Brooks Makes Late Move For Victory

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The Sportsman Street Stock Series made their first ever visit to “The Rock”, Rockingham Speedway, for their 50 lap event at the mile-long track. Open qualifying started things off as 22 drivers would take their cars out for open qualifying. Justin Brooks took his car out a couple times and put himself at the top of the speed charts to pick up the pole with a lap time of 27.618 seconds, with Tim Bills joining him on the front row.

Brooks would lead the field to the green flag, while the top 5 behind him all settled into the same spots they started as the caution came out quickly on lap 3. On the lap 6 restart, Brooks jumped right back out into the lead as the field started off a 12 lap run. Kenny Lindsley made his way quickly towards the front of the field as he started 6th but had moved up into 2nd by lap 13, but Brooks had already extended his lead to 1.5 seconds. Behind them, Ty Spearman had got up into 3rd, Jacob Linkiewicz in 4th, and Bills had dropped back to 5th.

On lap 20, under caution, the field decided it was time to pit and get some fresh rubber, but two cars thought otherwise as Matt Rolfe stayed out to inherit the lead with Todd Sipe joining him at the front of the field. But on the restart, after Rolfe got the initial jump, it was Parker Traves who was able to move his way into the lead, after taking 2 tires on his pit stop to gain track position. Rolfe ended up falling to 4th as Linkiewicz and Spearman got by him, before the caution flew again on lap 26.

The field would see two more quick cautions after the restarts, which set them up for the final run with a restart on lap 42, leaving just an 8-lap shootout to the finish. Traves was able to get the jump he needed out front, as Brooks, who restarted 2nd, looked to be hung on the outside. Brooks would battle on the outside of Linkiewicz and was able to keep that spot, and set his sights on the leader. On lap 45, Brooks closed on Traves’ rear bumper, and got the run he needed and made the pass on the inside with less than a handful of laps to go.

Brooks would go on to lead the remaining laps and he would bring the field around to pick up the victory, his 23rd career SARA win. Bills was able to work his way up and get by Traves for the 2nd spot, which dropped Traves back to 3rd. Linkiewicz would finish in the 4th spot, while Lindsley rebounded to finish in the 5th spot.

1. Justin Brooks
2. Tim Bills
3. Parker Traves
4. Jacob Linkiewicz
5. Kenny Lindsley
6. Dale Owen
7. Ty Spearman
8. Stan Bragg
9. Jesse Potter
10. Matt Rolfe
11. Russell Berry
12. Jacob Beauchesne
13. Todd Sipe
14. Ken Belanger
15. Jeff Hoggard
16. James Linkiewicz
17. TJ Graves
18. Willy Howells
19. Sam Clark

Next week the series will head to Langley for a 75-lap feature event.

With an 11th place finish, Russell Berry was able to gain enough points to hang onto the points lead by just 6 points. For full results and points, click HERE.