos all around him the Continental Tires truck of Ryan Eversley would wind up with his first Stadium SUPER Trucks podium as in the final run down after the penalty was applied to Potts. Hoffman crucial mistakes the last two laps would eliminate him from podium contention and loose lots of ground to the leaders. At the finish of the scheduled laps Hoffman would be scored in the fifth position.
As Brabham went from challenging for the win to just hanging on to his truck to remain on course as he would loose his brakes, and begin to become a bowling ball banging into any truck he can to get his turned in the right direction. As the checkered flag would fly Brabham would be credited with the sixth spot.
Gavin Harlien driving the VP Fuels & Lubricants truck would start from the fifth position but would encounter unfortunate luck once again at Mid-Ohio landing awkwardly off the first jump trying to avoid the spinning trucks in front of him. In the process Harlien would knock a belt off the motor causing the truck to limp around back to the pit lane. SST technicians would be able to put the belt back on and Harlien would be able to return to the track for the last segment and finish the race but would be scored in the seventh spot.
First starting Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Pennsylvania would quickly relinquish the lead to Casey Mears and fall in line behind him on Lap-1. Hanging strong in the top five the next lap before dropping back in the pack after missing his braking mark and running wide. Hynes would keep the United Fiber & Data truck clean and go on to finish the race in the eighth position.
SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks
Results
1. Robby Gordon; Orange, California; SPEED Energy/ Toyo Tires/ KMC Wheels/ Menards
2. Casey Mears; Scottsdale, Arizona; SPEED Energy
3. Ryan Eversley; Inman Park, Georgia; Continental Tire
4. Cole Potts; Scottsdale, Arizona; Security State Bank/ Innovative Computer Professionals
5. Jeff Hoffman; Phoenix, Arizona; Toyo Tires
6. Matt Brabham; Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; Carlisle/ Headstrong/ KMC Wheels
7. Bill Hynes; Nazareth, Pennsylvania; United Fiber & Data/ LIVE/ Think Loud Development
8. Gavin Harlien; Mesa, Arizona; VP Racing Fuels & Lubricants