 

Perkins long wait to return to victory lane ends

VERNAL, Utah — It had been too long since Tim Perkins had been to victory lane. On Saturday night, he changed all that.

The Colorado driver won the United Rebel Sprint Series feature Saturday at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Vernal, Utah.

“It's been a few years between races,” Perkins said.

His first victory in the URSS came June 30, 2007, at Minneapolis Raceway in Kansas. It also was his last Rebel win, until Saturday.

Perkins started outside the front row, alongside Mike Parker. Perkins spun his tires on the start, allowing Parker to take the lead.

Both drivers took to the high line on the smooth, slick track. But dust eventually forced Perkins to move to the low line. It worked to his advantage.

Perkins found “about a tire's width of moisture” on the bottom and worked his way around Parker for the lead. He led the feature until Patrick Bourke used the high groove to close the gap and move by Perkins.

The two raced side-by-side before Bourke's engine failed, giving Perkins the top spot back.

“When he started challenging me, I started driving too fast and was on the throttle and missing the moisture,” Perkins said. “I had to slow down. As long as I could stay in the moisture, it was a good race.”

Perkins rode the bottom line the rest of the way to victory. Parker finished second, followed by Blake Smith Jr. and Bob Schaeffer. A.J. Weaver rounded out the top five.

“We tried something new,” Perkins said about the car's set-up. “We threw everything out the window and got good results.”

Heat race winners were Schaeffer and Bourke.

Smith won the Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard Charger Award.

Feature results

1. Tim Perkins, 2. Mike Parker, 3. Blake Smith Jr., 4. Bob Schaeffer 5. A.J. Weaver, 6. Levi Wisecup, 7. Jeremy Lueck, 8. Sam Wisecup, 9. Patrick Bourke.

Mike Parker, Tim Perkins, Blake Smith

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