Ty Majeski added another bucket list Victory Lane off the checklist in winning the Bill Bigley Memorial 128.
He had made several trips to Charlotte County Speedway when the event was held there, crossed the finish line first in the 2022 running but lost the win in post-race technical inspection, led laps last year when the race moved to Freedom Factory and now dominated the ninth edition in Bradenton, Florida.
Combined with a $4000 pole award and an extra $1000 from winning the race from the pole, Majeski and car builder Toby Nuttleman scored a combined $35,000 for the triumph and they did it in absolutely dominant fashion on Saturday night.
Majeski redrew the third-place starting position after time trials but it took him just 13 laps to take the lead and he would not lose it the rest away and over the various restarts made necessary by the litany of crashes throughout the night.
It was a dominant performance.
“It really was,” Majeski told Short Track Scene after the race. We talk a lot about how to unload and we didn’t unload close last year. We kind of came back with the same baseline starting point. We just kind of fine-tuned some things we’ve found throughout the year and implemented them as practice went on.
“And gosh, you know, the car was just great all weekend and all day yesterday. We didn’t really practice much today, made two or three runs, just to get a gauge of the track and stuff.
“So we just had to execute. It’s really hard to pass here. So drawing that three really helped and made for an easy night.”
Majeski said the night just came down to mitigating the distance to Casey Johnson behind him.
“We fired off tight and lost the lead to Ty early and he’s just so stout here,” Johnson said. “Honestly, the way my car fell off on the long runs, I don’t know if there was a lot I could do differently.
“So, we’re gonna have to go back to the drawing board for next year. But for our first time down here, I really can’t complain. My guys did a awesome job.”
John DeAngelis completed the Wisconsin podium.
“That was pretty cool, a Wisconsin 1-2-3 finish,” DeAngelis said. “First, a stellar event here, right? Ricky and his staff had a stellar show from tech, to the racing, the whole event. That’s my biggest takeaway. I want to support this event and Ricky more next year.
“To run top three here against some of the best Wisconsin guys and Florida guys, had Stephen Nasse charging on me at the end, I couldn’t let him break up the Wisconsin podium. It’s a really good night.”
While the front of the field was clean, there were no shortage of incidents and attrition in the back half of the field. Johnny Sauter tagged Jeff Scofield on Lap 45. Nick Neri tagged Anthony Sergi on Lap 48. There was this big mess with 55 laps to go.
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
