Dylan Bigley has had a consistently competitive season in 2026, never finishing outside the top ten, and he’s been rewarded, unofficially, as the newest champion of UARA’s Sportsman division after a chaotic Twin 50s at Citrus County Speedway, both of which were won by Dodge Carlbert.
Bigley, who went winless all season, credited his slim championship win to valiant qualifying efforts late in the year that covered the difference to capturing a title. “All you needed to do was light a fire under my butt because I kept getting beat by qualifying points so we definitely stepped it up,” Bigley stated. “First off, need to thank my car owners James and Sharon Whidden; without them, this wouldn’t be possible. Obviously my mom, dad, wife, my brother Sean, Johnny, I mean my son’s here. I can’t put it into words, there’s so many people.”
Sozio’s bid fell only four points short of Bigley, and seemed to be a recurring theme. “I think we were pretty good, I was just a little bit tight and he [Carlbert] was able to get around me on the top,” said Sozio, disappointed. “Caution came out, he barely had the lead and that was that. Wouldn’t have mattered anyways, Dylan [Bigley] got to third, so it sucks. I wanted to win that one pretty bad, we were gone for a while, but it is what it is. Finishing with second is the story of the season, so we’ll take it.
The first of two features was routine for the field, going uninterrupted from start to finish. Tim Sozio and Dylan Bigley both had strong qualifying efforts, with Sozio fastest and Bigley fifth, tying on points before the first feature. Lucas Hinton started in first after the top nine were inverted. Hinton held strong under James Seeright for the initial five circuits until Dodge Carlbert swiftly found his way through and never looked back, leading the other 45 laps with little to no challenge en route to winning an uncomplicated 50-lap feature. Bigley finished fourth and Sozio seventh, giving Bigley a six point advantage and needing to finish within three spots of Sozio in feature two to be crowned champion.
The latter feature was an antithesis to the former, erupting in chaos and only escalating as laps ticked away. Sozio started the second race from fourth after the second invert and put immense pressure on Fallon Goolsby for the lead. The first stoppage of the evening came out on lap 15 when championship leader Dylan Bigley went for a 360 degree spin off of Adam Briggs bumper on exit of turn two, fortunately maintaining his position of seventh due to lap countback. However, Sozio eventually made his way to the front on lap 18 and hold a strong lead before Joe Winchell was spun by Earl Beckner on lap 40.
Carlbert had fought his way to second, the former caution giving him a real chance to sweep both races and play spoiler. With nine tours remaining on the night, he and Sozio raced door-to-door just before Goolsby’s No. 27 appeared to go out of gear, initiating a stack up and sending Adam Briggs up into the path of several cars, causing the first of two red flags during the night. Bigley, after slipping down the order, turned down into the infield to avoid the melee, brining him up to fourth and nothing separated he and Sozio for a championship. James Seeright went for a spin on the backstretch with eight to go, whereas Carlbert had made his way ahead of Sozio at the time of caution, giving Bigley a two-point cushion.
The last caution and red flag of the night came out with six tours left after a second multi-car incident on the frontstretch, involving a portion of the top ten including Joe Winchell, Sadie Parsons, and Matthew Green sliding and Rice Robinson coming to a complete stop with all three in his path. Sozio, in second, needed a win with Bigley in fourth to tie. However, Carlbert held strong ahead of Sozio’s spirited effort to win both races on the night, and Bigley’s third-place effort established himself as UARA’s newest Sportsman champion by four points.
Twin 50 Feature #1 Race Results (UNOFFICIAL)
1. Dodge Carlbert
2. Adam Briggs
3. Brandon Morris
4. Dylan Bigley
5. Cody Struble
6. James Seeright
7. Tim Sozio
8. Joe Winchell
9. Fallon Goolsby
10. Kyle Case
11. Lucas Hinton -1
12. Matthew Green -1
13. Rice Robinson -1
14. Kipp McVey -1
15. Rick Reed -2
16. Dean Butrum -5
17. Jimmy Frazier -13
18. Sadie Parsons -22
19. Aaron Ashley -42
20. Earl Beckner -45
Twin 50 Feature #2 Race Results (UNOFFICIAL)
1. Dodge Carlbert
2. Tim Sozio
3. Dylan Bigley
4. Kyle Case
5. Earl Beckner
6. James Seeright
7. Brandon Morris
8. Lucas Hinton
9. Kipp McVey
10. Rice Robinson
11. Joe Winchell
12. Rick Reed -1
13. Matthew Green -6
14. Sadie Parsons -6
15. Aaron Ashley -7
16. Fallon Goolsby -8
17. Adam Briggs -9
18. Cody Struble -33
19. Dean Butrum DNS
20. Jimmy Frazier DNS
2026 UARA Sportsman Final Standings (UNOFFICIAL – Top 20)
1. Dylan Bigley – 1064
2. Tim Sozio – 1060
3. Brandon Morris – 1020
4. James Seeright – 1016
5. Adam Briggs – 1004
6. Dodge Carlbert – 988
7. Jimmy Frazier – 882
8. Joe Winchell – 848
9. Cody Struble – 788
10. Kipp McVey – 772
11. Rick Reed – 764
12. Lucas Hinton – 762
13. Fallon Goolsby – 724
14. Kyle Case – 670
15. Earl Beckner – 658
16. Rice Robinson – 648
17. Matthew Green – 642
18. Dean Butrum – 538
19. Dave Werning – 506
20. Robbie Bundon – 482
Results of races and championship are unofficial and awaiting dyno tests from the motors of the Nos. 02, 16, and 25W, with an official ruling to be announced Tuesday.
UARA’s final Sportsman race of the year is the invitational race at Freedom Factory on Saturday, November 28th, as a companion event to the Bigley Memorial 128, complimented by the annual awards banquet.
