7/14/2024
Ashton Winger
Winger repeats Birthday Race triumph at Oakshade Raceway; collects 14th-career Hell Tour victory
Ashton Winger bested Oakshade Raceway’s Birthday Race with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals on Saturday night with his Mathews Motorsports No. 12 Super K Express / Recreational Vehicle Select / XR1 Rocket Chassis / Durham Racing Engine Super Late Model.
His sixth win of the year was worth $10,000 as he took top accolades in the Birthday Race for the second time in his career.
“It’s really hard not to get emotional, this is my grandpa’s birthday and we lost him a little over 10 years ago .. he was definitely riding with us tonight,” Winger said. “I miss him like crazy, I wanna say it to my mama back home, my Aunt Rhonda, my cousins, my grandma .. I love you guys, I wish I was there, I wish y’all were here. I’m just really blessed, Jeff Matthews has done so much for me and we’ve, honestly, had a really rough year. Everybody that puts a hand in on this deal, like I said I’m a little broke up, but I’m really thankful for everything.”
Losing the first two events of the week to rain, Ashton Winger rolled into Butler Speedway (Quincy, Mich.) on Thursday afternoon to kick off the fifth week of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
Among 29 Late Models signed in, Winger qualified runner-up before finishing runner-up in his heat race as well. Rolling off fourth in the $5,000-to-win feature, Ashton fell back to eighth after 30 laps.
With the field elevated to 53-cars on Friday afternoon at Crystal (Mich.) Motor Speedway, Ashton scored a podium finish in the $10,000-to-win feature as he trailed Tyler Erb and Dona Marcoullier to the checkered flag.
Trying to repeat last year's Oakshade Raceway (Wauseon, Ohio) triumph on Saturday, Winger picked up the heat race victory and redrew the pole position for the A-Main. With another $10,000 payday up for grabs, Ashton dominated the 40 lapper and collected his second-ever Birthday Race triumph.
Wrapping up the final week of the tour at Wayne County Speedway (Orrville, Ohio) on Sunday, Winger was headed for a podium outing until suspension issues ended his night early. He was credited with a 14th-place finish.
Full results from the fifth week of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals can be found at www.DIRTcarSummerNationals.com.
Winger has a single event on his schedule this week with a Thursday night trip to Senoia (Ga.) Raceway for the $7,544-to-win Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals event.
Full event details are available at www.SenoiaRaceway1969.com.
Article Credit: Tyler Carr image
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