Brody Roa put in another great performance at Inland Rigging #17R to win his third USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series Main Event last Saturday at the Spanky Matthews Memorial at Kings Speedway in Hanford. A hard-fought victory in which he led the final 25 laps saw him extend his advantage in the championship standings to 79 points, with Cahn at Bakersfield his county at his raceway this Saturday at his park. I was able to face the race of
Last Saturday’s race was scheduled for the second time this year at the 4/10-mile embanked clay oval at the Kings County Fairgrounds. However, the first race on March 24 was canceled due to rain.
When Lore and the team arrived at last Saturday’s race, the crew was a little leaner than usual due to promises that some members would not be able to attend the event. Lore, father Brett and team owner Tommy・Only Dunkel was prying open the car.
After winning the first two races of the year at Cocopa Speedway near Yuma, Arizona on the last weekend in January, Roa had gone three races without finishing first. In the three series races between Ford’s wins, he finished second at Perris and Mojave and fifth at Perris a week before his final victory.
On Saturday, Roa drove the #17R and marked the 3rd fastest qualifying time with 16.255 laps. It proved to be the only time Garden Grove, Calif. finished anywhere other than first that night. In his ten lap heat race, he started fifth but quickly took the lead. Coming out of his fourth turn on lap one, Inland rigged his special into his second place and took the lead at turn one on lap two. Coming to the front, he led the rest of the way and took the win by about four lengths.
The main event was “The Pride of Garden Grove”, which started from the inside of the fifth row. But he wasn’t there for long. He got off to a great start and was momentarily in second place at Turn 2 of the first circuit. He slipped back to his third place, but no doubt, he knew the competition was going to heat up. On lap three, a picture-perfect slider pushed Roa into second at turn two. He then chased the leaders and, in another sweet move, snatched the lead at turn four on lap five.
By the end of the 10th circuit Roa had established the lead on the half straight and looked to be taking a walk in the park.As things got worse in the yellow on lap 11 the veteran driver held on to the top spot and We had to fight hard to get the win.
When the green flag came out Lore continued to pick up the pace but he was under heavy attack. In fact, the second-placed car ended up ahead of the leaders in the points at Turn 4 on his 13th lap. In the remaining few laps, the second-placed car moved forward in unison, and the second-placed car pulled by the leader several times. Each time Lore repels an attempt. Lore won the main by three lengths after fending off a final attempt to take the lead from fourth on the final lap.
“When he[second place finisher Austin Williams]was trying to let me slide, I knew he was probably going top down here[Turns 1 and 2]and getting a run. “I didn’t want to change that and I didn’t want the slider open there. As soon as he showed me his nose I was running really defensive. I knew they were faster than us and I didn’t want to open it up for him to get in. Congratulations, I think they might have been a little better than us (than himself). I don’t know.”
“Last year I took a year off[from USAC/CRA]and this year I was running for the championship again and it was a great start with this new team,” continued Lore. “Inland Rigging, Dunkel Farms and the Dunkel family joined us to make this happen this year. Thank you to all the other supporters, including my daughter.”
Roar will be right back at it this Saturday when the series makes its only stop in 2023 at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield. His last series appearance on Truck in March 2021 was a two night affair. He led 44 of the 60 main event laps that weekend. On the first night he was bagging a yellow flag plagued main event when he ran out of fuel with five laps to go. After refueling he restarted from behind and ran as high as 7th at the finish. The next night he led his first 22 laps before getting caught in lap traffic and eventually taking his second place.
Kern County Raceway Park, the venue for this Saturday’s race, is located at 13500 Raceway Boulevard, Interstate 5, Enos Lane in Bakersfield. The spectator gates open at 5pm and the cars are on the track for he wheelpacking at 5:45 and the race at 7. Adult tickets are $25.00. Juniors ages 6-10 are $10.00, children 5 and under are free. The facility has a free overnight camp.truck website https://www.kernraceway.com/ The office phone is 661-835-1264.
As usual, Roa is happy to get away from the #17R and jump into the race car this weekend. His full schedule is printed below.If you would like to contact him for open dates, please call 714-932-7994 or This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be enabled to view.
The team would like to thank the following sponsors for making the 2023 season possible. Inland Rigging, Dunkel Farms, United Asset Sales, Osborne Speed & Machine, Sander Engineering, “Biker” Bruce Fischer, ALR Virtual Services, Burris Racing, Caltrol, Competition Suspension, K-1 Race Gear, Molecule, Rod End Supply, Driven Racing Oil, Baldwin filters, NGK spark plugs.
BRP PR
