PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Brad Sweet cashed his own $20,000 check on Wednesday night at Placerville Speedway, passing Rico Abreu early and then holding off Sheldon Haudenschild on a green-white-checkered restart to win the 49er Gold Rush Classic presented by Riebes NAPA Auto Parts.
The event, promoted by Sweet himself, was postponed from March 21 due to rain and later renamed, with the winner’s purse being doubled and the feature being extended by nine laps in honor of the miners that discovered gold in California just 10 miles away from the quarter-mile dirt track.
Sweet never faltered, though. The reigning Knoxville Nationals champion powered past Abreu and then led the final 43 laps en route to his second crown jewel win of the season and the 32nd win of his World of Outlaws career.
Wednesday night’s event was extended from 49 laps to an even 50 due to the overtime finish, sparked by a multi-car crash in turns one and two after the leader had taken the white flag.
“I don’t know if that’s cool or not (to win your own race), but these guys work extra hard to give me a great race car. I know I’m putting on two caps by promoting the race, but my number one job is to come out here and get the job done,” said Sweet, who also won the preliminary night of the Gold Cup Race of Champions last weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway.
“I had a little extra incentive, with $20,000 on the line, and it’s nice to put the NAPA car in victory lane at the Riebes NAPA-sponsored event,” Sweet added. “That was a long 49 laps and it was tough in lapped traffic. The tricky part was picking my lines. I knew someone was back there, because I kept seeing a nose, but this is a hometown crowd, my friends and family are here … this is just great.”
Gold Cup champion Abreu and event promoter Brad Sweet led the 25-car field to the green flag from the front row, with Abreu eking out the early advantage and leading the first three laps before a caution flag waved for the spinning machine of Jason Sides on the bottom of the fourth corner.
When racing resumed, Abreu quickly reopened eight car lengths over Sweet, but the reigning Knoxville Nationals would not be denied and took command over the field when Abreu jumped the cushion and lost momentum on the eighth round in heavy traffic.
Abreu remained committed, however, and remained glued to Sweet’s back bumper despite the momentary misstep that cost him the top spot. He took a look to Sweet’s inside coming down the frontstretch at the end of lap 13, but couldn’t make the move stick and fell back into line before Brent Marks got upside down in turn two the next time around, forcing a red flag and stopping the action.
Marks was uninjured in the accident and walked away under his own power.
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