ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Keegan Kincaid captured the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS race No. 2 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Sunday, upstaging what was an amazing first race that took place Saturday.
The off-road racing specialist from Crandon, Wisc., led nearly the entire eight-lap race after inheriting the lead from SST newcomer Pleasant Hill, Calif., driver Pat O’Keefe on lap three.
Immediately following Kincaid to the front was yesterday’s podium finishers of Sheldon Creed of Alpine, Calif., and Tyler McQuarrie of Walnut Creek, Calif., as a tremendous three-car battle for the lead erupted.
After the competition caution flew Creed would drag race Kincaid on the restart into the first turn, briefly holding the lead. As the two teammates bumped and beat each other around the 14-turn 1.8 mi (2.9 km) temporary street circuit as McQuarrie would attempt to set them both up to be in position to make a pass for the lead. As the fight for the lead was heavy ninth place starter Matt Brabham in the United Fiber and Data No. 83 would work his way within a truck length of McQuarrie looking to join the fight.
As the two TRAXXAS trucks would start to pull away from McQuarrie and Brabham. The attention turned to the battle between the Saftecraft Safety Systems No. 6 and UFD/ Think Loud Investments No. 83, as the two would trade position corner after corner fighting hard for the third spot in a repeat of Saturday’s race.
Brabham would slip by McQuarrie, and look to set up a pass on Creed who missed his mark creating an opportunity for Brabham to use that to his advantage by driving the truck in hard and make the pass. But Brabham would loose the handle on his truck with the erratic maneuver spinning and loosing multiple positions taking him out of any contention of capturing a victory.
Kincaid go on to capture the victory over Creed, and McQuarrie who both visited the podium for the second straight day.
Norwell, Queensland, Australia driver Paul Morris would rebound his truck from mechanical issues the day before to get the United Fiber & Data backed entry to finish fourth, while fellow Queensland, Australia racer and UFD teammate Matt Brabham would gather himself back after his spin to round out the top five.
Making his first ever start this weekend in a Stadium SUPER Truck competition Dustin Scott of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., driving the Cobra Transportation Services No. 20 kept up with the pace of the lead pack for majority of the day until Brabham would steal a top-five finish away on the last lap.
United Fiber and Data/ LIVE driver Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Penn. would go on to finish the eight lap event in the seventh position ahead of SST newcomer Pat O’Keefe of Pleasant Hill, Calif., drive the SafeCraft Saftey Equipment TRAXXAS truck. Robby Gordon would experience a broken axle on Lap-6 and would limp his Arctic Cat Wildcat/ Toyo Tires/ TRAXXAS No. 7 home across the line in ninth. Augie Lerch of Tucson, Ariz. would also experience a broken axle early in the event taking the Royal Purple Synthetic Oil entry out of competition.
The overall standings over the two races would see Sheldon Creed capture the overall victory with his win on Saturday and runner-up performance on Sunday, Keegan Kincaid would claim second, and Tyler McQuarrie in the third spot.
The Stadium Super Trucks will move west for the Long Beach Grand Prix April 16-17 for rounds six and seven of the season-long SST World Championship. Creed and Jenner took rounds one through three respectively in Adelaide, Australia at the beginning of February in front of a capacity crowd of more than 200,000 enthusiastic Australians in attendance.
Advance ticket sales to Rounds 6 & 7 are available through the Grand Prix of Long Beach website at http://www.gplb.com/.
SST Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
March 13, 2016
SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks by TRAXXAS
Round 5 Results
1. Keegan Kincaid; No. 47; Crandon, Wisc.; TRAXXAS
2. Sheldon Creed; No. 1; Alpine, Calif.; TRAXXAS
3. Tyler McQuarrie; No. 83; Walnut Creek, Calif.; SafeCraft Saftey Equipment/ GoPro/ Golden Gate Petroleum
4. Paul Morris; No. 67; Norwell, Queensland, Aus.; United Fiber & Data/ LIVE/ Think Loud Development
5. Matt Brabham; No. 83; Gold Coast, Queensland, Aus.; United Fiber & Data/ LIVE/ Think Loud Development
6. Dustin Scott; No. 20; Inver Grove Heights, Minn.; Cobra Transportation Services/ Kraft Fitness/ KBC Graphix
7. Bill Hynes; No. 57; Nazareth, Penn.; United Fiber & Data/ LIVE/ Think Loud Development
8. Pat O’Keefe; Pleasant Hill , Calif.; SafeCraft Safety Equipment/ GoPro/ Golden Gate Petroleum
9. Robby Gordon; No. 7; Orange, Calif.; Arctic Cat/ SPEED Energy/ Toyo Tires / TRAXXAS
10. Augie Lerch; No. 30; Tucson, Ariz.; Royal Purple Synthetic Oil