Perkins Prevails in Wheel Man Season Opener

For a brief moment, it appeared Jake Perkins' shot at winning the Wheel Man Series season opener at Auburndale Speedway had gone out the window.

Perkins and Adam Briggs had battled for the top spot throughout the event, but the battle ended in contact on lap 65. The contact sent Perkins spinning, seemingly dashing his shot at the win.

Instead, Briggs took fault for the incident, conceding his position via the tapout rule to allow Perkins to maintain his spot in the running order prior to the spin. From there, Perkins held on to the top spot on the ensuing restart to secure the win.

It was a hard-fought victory for Perkins, who had his hands full with plenty of battles before the decisive incident. However, he enjoyed the close-quarters action on the tight Auburndale bullring.

"It was a lot of fun," said Perkins in victory lane. "All of the guys in this Wheel Man Series are really talented drivers, it was a lot of fun."

However, he was disappointed that he didn't get the chance to battle Briggs all the way to the checkered flag.

"I hate it happened the way it did. Adam and I raced really hard that whole race, gave each other room and raced hard."

After running in the top five for most of the evening and avoiding chaotic scenes further behind him, Kevin Macy came away with the runner-up finish.

Macy found success on the high line around Auburndale throughout the evening, but felt he may have gone to the well one time too many at night's end.

"I should have picked the bottom, probably. We got such a good start on the outside, and the car was handling better on the outside. I guess I tried it one too many times, but it was fun racing with Jake. He's a good, clean driver."

While Macy stayed clear of the fray, Brandon Morris had a much more turbulent evening. Starting deep in the field following the invert, Morris scratched and clawed his way forward, overcoming some misfortune of his own.

When the checkered flag fell and the dust had settled, Morris was on the podium with a third-place finish.

"Needed a little bit of luck and more time," said Morris. "Every time we got a restart, I was on the outside. I just got drug back, having to go to the rear, falling back to 12th. I felt like we had a good car and could have gotten it done, just needed more time."

The Wheel Man Racing Series returns to action on February 19 at Citrus County Speedway.

RESULTS - WHEEL MAN 75 AT AUBURNDALE

1. Jake Perkins
2. Kevin Macy
3. Brandon Morris
4. Ricky Anderson
5. L.J. Grimm
6. Adam Briggs
7. Scott Bramlett
8. Devin McLeod
9. Steve Barnes
10. Tim Sozio
11. Cody Krucker
12. Tyler Scofield
13. Chad Rutherford
14. Chris Huntoon
15. Keith Lilley
16. James Seeright
17. Brooke Storer
18. Brandon Duchscherer
19. Aaron Williamson
20. Colton Bramlett
21. Shawn Harper
22. Kody Brusso
23. Harold Crooms
24. Leroy Moore