HOPKINS RACES HIS NEW PHASE II CHASSIS TO SECOND WIN IN 2023

HOPKINS WINS HICKORY

When: April 22 2023

Where: Hickory Motor Speedway

Series: Cars Tour Series

Qualified: 5th

Finished: 1st

It was a warm spring evening with the pits full of race cars and what appeared to be a packed crowd, Whether the stands were actually to capacity or not there were plenty of people on hand to witness some great short track racing.

With never being outside the top three in any of the 3 practice sessions on Friday Mike felt confident leading into race day. With Qualifying taking place Saturday evening around 6:30 Mike managed to secure a top 5 starting spot for the upcoming 100 lap feature event.

When the green flag dropped Mike quickly worked his way inside the top 3 and with how hard the track is on tire wear paced himself comfortably between the top 2 cars and the rest of the field behind him. Just past the half way point of the race Mike had moved to second place and had started to set his sights on the lead. Mike was able to gain the lead on the next restart but held it only for a few laps before settling back into second with 35 laps to go.

For the next 25 laps Mike was never more than a car length off of the leaders bumper and with 10 laps to go had worked his way underneath the leader. The two waged a spirited battle over the next five laps trading paint and positions putting a heck of a show on for the fans, and with 5 to go Mike finally got command of the lead only to take the white flag just before the yellow flag came out.

Time to rack them up for a green white checkered finish that may have very well been one of the most exciting finishes to a short trach asphalt race we have seen in quite some time. For the 2 remaining laps the top 3 cars were in a fierce battle for the victory, beating and banging all the way to the finish line. Mike's margin of victory was .045 sec securing his second consecutive CARS TOUR win of the season.