There\u2019s no stopping Allen Boles (#3) at this point in the Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series, who has won the first two feature races of the 2018 season. The Jupiter Motorsports veteran said, \u201cI didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. I just gave it all I had.\u201d Boles held off last year\u2019s champion, Ricky Rude (#14), to capture his second straight checkered flag on Saturday, April 21, at Motor Mile Speedway in Fairlawn, Virginia. \u201cAllen had a great night,\u201d Rude said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been friends forever and there\u2019s always a little bumping between us. I wish I could\u2019ve caught him, but it just wasn\u2019t my night.\u201d<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n
A major wreck featuring Marshall Davis (#41), Craig Kruckeberg (#55) and Mike Morgan (#88) caused a yellow flag and lengthy delay during lap eight of the feature race. Davis\u2019 truck got loose entering turn three, causing him to send Kruckeberg into the wall. Morgan had no place to go and the result forced both Kruckeberg and Morgan to end their night early. \u201cJust a racing incident that ended badly for the #55 and #88,\u201d Bandit Technical Director Brian Madsen said. \u201cAll I remember is going to the outside and then all of a sudden my back end was in the wall,\u201d Kruckeberg said. \u201cI\u2019ll have to take some Advil tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the race was re-started, Boles took advantage, passing Mark Noble (#74) immediately before setting his sights on the leader, Mr. Rude. \u201cI was just praying that I could get around him. Thankfully, I did, and I was able to hang on, so I\u2019ll take that $10,000 check!\u201d Boles said, laughing.<\/p>\n
The only thing Boles couldn\u2019t win was the Bandit Shoot Out, which saw the Bandits go one-on-one for just one lap. The final came down to Boles and Justin Ball (#17). Ball used the inside position to his advantage, winning his first-ever Shoot Out. \u201cThe Bandit Shoot Out continues to be a hit. Fans were on their feet cheering throughout,\u201d Madsen said. \u201cAt every single Bandit event, kids are selected to represent a Bandit in the Shoot Out. If their Bandit wins, that kid wins $100,\u201d Bandit General Manager Jason Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, the Bandits were at it again \u2013 this time it was at Concord Speedway in North Carolina on May 5th. \u201cIt was the first and only tri-oval track on the 2018 schedule, so it was really interesting \u2013 and fun,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Defending Bandit Series champion Ricky Rude (#14) is doing everything he can to ensure back-to-back titles. Rude took the lead on lap six of the main race and never looked back, securing his first feature win of the 2018 season. \u201cI\u2019m just tickled to death to get back in this spot,\u201d Rude said. Multiple yellow flags didn\u2019t help Rude\u2019s cause, but he wasn\u2019t too worried. \u201cI knew the yellow flags would come out. It never fails, but I\u2019m used to it,\u201d Rude said.<\/p>\n
Two other Bandits that had a very good night included Mark Noble (#74) and Justin Ball (#17). Noble won the third heat race and first challenge race, narrowly holding off Rude each time. Ball won the second challenge race as well as the Bandit Shoot Out. Ball\u2019s Shoot Out win netted a local youngster, James, a crisp $100 bill, which he said he would use to \u201cprobably take my mom out for Mother\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kruckeberg Motorsports had one of their best nights ever. Not only did Noble pick up two wins, but Tyler (#54) and Craig Kruckeberg (#55) finished second and third in the main race. \u201cI was just following (my son) Tyler. He got loose a couple times, so I had to get loose a couple times,\u201d Craig said. \u201cIt was a struggle at the end,\u201d Tyler said. \u201cRicky just had a little more power than me, so he was pulling away on the straightaways and I was trying to make it up in the corners. I just couldn\u2019t get to him fast enough. Hopefully, next race I\u2019ll have a little bit more power.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series event will have a midwestern flair. Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, IA is one of only a couple return tracks on the 2018 schedule, and the next race will be there on June 9th. \u201cLast year\u2019s event was fantastic,\u201d Bandit Technical Director Brian Madsen said. \u201cFans loved it and we expect a similar response this year.\u201d After the Iowa race, the Bandits will head to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, IN on Saturday, June 23 for the next race. Fans can get tickets to any Bandit event in 2018 by going to the official Bandit website (www.banditseries.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s no stopping Allen Boles (#3) at this point in the Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series, who has won the first two feature races of the 2018 season. The Jupiter Motorsports veteran said, \u201cI didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. I just gave it all I had.\u201d Boles held off last year\u2019s champion, Ricky<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-special-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19865,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19833\/revisions\/19865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}