DETROIT, Michigan – Robby Gordon won his first SPEED Energy Stadium Super Truck Series Presented by TRAXXAS race of the 2015 season by overtaking E.J. Viso at the end of the back straight on the final lap in the first of three rounds of racing at the Belle Isle Detroit Grand Prix.
The race on the beautiful Belle Isle course was the seventh event of the SST season which is an uncharacteristically long period for Gordon to go winless. Gordon’s last SST race win was Nov. 1, 2014 at Las Vegas.
Viso took the lead from eventual third-place finisher Burt Jenner on lap four of the event and led until half way through the last lap, when Viso moved to the inside of the track heading into turn 7 and Gordon moved to the outside of the Venezuelan driver forcing Viso through a puddle on the inside. Knowing that Viso would lose grip in the wet patch, Gordon stayed wide and cut to the inside of the corner leaving Viso to spin his tires. From there the drive to the win around the 2.35-mile street circuit was uneventful for Gordon.
“I don’t believe I would have gotten to him and been able to pass for the win without forcing him to make a small mistake,” Gordon said. “The competition in this series has gotten so much stronger in the last year, which I am happy for, but it means I’ve got to work that much harder for race wins. It’s great that the SST series has gotten so much more competitive and the wins aren’t as easy to come by.”
Gordon’s SPEED Energy/TRAXXAS sponsored truck beat Viso’s LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck to the line by four-tenths of a second, followed by Jenner’s Gladiator truck in third, the TRAXXAS truck of Keegan Kincaid fourth, 3Dimensional.com’s Aaron Bambach of Detroit finishing fifth, Scotty Steele in the LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment truck sixth, P.J. Jones’ Traxxas truck in seventh, Bill Hynes in a third LIVE/Think Loud Entertainment entry eighth, Larry Job in 3 Bears Motorsports truck was ninth and Arie Luyendyk Jr. in the Quicken Loans truck finished 10th.
The Stadium Super Trucks will race Saturday on Belle Isle at 2:25 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2:15 p.m.
Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Race 1 Resuults (Round 7 of 2015 season)
SPEED Energy Formula Off-Road Presented by TRAXXAS
1. Robby Gordon, SPEED Energy, Orange, Calif.
2. E.J. Viso, LIVE/Think Loud Ent., Caracas, Venezuela
3. Burt Jenner, Gladiator Tire, Los Angeles, Calif.
4. Keegan Kincaid,TRAXXAS, Crandon, Wisc.
5. Aaron Bambach, 3 Dimensional.com, Detroit, Mich.
6.Scotty Steele, LIVE/Think Loud Ent., Peoria, Ariz.
7. P.J. Jones, TRAXXAS, Scottsdale, Ariz.
8. Bill Hynes, LIVE/Think Loud Ent., Nazareth, Penn.
9. Larry Job, 3 Bears Motorsports, Las Vegas, Nev.
10. Arie Luyendyk Jr., Quicken Loans, Scottsdale, Ariz.