PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Kyle O’Gara first held off Colton Bettis and Kody Swanson en route to a $7,500 first place payday with his victory in the 100-lap Dave Steele World Sprint Car Championship non-winged sprint event Friday night at Showtime Speedway.
O’Gara was also the night’s fastest qualifier (13.688 seconds) and polesitter.
Bettis would get the jump on the initial start with his V-6 engine AP Development /Aaron Pierce entry and led the first 29 laps. O’Gara regained the point on a lap-30 restart. O’Gara surrendered the lead one more time on lap 52 before taking the top spot for good a lap later.
The duo would run nose-to tail for nearly 25 laps. But on lap 77, Bettis lost an engine and retired from the race. That moved Kody Swanson into the runner-up spot with a double-file restart opportunity. O’Gara would keep a hard charging Swanson at bay for the final 23 circuits for his third Steele victory in the past four years.
“We kinda let (Colton) Bettis run his own race at the start of the race until that yellow came out,” explained O’Gara. “I thought his pace was a little bit strong, a little too strong early. We’ve been in that place before and I didn’t wanna hurt our stuff. I kinda let him run his race and we ran our race from there.
“We heard they had some motor issues early in the day. We saw them working on it and it was at the back of our minds. My spotter, Brad, kept me updated and told me he was blowing up behind us. We wanted to stay out in front of that car as much as we could knowing that could be a factor.”
O’Gara was forced to hold off several late race challenges from Kody Swanson to seal the deal.
“I really thought the Pierce car had better pace than Kody (Swanson). But I’ve raced a lot next to Kody. You know how you’re gonna get raced with Kody, so I was fairly comfortable with Kody next to me. I thought we had good enough pace to keep him behind me.
“That’s the most money ($7,500) I’ve made in a single night of racing. Hats off to Showtime Speedway promoter Robert Yoho. He’s done his part. He’s put his money where his mouth is. I wish more people would support it. It deserves the support for years to come,” concluded O’Gara.
Winged sprint cars will invade Showtime Speedway Saturday night for the second night of the Dave Steele World Sprint Car Championship. A pair of 35-lap features will be on tap to conclude the weekend’s racing activities.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 67-Kyle O’Gara 2. 33s-Kody Swanson 3. 14-Davey Hamilton Jr. 4. 9-Dodge Carlbert 5. 33-Robert Yoho 6. 55-Tommy Nichols 7. 26-Colton Bettis 8. 81-Steven Hollinger 9. 18-LJ Grimm 10. 44-Jim Childers 11. 59x-John Inman 12. 02-Gene Lasker DNS 1-Brian Gingras
