James McFadden Reigns Victorious in Bricker’s Bash at BAPS

James McFadden competing at BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

YORK HAVEN, Pa. — The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars left Ohio and traveled east to BAPS Motor Speedway for the 30-lap Bricker’s Bash.

Giovanni Scelzi and King’s Royal winner, David Gravel were on the front row for the feature race. Scelzi shot out to the lead early with Gravel trailing closely behind. James McFadden, a High Limit Racing regular, kept with the leaders’ pace and began to gain ground on Gravel. As they raced towards Turn 3, McFadden went to the inside of Gravel and pulled away from him upon entering the corner. Coming around to the start/finish line, McFadden had second place over Gravel.

Six laps later, Brock Zearfoss and Brad Sweet went at it for sixth. Zearfoss ran the middle lane while Sweet chose the bottom. As they raced into Turns 1 and 2, Sweet gave it all he had and it paid off for him when Zearfoss popped a wheelie coming out of Turn 2, losing just a little bit of the momentum he needed to stay ahead of the “Big Cat”, another High Limit regular. Sweet’s sixth place run was short-lived though as Mark Smith slowed on the frontstretch, drawing a caution.

Halfway through the race, “J-Mac” had finally caught up to Scelzi. Coming off of Turn 4, McFadden shot to the bottom and got ahead of Scelzi, claiming the lead at the line. However, he and Scelzi had swapped lanes at that point, giving Scelzi the bottom. Scelzi used this to his advantage and slide-jobbed McFadden coming out of Turn 1. McFadden was not giving up though, and returned the favor to Scelzi going into Turn 3.

On Lap 19, Scelzi lost second to Gravel. Coming off of Turn 4, Gravel went to the inside of the California native and stayed on the bottom with enough speed to stay ahead of Scelzi. Scelzi was not having it and crossed back under him going into Turn 2. Gravel, never one to back down from a challenge, swapped lanes with him again to re-claim second.

Three laps later, Sheldon Haudenschild took over third from Scelzi. Scelzi, running the middle lane, watched Haudenschild speed by him on the bottom without a second thought to steal the last podium position away.

David Gravel competing at BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

Scelzi, back in fourth place, was feeling the pressure from Sweet in fifth. However, that pressure soon ended when Sweet accidentally hit Scelzi’s back end, sending both of them over the cushion, into the wall and facing the wrong direction. Sweet’s car suffered fuel cell damage after flipping over, which resulted in flames erupting beneath the No. 49 ride. Luckily, Sweet was able to climb out of the car and was perfectly fine.

“It was my fault,” said Sweet about the accident. “I just lost brakes. I hit the brakes all the way to the floor and I just couldn’t stop. I was struggling with pumping them [brakes] a little, and I obviously got into him so I feel bad.”

McFadden, sitting in the lead due to the wreck, raced ahead of everyone else with no problems. Gravel in second however, was feeling the heat from Haudenschild. Gravel chose the middle lane and this made Haudenschild experiment with every racing line to get around the World of Outlaws points leader. Haudenschild got close to that second-place position on the bottom, but could not make it work and remained in third. Brock Zearfoss and Cory Eliason rounded out the top five.

Before giving his Victory Lane speech, McFadden climbed on top of his wing with an ice-cold NOS Energy drink and one of his racing shoes. Following his homeland’s customary tradition for winning a sporting event, McFadden poured the NOS into his shoe and proceeded to drink it…or at least tried to. He got it in his mouth and spit it out and shook his head before he swallowed any of it.

“Super tough, right mate?” said McFadden about the race. “There was really big holes in the middle there and I just thought that if we bide our time there that we would be able to get by them [and] super happy that we did, especially because when you get to traffic you have no idea where to go. My car was unbelievable tonight. Any time you can win a race in America is great, but against the Outlaws is something that I grew up wanting to do as a kid and is nice.”