GASTONIA, N.C. (Feb. 27) — During the dreary winter weeks leading up to the recent release of the 2021 Crate Racin’ USA Thunder Bomber Shootout Series schedule, Blake Bentley of Duncan, S.C., has not been outwardly willing to commit to running the full schedule on the touring series.
He’s still not saying he’ll compete on the full slate of a dozen events for one of the most exciting and raciest divisions in the Carolinas, but he knows that he’ll likely be at Lancaster (S.C.) Motor Speedway for the touring series’ second event of the season on March 13.
There’s a good reason: He won the season opener held Saturday night at 4/10-mile Carolina Speedway, just a few hours after telling his father that should the team win the race later that night, then he would definitely go to the next event.
“We were coming through the gates and I’d never raced here before, and I turned to my Dad and actually told him that,” Bentley said. “So now I guess we’ll be heading to Lancaster, but we’re still gonna take it one race at a time and see how it goes for us. There’s two or three tracks on the schedule we’ve never been to before."
Fog dropped into the confines of the high-banked oval during the middle stages of the race, enveloping the grounds in an eerie-looking scene. A crash among the top five competitors occurred with two laps remaining in the 20-lap affair, and series officials attributed the wreck to drivers’ inability to see clearly in the foggy conditions, and called the race official.
The scoring was backed up to the last-completed lap, and Bentley crossed the stripe ahead of 13th-place starter Mattison Hoots, Hank Taylor, Jonathan Hinson and Casey Lawson. Taylor, despite a crinkled right-front fender suffered in the wreck, ironically was listed as the third-place finisher despite leaving the infield on the wrong end of a wrecker.
“That was wild when that fog rolled in here,” Bentley said. “It was pretty hard to see out there. Honestly if we had been running anywhere else in the field except leading the race, I’d have probably pulled my car into the pits. It was pretty bad.”
Hoots advanced 11 spots to nab the runnerup slot, and plans to run the full series schedule after winning six races in the division across the region during the 2020 season. He said after the race that he’d have liked to have seen the final two laps completed.
“It’s a good thing they made the call to stop the race, because you couldn’t hardly see a thing out there with that fog,” Hoots said. “It’s a good thing that caution came out for that last wreck, because there were a bunch of cars about to get tore up. Sure I’d like to have finished one spot higher, and I think I might have had something for him [Bentley], but I’m not a guy who likes to say I could have done this or I could have done that because it’s always easier said than done.”
Bentley completed the shortened 18-lap distance in a car sponsored by Smith Motors, Sisk Scrap Recycling, Heatherly’s Tree Service, Leagon’s Racing Heads, Big A’s Custom Graphics, Whiteside’s Racing Parts, Flatwood Customs and Gregory’s Trailer Service & Truck Stop.
Thunder Bomber Shootout #1: 1. Blake Bentley, 2. Mattison Hoots, 3. Hank Taylor, 4. Johnathan Hinson, 5. Casey Lawson, 6. Brent McAteer, 7. Luke Doggett, 8. Mark Towell, 9. Hayden Adkins, 10. Duce Miller, 11. Heath Henderson, 12. Dylan Montgomery, 13. Roger Suggs, 14. Shane McDaniel, 15. Bill Stutler, 16. Juston Truitt, 17. Seth Outlaw, 18. Clyde Scott, 19. Grant Parr, 20. Preston Dimsdale, 21. Justin Fowler, 22. Josiah Lucas, 23. Wildcat Willie, 24. Stetsen Todd.
Article Credit: Brian McLeod