Powershift Performance

The Bandits raced at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, SC on Saturday, May 20th. Fourteen trucks ran at this track where there is NO outside wall, just over the high side into...?

race drivers
The Bandit Drivers: Jon Lisenbee, Robbie Decker, Adam Neeley, Mike Morgan, Travis Buckner, Allen Boles, Ricky Rude, Charles Darren Proffitt, Chris Kikelhan, Craig Kruckeberg, Scott Treadway, Tyler Kruckeberg, Tommy Boileau and Justin Ball.

In Heat Race 1 Morgan's #88 started and finished in 2nd behind Rude's #14 and well ahead of the next five trucks. In Heat Race 2 Proffitt's #27 went off the banked track and came back without rolling! Boileau in #16 took 1st.

In Challenge Race 1 Morgan started in 3rd and passed Boileau's #16 for second. Kikelhan's #1 truck began throwing sparks as his exhaust dragged on the track. This brought out a caution and sent #1 into the pits for repair. With the restart #88 passed Ball in #17 for 1st and stayed there for the finish six laps later. Bole's #3 and Kruckeberg's #55 bumped sending #3 off the high bank in the final lap and #55 spinning on track; fortunately both were okay. Challenge Race 2 was won by Rude in #14. This was followed by the Autograph Session in front of the stands.

The Main Race saw Morgan in #88 starting in 7th next to Rude's #14 in 8th position. ["High point leader, Ricky Rude drew the number 8 inversion pill resulting in the top 8 trucks in points being inverted putting Buckner's number #26 on the pole."] #17 and #14 quickly moved up along the outside to the front. #1 and #88 bumped in turn 1, but both held with #88 moving into 6th place. #88 passed #27 and #6 moving into 4th while #14 finally took the lead from #17. #6 and #88 fought for 3rd with #6 winning this battle as #88 went sideways. As the race leaders began lapping the slower trucks #14 hit #1 in the rear in the process. The two leaders lapped the last SIX trucks as the lead kept changing. Morgan in #88 finished in 4th after a duel with Decker in #6.

So Morgan finished 2nd in his heat race, 1st in his challenge race and 4th in the Minimizer Main to retain his 3rd place standing in the points. All this with lots of passing and no serious damage to the truck--a good race weekend!

Videos: live stream, main race highlights, main race finish

Finish Order

Finish order for each race by truck number:

Heat 1: 14 > 88 > 1 > 4> 7 > 54 > 3

Heat 2: 16 > 6 > 17 > 63 > 26 > 55 > 27 (DNF)

Challenge 1: 88 > 17> 16 > 7 > 55 > 3 > 1 (DNF)

Challenge 2: 14 > 6 > 63 > 26 > 54 > 27 > 4

Feature Race: 14 > 17 > 6 > 88 > 27 > 16 > 7 > 55 > 1 > 3 >63 > 26 > 54 > 4

Points Standing

Morgan remains 3rd in points behind Rude and Ball, but ahead of Boileau, Decker, and Kikelhan.

Truck #	Driver	Points This Race	Cumulative Points
14	Ricky Rude	429.0	1615.5
17	Justin Ball	364.0	1541.5
88	Mike Morgan	381.0	1481.5
16	Tommy Boileau	340.5	1349.5
6	Robbie Decker	379.5	1333.5
01	Chris Kikelhan	273.5	1306.0
3	Allen Boles	261.0	1169.5