GASTONIA, NC – For the fourth time in his United Sprint Car Series career, Eric Riggins, Jr. made Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC his personal playground.
Riggins, from Charlotte, NC, blasted around 11-time USCS National champion Terry Gray on lap six of Friday night’s 30-lap North/South Shootout opener at the newly-reconfigured four-tenths mile speed plant and laid a beating on the rest of the field, leaving only four cars on the lead lap en route to his ninth career USCS victory and first of the 2015 season.
The win not only moved Riggins into a tie for 11th on the all-time USCS wins list with Jeff Swindell, it was also his third victory in the last four races at his home race track.
“This is what we needed here (tonight),” Riggins said in victory lane. “I’ve been a little unsure of the track changes – they made it a lot wider in the corners – and I was so accustomed to the old track that I wasn’t sure what we were going to be able to do tonight.
“But this Carolina Speedway crew did a great job – it was a little rough, but we made it through. Hats off to them, they did what they could here tonight and I think this track surface is going to be even better later in the year. I’m so thankful, it always means a lot to win here in front of the home crowd.”
The lightning-quick feature was only slowed by caution once, when Johnny Petrozelle went for a spin in turn four after clipping one of the infield tires.
Morgan Turpen worked through traffic to take second from her teammate, Terry Gray, inside of ten laps to go, but by then Riggins had run and hid in his own zip code – leaving Turpen no time to close the gap and mount a charge.
“We needed another caution ,” Turpen said. “I feel like we had the winning car – we definitely had the fastest car late because I could see (Eric), so I know I was catching him – we just lost too much ground early and it cost us. It’s a track position game right now, because the competition is so high.”
Gray held on to complete the podium in third place. Johnny Bridges finished fourth. Bobby Komisarski was the first car one lap down at the checkered flag, but still managed a career-best USCS finish of fifth to cap off the top five in the final results.
C.J. Miller, Suwanee, GA’s Joe Larkin, Dane Lorenc, Brandon McLain and Petrozelle rounded out the top ten.
McLain kicked off the evening’s racing action by winning his first Hoosier Tire Speed Dash of the season, and Miller scored the win in the first heat. Turpen rolled to the victory in the second heat.
Turpen was also the provisional pole-starter after scoring the most passing points in heat race action, until a four came up in the K&N Inversion Draw. That placed Gray on the K&N Filters Pole position.
For more information on the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour, visit USCSRacing.com.
USCS Sprint Car Series
Carolina Speedway – Gastonia, NC
K&N North/South Shootout – April 10, 2015
1. #47 – Eric Riggins Jr. – Charlotte, NC
2. #10M – Morgan Turpen – Cordova, TN
3. #10 – Terry Gray – Bartlett, TN
4. #07 – Johnny Bridges – Cherryville, NC
5. #17 – Bobby Komisarski – Lake Wylie, SC
6. #9 – C.J. Miller – Mooresville, NC
7. #33 – Joe Larkin – Suwanee, GA
8. #00 – Dane Lorenc – Lancaster, NY
9. #21B – Brandon McLain – Indian Trail, NC
10. #59III – Johnny Petrozelle – Denton, NC
11. #6T – Brad Wickham – Rutherfordton, NC
12. #116 – Nick Snyder – Marco Island, FL
13. #23 – Lance Moss – Cherryville, NC (DNS)
14. #5 – David Thorman – Greenville, SC
