(7/23/2019) (Photo Courtesy of Katrina Kniss)
Saturday night at Antioch Speedway was a bittersweet one for Antioch native Brent Curran. Curran looked to be in the midst of a close points battle with Tommy Fraser for the track’s B Mod title, but after buying a new car and evaluating their options, the team has decided it’s best to get the new car ready for 2020.
The event also marked what Curran believes to be his last race at his home track in 2019, as the plan is to travel and chase a few of the bigger shows in the region.
With their decision already made, Curran was determined to end his Antioch season on a high note. From the drop of the green flag in his heat, you could sense the focus and urgency Curran had behind the wheel. Curran would lead all 8 laps of his heat race to win in dominating fashion.
For the feature, Curran would roll off 3rd. After briefly falling back to 4th on the opening lap, Curran would go from 4th to the lead in just one corner as leader Les Friend got sideways in front of the field.
With the race staying green, Curran was able to gain a nice cushion on the rest of the field as they had to check up to avoid Friend in Turn 4. As the laps began to click off in rapid succession, Curran’s lead only grew.
By the time the lone caution of the race waved with just 4 laps left, Curran had amassed a straightaway’s length lead back to Fraser.
On the restart, Curran again pulled away, hitting his marks as he went on to lead the final 4 laps and win by a healthy margin over Fraser and Kevin Brown.
After the night was said and done, Curran said “This one was kinda bitter sweet. Earlier in the day my car owner and I had thrown around the idea of backing out of the points chase and putting our focus on getting the new car ready. As I went out for hot laps we both kinda looked at each other and agreed it was better just to let the points go and figure the new car out with all the bigger races coming up. Yeah it hurts being that my dad won his modified championship there in 2001 but I also realize I’m still young and have a lot more in me so I could come back and try it again when the time was right. The decision pretty much lit a fire under me for the rest of the night and I wanted to leave Antioch on a high note for the fans I do have there and all the support I’ve had this season. The heat race went exactly how I wanted it to and backed it up in the main. Another kind of emotional deal for me and once again very bitter sweet. As I said before, I can’t thank my supporters every week at Antioch enough and all the encouragement in the pits from the fans I do have to keep pushing when things got rough. My love for that track is so strong but for now I have to step back and look at the bigger picture. 6 wins half way through the season in only 12 races is something I made a goal but wasn’t expecting and I’ll hold my head high to that moving forward. Might not be able to get our championship this year but everyone knows I was there. I’ll be back!”
Brent would like to thank all of his sponsors and supporters, including:
Steel City Motorsports
Steadfast Construction
GRT Race Cars Inc.
Empire RC
89 Design
All Flow Muffler & Auto Repair
Jeff Fields (Brandit Designs)
Red Six RaceGear
Velocita-USA
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Daren Ricks
DRC Motorsports Media
