The RB Performance Super Late Model Series made their seasonal trip to The Milwaukee Mile on Thursday night, running a pair of 50-lap double features for the division’s 8th and 9th races of the season. David Krikorian would pick up his 14th career SARA pole for race one, while all cars that finished on the lead lap of race one would be inverted to set the grid in race two.
Race one saw David Krikorian led the field to the green flag, but immediately had his hands full as Justin Brooks was putting pressure on for the lead right away. Brooks made his move into the lead on lap number two while Krikorian settled into 2nd. Only a couple of cautions slowed the pace of the race, but after each restart Brooks looked like he was the car to beat. The race had it’s final restart on lap 36, and Brooks jumped into the lead but Krikorian was still right there behind him, and Cody Kelley had joined the battle for the top spot as the three cars would battle it out in the closing laps.
Krikorian peeked his nose to the inside of Brooks on lap 41 in turn one, and as they battled, Cody Kelley made it three wide coming out of turn four, but Krikorian would move into the lead, with Kelley moving into 2nd. Just two laps later, Krikorian would slide up out of two allowing Kelley to slide underneath him for the lead with just 6 laps to go. And it was a lead that Kelley wouldn’t give up as Krikorian attempted to close back in but Kelley would pull away but a few car lengths and would take the checkered flag in race one, picking up his 28th career SARA victory.
Behind Kelley, Krikorian would finish in the 2nd spot after leading a few laps and running inside the top three all night long. Matt Rolfe had a strong run, battling with the top three for parts of the race and would close in while the leaders battled to take the 3rd spot away. Davey Riendeau spent much of his race battling just outside the top five before picking up a couple spots late and moving up into a 4th place finish. Dale Shaw started his race in the 5th spot, and ran in that position all night long and would end up finishing there as well to round out the top five.
In Race two, a full invert of all of the cars that finished on the lead lap of race one, saw Cody Erdmann get inverted to the front of the field, while Cody Kelley and the other top finishers would be inverted back deep in the field.
Erdmann would get a big jump into the lead at the drop of the green flag, while much of the field was shuffling behind him in the early laps. A pair of early cautions allowed Jeremy Davis to move up into the 2nd spot, and after the lap 13 restart, Davis would make quick of Erdmann, taking over the top spot on lap 15. By this time, some of the faster drivers were making their way up through the field while Davis was looking to check out up front.
Both Cody Kelley and Matt Rolfe had worked their way through the field and cracked the top three by lap 24 after a restart, and Kelley would start to chase down Davis in the lead. A couple of late cautions would allow Davis to hold the lead as the laps wound down, and he was strong on the restarts, jumping the lead each time while Kelley would have to settle in behind. The field would see one last restart on lap 48, setting up a two lap shootout and Davis again got the jump ahead but Kelley was glued to his bumper as he looked for a way by. The two would enter turn three on the final lap and Kelley would dive it in getting a bumper on the rear of Davis’ car, but Davis wouldn’t budge and would hang on out of turn four and came around to take the checkered flag. The win for Davis was his first career SARA victory, in just his 2nd career start.
Behind Davis, Kelley would come up one spot short from sweeping the double features as he had to charge up through the field from the 17th starting spot. Rolfe would also climb his way back through the field from 15th and rounded out the podium in 3rd. John-Michael Shanette also worked his way up from outside of the top ten, moving up inside the top five by half way and would finish in the 4th position. Ryan Borges worked his way into the top five early and spend much of his race towards the front of the field, running as high as 3rd in the late laps before settling into a 5th place finish.
After a pair of 3rd place finishes, Matt Rolfe takes over the points lead in the standings by 21 points, as the division will run their second Triple Crown event of the season next week at New Smyrna.