4/30/2023
Drake Troutman
Pair of top-five finishes in MARS Late Model Championship
With Mother Nature axing the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) tripleheader out east, Drake Troutman took his Wheeler Fleet Solutions into battle with the MARS Late Model Championship at Brownstown Bulllring (Brownstown, Ill.) on Friday for opening round of the tour.
Drawing 38 Late Models to the recently refreshed facility for the Diggin’ Dirt 40, Troutman followed up the second-fastest lap in his time trial group with a heat race victory. Rolling off second for the opening night feature, Drake held onto a ninth-place finish after making the wrong tire decision.
For another $5,000-to-win MARS Late Model Championship event on Saturday at Fairbury Speedway (Fairbury, Ill.), Drake’s third-place finish in his heat race positioned him on the fifth row for the A-Main. Breaking into the top-five, Troutman gained six spots in the 40-lapper to register a fourth-place finish. He followed Shannon Babb, Brandon Sheppard, and Brian Shirley across the line with Ryan Unzicker coming in fifth.
On Sunday afternoon at Red Hill Raceway (Sumner, Ill.), Troutman secured his spot into the Red Hill Rumble A-Main with a heat race victory. With $5,000 on the line, Drake ran a steady pace to finish third. He chased race-long leader Brandon Sheppard and Tanner English to the checkers.
Full results from the events are available at www.MARSRacingSeries.com.
Article Credit: Josh James image
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