Round seven of the Summer Nationals Hell Tour Late Model Series goes to Brian Shirley in Springfield.
Shirley took home his 37th career Summer Nationals win. It’s also back-to-back Summer Nationals wins for Shirley. After making a mid race pass on Payton Freeman, Shirley never gave up the lead the rest of the night.
. @dirtvision REPLAY: The 4x Champ, Brian Shirley, shows 'em how it's done tonight @SGFRaceway as he takes the win in round 7 of the #HellTour …it's his 37th career Summer Nationals Victory! pic.twitter.com/ROJiWAGLs8
— DIRTcar Summer Nationals (@SummerNationals) June 22, 2022
Freeman led the first few laps of the event and looked to be well on his way to his first Summer Nationals win. It was his night from unloading the car until the midway point of the feature. A quick time qualifier and win in the heat race by Freeman put him in great position.
Unfortunately for Freeman, the race took a turn in the middle stages. Caution after caution flew, meaning restarts kept happening and finally on lap 17 it was a great jump by Shirley and Freeman slid back. This not only cost Freeman second but eventually all the way outside the top five.
Following the checkered flag, the four time series champion, Shirley’s right rear tire was nearly flat. He got all of the good he could out of the Hoosier tire. It was good enough for his second win of the season and back-to-back wins at Sycamore on Sunday night and now Tuesday in Springfield.
Making the run from a seventh starting spot is Hell Tour point leader Bobby Pierce. It was Pierce methodically working his way up the leaderboard and using the multiple restarts to gain spots. Finally when the race settled down, Pierce was able to make the typical Bobby Pierce type moves and put him on the bumper of Max Blair.
Blair took over second place and couldn’t chase down Shirley. Had Pierce had more than three laps, he easily would’ve gave Shirley a good run for his money. That wouldn’t come to fruition for Pierce, much to the delight of Shirley who picked up the win.
The Summer Nationals are back in action Wednesday night when they travel to Adams County Speedway in Quincy, IL.
1.Brian Shirley
2. Bobby Pierce
3. Max Blair
4. Logan Martin
5. Kyle Beard
6. Payton Freeman
7. Mason Oberkramer
8. Ryan Unzicker
9. Jason Feger
10. Rusty Schlenk
11. Joe Godsey
12. Preston Luckman
13. Garrett Smith
14. Deshawn Gingerich
15. Kaeden Cornell
16. Kylan Garner
17. Mark Voigt
18. Jeff Roth
19. Brent McKinnon
20. Doug Tye
21. Mick Quin
22. Kye Blight
