Derek Hagar is returning to Riverside International Speedway this weekend for his first start of the season in his No. 9jr.
The dirt oval hosts the Hooker Hood Classic on Saturday. It’s an event Hagar has won multiple times and the track is one of his best as he captured nine feature wins there last year.
“We’ve won it twice, back to back in 2015 and 2016,” Hagar said. “It’s part of history for this area. Hooker is a very famous driver. Hell, him and Elvis Presley were best friends. Hooker made racing what it is today for the Mid-South area. We’ve been fortunate enough to win it twice. I think there’s a couple of repeat winners, but I don’t know if anyone has done it three times. Hopefully we can go out there and win and add another trophy. Also, we picked up a new sponsor that will be there this weekend so it’d be great to continue to compete for wins.
“Just try to keep the momentum up from last year. We had good showings every time we hit the track. West Memphis has been very kind to us over the years. We had a good showing at the High Limit race last month. We got a top 10 with the toughest level of cars you can compete with so that brings my confidence up.”
Hagar made his Kubota High Limit Racing debut at the track on April 23, guiding Paul Hart’s No. 44 to the 15 th quickest qualifying time in his group. Hagar then hustled from eighth to fifth place in a heat race and from 17 th to 10 th in the main event.
“It wasn’t the best qualifying effort as we were a little off,” he said. “We knew going into it being down on power we’d be off. When you give those guys the upper hand you’re not going to pass them. We were lucky to have the cards fall our way in the heat race to get a transfer spot. In the feature we were really, really free and had an open red. We were able to adjust the car and as the track got slower and slicker our car didn’t fall off. I was able to keep my speed up and get by some folks.
“It was really good, especially not making a show before that this year with the Outlaws. It was good to get my confidence built back up. We were racing with some really good drivers. Unfortunately, we had some motor issues we found the next day doing maintenance so we’re out of the 410 for a while.”
QUICK RESULTS –
April 23 – Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 5 (8); Feature: 10 (17).
SEASON STATS –
4 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 1 top 10, 1 top 15, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark.
ILP PR
