Before Saturday night’s event we hadn’t seen Tyler Seavey yet this season at Cycleland. That’s because the 2014 Open Champion has been busy racing and winning in a sprint car. He has 3 Main Event wins this season in the Bev & Rudy Warrington #18 sprint car. He had an off weekend though this week and made the most of it as he put together a dominating performance in the Amber Norman Racing #91 kart.
When the Green Flag flew it looked as though pole sitter Blake Carrick had the kart to beat. He pretty well dominated the first ¾ of the race. Tyler Seavey though made quick work of the drivers ahead of him and began to mount a charge on the #21B of Carrick. The two sliced and diced through lapped traffic and for the second week in a row we had the rookie vs. the veteran battle at the front of the field. Also for the second week in a row it was one small mistake for the rookie that led to the Veteran picking up the victory. This time Carrick was working through lapped traffic and trying to pick and choose the best line to not only get by but to try and pull away from Seavey in second. Going into turn one on lap #21 Carrick came up behind a slower car and tried to go to the bottom of the racetrack to get by. The slower car though chose to go to the bottom as well and it slowed Carrick’s momentum enough that Tyler Seavey was able to drive around them both on the outside of the racetrack. From there Carrick tried to keep up but just had nothing for the #91 of Seavey. Tyler would lead the final four laps en route to his first win since 2015 at the Cycleland Speedway. Blake Carrick would finish a bittersweet second in the Interstate Oil Company #21B. Holly Shelton made another appearance at the speedway and picked up a third-place finish and was the Hard Charger in the Main Event as she charged from 9th to finish 3rd.. Points leader Landon Brooks finished in the fourth position in the Carrick Motorsports #60L. While Garrett Brown rounded out the top five in the fifth spot in the Ed Brown Trucking #2 kart.
The night began with 18 drivers signing into the pit area for the ninth points race of the season. For the second straight week it was Lincoln, CA driver Tanner Carrick setting Fast Time in Time Trials with a lap of 10.557 seconds
Heat Race competition saw Blake Carrick win his first Heat Race of the season in Heat Race #1 scoring him the Pole Position for the Main Event. Garrett Brown picked up the win in the second Heat Race. His second Heat Race win of the 2017 race season.
Trophy Dash competition saw Tyler Seavey dominate the field. He would win the 8-lap dash by nearly four seconds over second place. Tyler was happy to get back into the kart and have success and thanked all the right people in victory lane like the veteran he is.
Thru nine points races Landon Brooks now holds a 75-point advantage over Kyle Woodcock for the top spot. Woodcock took 4 points out of his lead on Saturday night. Garrett Brown is third in the standings 143 points out of the lead. Tyler Brown had a substitute driver (Tanner Carrick) on Saturday night and now sits fourth in the standings, 159 markers out of the top spot. Casey Schmitz still sits fifth in the standings as he is now 179 points out of the lead. These standings have substitute drivers factored in, and may not match what is shown online.
We will be off this coming Saturday but will be back in two weeks with our big Double-Header Weekend. July 7th and 8th we will have Points Race #10 & #11. Hot Laps are scheduled to begin at 5:30PM with qualifying to follow both nights. For ticket information and/or directions to the racetrack please visit www.cyclelandspeedway.com.