The VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro division saw the ultimate redemption story, as Garrett Manes returned to the race track in a brand new race car (after his primary mount was destroyed in a nasty flip a week ago) and scored an emotional first-career Summer Shootout win over points leader Zach Miller.
Manes started third after the invert but charged to the lead on lap three, holding challenge after challenge at bay for the final 22 circuits en route to an emotional and long-awaited victory celebration.
During last week’s Fourth of July driver autograph session, several fans spoke to Manes after his crash and ultimately helped the young driver raise money for a new race car, something he said was “critical” to his being able to return.
“I can’t thank the fans enough for putting this together,” Manes said. “A lot of people helped. One girl went on Instagram and Facebook and fundraised for me so I could have enough money to fix my car. I can’t thank them enough.”
“I never imagined being back down here this week,” he added. “I was literally saying my goodbyes to a lot of people last week that I thought I would probably never see again, prepared for the worst. I never expected to see things come through like this. I never saw it coming and I’m so humbled by it and grateful to everyone that even made this a possibility. It’s Charlotte … what an amazing day. I’ve dreamed about winning here for a long time.”
Behind Manes and Miller, Vincent Midas, Zack Wells and Scott Joy completed the top five.
A marathon 20-lap K1 Speed Young Lions feature that took nearly 52 minutes to complete saw leaders Harrison Halder and Ryan Heim tangle off the exit of Turn 2 while battling for the top spot on lap 10, opening the door for Roy Hayes III to pounce.
Hayes inherited the lead by slipping through the incident on the bottom of the track, leading the rest of the way after a long red flag for his second-career Shootout win and first in a Legends car.
“This is just unbelievable,” Hayes said. “We’ve been chasing one of these for two years. I just buckled down and went my hardest.”
All three Bandolero classes saw repeat winners on Tuesday night, led by Cameron Bolin in the Outlaws division, who passed late-race leader Justin Gareis coming to the white flag and went on to extend his points lead with another win.
“I had to fight for that one,” said Bolin, who was wearing a Johnny Pursley Racing t-shirt in victory lane as part of a bet with the veteran dirt late model driver. “That wasn’t easy, but we kept digging and didn’t give up. Paw-paw had this car hooked up again tonight.”
“To get three (wins) in six rounds, that’s amazing,” he added. “I just hope we can keep this going.”
Leland Honeyman streaked to his third win in the last four Bandolero Bandits events, charging from seventh to second in one lap and taking the point on the second rotation before driving away from the field.
Honeyman was never challenged down the stretch, leading Jason Chapman, Kade Brown, Landon Rapp and Zack Miracle across the line at the twin checkers.
And Logan Clark knocked down his second-straight Beginner Bandolero win with an impressive performance, passing Adam Eades for the lead on lap five and never trailing again after that.
Eades came home second ahead of Sean Abbel.
The 24th annual Bojangles’ Summer Shootout returns to action on July 18, with the Faster Pastor school bus slobberknocker joining seven divisions of Legend car and Bandolero racing on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s frontstretch quarter-mile.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
