ROSEBURG, Ore. — James McFadden and the Tarlton Motorsports team may have just become one of the scariest combinations on the west coast.
McFadden came back from a false start penalty and worked his way toward a second straight win to start the Fastest Five Days in Motorsports, taking Thursday’s NARC 410 sprint car main event at the Douglas County Dirt Track.
McFadden, who started on the pole, fell back as far as fifth in the early going, coming after he was called for jumping the initial start, but found his groove as the race proceeded and began picking off the cars in front of him, eventually challenging Justin Sanders with nine laps to go.
Getting his car wound up running the outside of the track, McFadden got a run off of Turn 4 as they completed the 22nd circuit and got inside of Sanders on the frontstretch.
McFadden threw a slider going into Turn 1, and Sanders tried to keep his speed up around the top of the race track, but couldn’t motor back by as McFadden got in front of him. Sanders had to check up and couldn’t turn his car back down, and McFadden had the lead.
After taking the lead on Lap 23, McFadden took off from there and won for the second straight night aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 Kistler-powered Maxim.
As he did Wednesday night at Southern Oregon Speedway, the Australian star celebrated with his patented “Shoey” celebration, drinking beer from a shoe atop his race car.
“Hats off to my guys. It’s really tough jumping in a new car,” McFadden said. “You know the rules package in Australia is different than it is here, so to get as comfortable as I am straightaway is pretty cool, so hats off to those guys, working so hard and giving me a car that’s great…Tom and Tommy Tarlton, their whole family.”
McFadden admitted to struggling in the first several laps, being upset with false start call at the beginning of the race, but gathered himself and changed up how he drove the car and where on the track, leading to his charge to the front.
McFadden had won at the Douglas County Dirt Track in last August’s High Limit Racing event, and added another win in Roseburg to his credit on Thursday.
“It’s really cool to get a win here with High Limit, and now NARC.”
Sanders, after leading 14 laps, backed up his third-place finish from Wednesday night with a runner-up aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC.
Dominic Scelzi, after finishing second on Wednesday, got his second straight podium finish to start the week as well, taking third aboard the Red Rose Transportation-sponsored Scelzi Enterprises No. 41 Kistler-powered Maxim. Landon Brooks, who led the first eight laps after starting second, eventually finished fourth aboard the Specified Pipe-sponsored Bates-Hamilton Racing No. 21L Kistler-powered Maxim.
A night after flipping upside down, Tanner Holmes bounced back with a fifth-place run in the Legacy Builder Supply-sponsored Holmes Racing No. 18t Rider-powered Triple X.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 21 James McFadden (1), 2. 2x Justin Sanders (3), 3. 41 Dominic Scelzi (1), 4. 21L Landon Brooks (2), 5. 18t Tanner Holmes (5), 6. 7b Sean Becker (3), 7. 21s Jesse Schlotfeldt (7), 8. 29 Bud Kaeding (8), 9. 35km Tyler Thompson (14), 10. 10 Dominic Gorden (9), 11. 121 Caeden Steele (15), 12. 15 Nick Parker (13), 13. 77 Levi Klatt (16), 14. 2k Gauge Garcia (22), 15. 26 Billy Aton (11), 16. 14 Mariah Ede (24), 17. 551 Angelique Bell (21), 18. 12j John Clark (19), 19. 21p Robbie Price (13), 20. 2xm Max Mittry (12), 21. 27c Camden Robustelli (20), 22. 88n D.J. Netto (17), 23. 5k Blaine Cory (18), DNS – 22k Jake Wheeler.
