Thomas Beane has defeated Michael Bumgarner, winning Saturday’s 75 lap feature at Hickory
Beane has finished second to Bumgarner in three out of the first four races of the Hickory Motor speedway season with the outlier being when the two collided. Beane set the fastest time in qualifying but elected to start from the rear. He was just flat better tonight. Knifing his way through the six car field and pulling out to an insurmountable lead and taking victory in the fifth race of the Hickory season.
“It’s been awhile since we won here at Hickory,” Beane told FloRacing “I came down pit road cause if we’re gonna beat him (Bumgarner), we’re gonna beat him straight up. We had a heck of a race car and I can’t be much more excited to win a six car race but it was pretty exciting.
“Hopefully we can keep this win streak going.”
Akinori Ogata started first but Skyler Chaney took the lead early and set pace. Bumgarner and Beane moved through the field and battled each other hard for the second position. Beane would eventually prevail and set his sights on Chaney.
As we closed in on halfway Bumgarner began to reel in Beane while they both closed in on Chaney. With 30 laps to go Beane caught Chaney and made quick work of the No.17, Bumgarner soon followed.
Bumgarner started fifth, ahead of Beane but was slower getting through the field. By the time Bumgarner got by Skyler Chaney for 2nd, Beane was gone. A tenth here, a couple hundredths there but it just wasn’t enough. The win streak ends at 11.
“We made some changes on the car and it just really wasn’t what we needed,” said Bumgarner “Thomas run a good race. His car was really good but we’ll come back, make our stuff better. It’s over but as is everything out here, all good things must come to an end. We’ll regroup, we got 3 wins to start the year, nothing to hang our heads about. 2nd place ain’t bad, if were mad about 2nd were doing something right.”
Hickory Late Model Race 5
- Thomas Beane
- Michael Bumgarner
- Skyler Chaney
- Akinori Orgata
- Chase Robertson
- Billy Snodgrass
