Blake Hahn Wins Night 1 Of The Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup - Speedway Digest

Keeping pace over the field from start to finish to open the 49th running of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort, Oklahoma’s Blake Hahn rolled into SawBlade.com Victory Lane for the third time in 2021, and heads into round two tied with JJ Hickle for the championship point’s lead.

The win is Hahn’s second prelim score in Dirt Cup competition and his 12th in overall Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition.

Surviving a myriad of cautions as drivers tangled with a gnarly cushion, Hahn never faltered around the three-tenths mile oval. Varying his restarts, Hahn was able to keep the field guessing.

“On the restarts, my first four were about the same, so I started trying to change them up. I wasn’t sure if I was getting better or worse, but he [Scelzi] did kind of show me a nose on one of the last ones, so I knew I better not do that again.”

Cheating the cushion at times, then burying the car into the curb at times, Hahn was only going low if he absolutely needed to.

“With this competition, you can’t mess around. I knew I had to be good on the cushion if I was going to hold onto it, and I just focused on getting in the turns and not getting over it because it was deep in a few spots. I were so good up top, I really didn’t want to get into a situation where I had to run the bottom unless I absolutely had to,” commented Hahn.

Getting close to traffic several times, cautions kept the Sage Fruit, Co. No. 52 in clean air as Dominic Scelzi chased. Trying top and bottom throughout the 25-lap affair, Scelzi, who was battling a fueling issue on the restarts, could not get the run on the No. 52. Settling for second, the final podium step went to Trey Starks, who barely held on after making late contact with the wall.

Justin Sanders worked to fourth with Chase Majdic in fifth. Rolling into the top five at one point, 11th starting Alex Hill ended up sixth with Jason Solwold in seventh. Getting things rolling in the final laps, J.J. Hickle made up nine positions to finish eighth. Robbie Price was ninth was followed by Seth Bergman, who rebounded from an earlier incident.

A field of 46 on hand filed into five SCE Gaskets Heat Races with wins to Max Mitry, Seth Bergman, Chase Majdic, Jesse Schlotfeldt, and Colby Thornhill. Hoosier Tire Qualifier wins went to Colton Heath, Dominic Scelzi, Jason Solwold, and Alex Hill. A pair of BMRS B-Features was won by JJ Hickle and Willie Croft. The night’s Hard Charger was Ryan Robinson, with 11 positions gained. The Cook Contracting Dump Truck Award went to Seth Bergman with the most positions lost but still running at the checkered flag.

The 49th running of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort continues Friday, June 25, 2021, with race time tentatively set to 7:00 P.M. (PDT).

Skagit Speedway is being shown live on Racinboys.tv, and MAVTV Plus. The Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup is part of the Racinboys.com monthly subscription ($29.99 a month). The MAVTV Plus broadcast is included in their yearly subscription plans ($99.99 per year).

The 2021 season is the 30th year of competition for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.

For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up ASCS Nation in 2021, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour

Skagit Speedway (Alger, Wash)

Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup – Night 1

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Car Count: 46

ASCS PR