“Holy cow, I’m worn out!” Tony Bruce, Jr., exclaimed as he climbed from his Sprint Car on Saturday night.
And for good reason, as the Liberal, KS, shoe had just outlasted Jesse Hockett in a classic slugfest atop the high-banked, 1/3-mile Eagle Raceway clay oval to collect a hefty $5,000 ASCS Midwest Region winner’s share and the coveted Nebraska Cup.
After Tige Jensen and Brady Bacon traded stints out front in the opening twelve rounds of the 30-lapper, Bruce and Hockett stepped to the head of the pack and traded the point numerous times before Bruce finally put a couple of car-lengths between himself and his Missouri chaser to secure the checkered flag aboard the Rider-powered No. 18 Maxim.
“What a race, if anybody here didn’t like that one, then you’re not gonna like any kind of racing,” Bruce announced to the large crowd in victory lane.
“It’s fun racing with Jesse like that, you can race him hard and you also know he’s gonna race you clean,” Bruce explained. “We were probably about three inches apart quite a few times, but we never touched at all.”
It marked Bruce’s second overall ASCS feature win of the season, adding to an ASCS Speedweek score at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway, where he reigns as Short Track Nationals champion.
Bruce started Saturday night’s main event right on Hockett’s tailtank inside the third row as Don Droud, Jr., and Tige Jensen led the way to the green flag. Eagle rep Jensen gunned into the lead at the outset and paced the initial five circuits before fourth-starter Brady Bacon charged into the lead down the backstretch.
Following a quick caution after six laps for Gene Ackland’s second spin, Bruce and Hockett disposed of both Droud and Jensen to move into second and third behind Bacon.
Battling issues that began with semi-functional brakes after losing a pad at the outset and soon became no brakes at all, Bacon was a sitting duck for the hard-charging duo of Hockett and Bruce.
A slight Bacon miscue in turns three and four on the 13th circuit was all it took for Hockett and Bruce to relegate Bacon to third.
“I had the car to win tonight, but after losing the brakes it was about impossible to get the car into the corners the way I needed to,” Bacon explained.
With Bacon suddenly chasing in third, Hockett paced the next seven rounds with Bruce hot on his heels. With traffic coming into play, Bruce made his move for the lead on the 19th round and the battle was on.
The pair battled side-by-side, trading sliders in consecutive corners repeatedly, all the while slicing through lapped traffic over the next ten circuits, with Bacon and Brian Brown within a pair of car-lengths to take advantage of any potential miscues.
“Traffic was intense, I didn’t know where some of those guys were gonna try to go,” Bruce explained.
Bruce got the break he needed two laps from the end, slipping past a pair of lapped cars that held up Hockett just long enough for the slightest of Bruce breathing room.
