FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Eric Riggins, Jr. gave his home state race fans something to cheer about Saturday night with a win in Saturday night’s USCS Sprint Car Series A-Main at Fayetteville Motor Speedway in Fayetteville, N.C.
The Charlotte, N.C. driver took the lead on lap three from Pendergrass, Ga.’s Brian Thomas, and held off Johnny Bridges on two successive restarts to notch his fourth USCS feature win of the season and his first career win at on the four-tenths mile Fayetteville track.
“We hit on something just before the feature and I could make the top work for a couple laps,” Riggins said. “After that I got comfortable with my rhythm and I didn’t think I had much of a challenge from behind. The car was perfect tonight and I just ran as hard as I could to bring it home.”
The event saw two cautions on the night. The first flew at lap 7, when Morgan Turpen spun in turn four. The second came out on lap 18 when the front top wing mounts broke on Shawn Mott’s machine and blocked his vision, sending him rolling to a stop in turn two.
After the final caution, Bridges could not run down Riggins over the final seven laps and had to settle for second place.
“We set the car up really, really tight for the main event expecting the track to be a lot drier than it was,” Bridges admitted. “The only place I could run was on the bottom and with Eric out there in that clean air there was really nothing I could do. He had a little bit faster race car than I did tonight, but after the struggle we’ve had, I’ll certainly take a win and a second place for the weekend and go home happy.”
Terry Gray finished third, with Johnny Petrozelle in fourth place. Turpen who came into the weekend leading the USCS National and USCS Mid South regional point standings, rallied from her spin to round out the top five.
Nick Snyder, Thomas, Brandon McLain, Jay Dunham and Matt Hope rounded out the top ten.
Riggins kicked off the evening’s racing action by winning the Hoosier Tire Speed Dash, and backed that up with a win in the first heat. Turpen rolled to the victory in the second heat.
Gray was the provisional polestarter after scoring the most passing points in heat race action, but after a six was rolled on the inversion, Thomas received the K&N Filters Pole Award.
The USCS Sprint Car Series returns to action on August 14 with the Ellis Palasini Classic at Greenville Speedway in Greenville, Mississippi. On the following night, the series moves Jackson Motor Speedway on Byram, Mississippi to complete the two event weekend.
For more information, visit USCSRacing.com.
USCS Sprint Car Series
Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, NC
Summer Speed Xplosion – July 25, 2015
1. #47 – Eric Riggins, Jr. – Charlotte, NC
2. #07 – Johnny Bridges – Cherryville, NC
3. #10 – Terry Gray – Bartlett, TN
4. #59 – Johnny Petrozelle – Denton, NC
5. #10M – Morgan Turpen – Cordova, TN
6. #116 – Nick Snyder – Marco Island, FL
7. #67 – Brian Thomas – Pendergrass, GA
8. #21B – Brandon McLain – Indian Trail, NC
9. #51- Jay Dunham – Grovetown, GA
10. #28H – Matt Hope – York, SC
11. #5M – Shawn Mott – Rockwell, NC
DNS: #5 – David Thormam – Greenville, SC
