Gio Bromante scored his first Young Lions victory at the Shootout in impressive fashion, taking the top spot away from polesitter Brody Pope on lap three and running away to a 1.694 second victory over Eddie Fatscher.
“It was a hard race, but we really turned out strong tonight,” said Bromante, who becomes the 45th different driver to win a Young Lions feature at the Shootout and second-straight first-time winner in the class. “We were struggling all day in practice, but Dennis Lambert finally got something underneath us that I felt really comfortable with and we were just great during the feature tonight. This is a pretty cool deal, to win here. It means a lot.”
The race was slowed twice due to incidents; once for a Sam Mayer spin on lap one and again on the restart, when a spectacular crash saw nearly half the field accordion together before Hailee Deegan launched over the back of Jack Fread’s car, standing on its nose in mid-air before coming to rest on its wheels. Deegan was uninjured in the incident, but her night was ended prematurely.
From there, Bromante’s pass of Pope for the lead and the win was the action until five laps to go, when Fatscher and Alex McCollum traded the lead five times among themselves before the white flag waved and Fatscher was able to clear McCollum for good.
Pope and Zack Wells rounded out the top five.
The 25-lap In Light Wellness Pro division feature went caution-free at the start of the night, featuring a two-man scrap at the front of the field as polesitter Austin Green and Stevie Johns Jr. exchanged the lead twice during the race distance.
Green led the first six laps uncontested before Johns slipped underneath him in turn one on the seventh round to assume the point, but Johns could not get away to a lead of more than three car lengths at the most. As the crossed flags were prepared, Green made his move, using the famed bump-and-run to pass Johns for the lead — and the eventual win — in turn three on lap 12 and never looked back.
Green edged away through the second half, eventually crossing the twin checkers one second ahead of Johns as he scored his 11th career Shootout win, first in the Pro class and first in a Legends car on the frontstretch quarter-mile.
“Man, this car has been good no matter what and tonight was no exception,” Green smiled. “We had trouble getting back in our rhythm after last week’s late-race penalty, but I was finally able to make it happen tonight and put it all together. I didn’t think Stevie was that close when I slipped up, but I was able to get him back when he slipped up and come home with it. It’s special because this class is so tight, so it means a lot.”
Johns finished second followed by Michael Torres, round one winner Chase Purdy and Alex Pacheco.
Lowe’s Beginner Bandolero feature win came courtesy of a lap nine pass of Parker Eatmon, while other repeat winners at the Shootout were Matthew Davey (Bandolero Outlaws) and Bryson Ruff (Bandolero Bandits).
Davey passed round one winner D.J. Canipe in turn two on the last-lap of a time limit-shortened, 17-lap Outlaws run for his second-career class victory and second-consecutive win in Round Two at the Summer Shootout; while Ruff passed race-long leader Cameron Bolin on lap 15 of 20 in the Bandits main for his third-career Shootout win and first in the class for Bandolero drivers age eight to 11.
The 23rd annual Bojangles’ Summer Shootout continues on Tuesday, June 21 with the second night of a Week Two doubleheader, featuring Legends Car and Bandolero racing in seven classes and a school bus race for local school principals.
