JACKSONVILLE, NC – Haley Brown’s second career Bomber win came in the division’s biggest race of the season at New River All-American Speedway on Saturday night.
The rookie driver from Jacksonville, who picked up her first career win a week prior, took the lead at the start of the second half of the 52-lap, $520-to-win B-52 Bomber Car Battle after electing to restart on the outside lane. From there, she drove away from Richard Smith and Andrew Jackson to take home the victory.
“When I saw the choose cone, I saw everyone go down and knew that was my only opportunity to get up front,” Brown said. “My dad was in my ear. He was telling me to stay low, but I just knew I could get it, so I’m really glad I did it.”
With back-to-back wins, Brown now finds herself riding a wave of momentum heading into the Race for the Championship playoffs in September.
“I’m pretty excited,” she continued. “I’ve just got to keep digging.”
Jacksonville’s Richard Smith, who finds himself on the playoff bubble in the championship standings, picked up his best career finish, a runner-up effort.
“I was right there,” Smith said. “I just didn’t know that I could catch her without getting myself disqualified. We stayed where we stayed and, hopefully it works out. We’ve got to get at least one of the big trophies now.”
Andrew Jackson, also from Jacksonville, rebounded from a mid-race entanglement, which brought out the lone caution flag in Saturday’s racing program, to finish third.
“Coming out of four, right before you start turning, I noticed it got a little loose,” Jackson said. “Well, it was the power steering. The rack and pinion started leaking and, once I turned again, it just dumped out. I’m glad nobody else got in it. They did a great job getting around it.”
Nathan Hall finished in fourth while Haley’s brother, Hunter Brown, rounded out the top-five.
Snow Hill’s Jacob Tingen picked up his second win of the season in the Champ Kart division in a photofinish over teammate Josh Eubanks from Kinston, punching his ticket to the Race for the Championship playoff semifinal in September.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Tingen said. “We’ve been right here for the last two years or so and we finally made it happen this round. “I’m just going to try to keep my points up and stay in it while I can.”
Rusty Daniels swept twin Late Model features, scoring his second and third wins of the 2023 season and giving him momentum heading into the championship race in September. In the U-CAR division, Curtis Lanier narrowly picked up the victory over Abby Jolly.
The Bomber, Champ Kart, Mini Stock and U-CAR divisions will all be back in action on Saturday, August 12, along with the Chargers, in the School’s Out Shootout for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series at New River All-American Speedway.
New River All-American Speedway is Jacksonville’s Action Attraction featuring racing and other events. For more information about New River All-American Speedway, check out the speedway’s website, like/follow “New River Speedway” on Facebook, follow @newriverswy on Twitter, or follow the track on Instagram.
Unofficial Results for 8/5/2023 at New River All-American Speedway – Jacksonville, NC
Late Models – Race 1 | 31 Laps | 00:09:08.000
1. 16-Rusty Daniels; 2. 40-Brian Thomas; 3. 29-Paul Williamson; 4. (DNF) 61-Michael O’Brien
Late Model – Race 2 | 31 Laps | 00:09:14.186
1. 16-Rusty Daniels; 2. 61-Michael O’Brien; 3. 29-Paul Williamson; 4. 40-Brian Thomas
Bombers | 52 Laps | 00:18:23.821
1. 5-Haley Brown; 2. 77-Richard Smith; 3. 3-Andrew Jackson; 4. 33-Nathan Hall; 5. 11-Timothy Brown; 6. 81-Brian Gooden; 7. 79-Dominic Baez; 8. 34-Michael Withrow; 9. 41-Kevin Wrenn; 10. 4-Chad Cunningham; 11. 83-Robert Drum; 12. 88-Dale Drum; 13. 95-David Fulk; 14. 16-Shawn Boyd
Champ Kart | 20 Laps | 00:06:56.700
1. 01T-Jacob Tingen; 2. 28-Josh Eubanks; 3. 18-Keith Webb; 4. 55-Corey Lucas; 5. 10-Ashley Keaton; 6. 2-Aaron Layden; 7. 20-Herbert Keaton; 8. 1-Daniel Baker; 9. 7X-Tripp Dail; 10. 127-jimmie whitehurst; 11. 13-Miles Rochelle
Mini Stocks | 30 Laps | 00:09:43.817
1. 99M-Travis Miller; 2. 55-Randy Hewett; 3. 99-Steve Sullivan; 4. 38-Joseph Bryant; 5. 23-Zac Reimer; 6. 03-Cornell Williams; 7. 54-Tom Hudson
U-Car | 15 Laps | 00:05:07.026
1. 2-Curtis Lanier; 2. 11-Abby Jolly; 3. 58-Summer Sullivan; 4. (DNS) 03-Cornell Williams
