What a monumental night it was for Palmetto, Florida native Dodge Carlbert and his No. 02 Sportsman team at Cordele Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
After setting fast time in qualifying, but starting fourth after the re-draw, he took the lead five circuits into the 75-lap race and never looked back enroute to the checkered flags. In addition to dominating the 25-car field all night, this was Carlbert’s first-career UARA Sportsman Series victory.
“Oh man, I wanted one of these wins so bad and the trophies are so bad ass,” Carlbert said in Victory Lane. “There are so many people to thank, but I’m so out of breath. These races aren’t easy and these cars are hard to drive.
“My family is all here tonight. Can’t thank my parents enough, my little brother is my driving coach and my girlfriend drove up with my grandfather.
“Our goal is to win a championship, sweep all the poles and keep consistently finishing up front. We don’t have to win every race, but if we can and finish in the top five every time that’ll be good.”
The race began with Mathew Green and Cody Krucker on the front row. Once the on-track action started, Carlbert quickly made it by third-place starter Kody Brusso and then Krucker on the following lap.
Once he passed Green, Carlbert set sail leaving the rest to battle it out for the remaining positions. The pace of the race was slowed four times for cautions.
Those were the only times he would be challenged for the lead, most notably by Brusso in the No. 7 machine. In turn, Brusso had the No. 25W of Dylan Bigley on her back bumper as the third-generation driver made his presence known. Those two battled for second and third for much of the latter portions of the race.
One driver who emphatically drove his way up into the front runners was Adam Briggs in his No. 114, doing so after starting 15th.
When the checkered flag waved, Carlbert was followed by Brusso, Briggs, Bigley and Joe Winchell to round out the top-five finishers.
-Photo credit: Tyler Sontag
UARA SPORTSMAN AT CORDELE - UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
| Fin | No | Driver | Laps | Diff |
| 1 | 02 | Dodge Carlbert | 75 | --- |
| 2 | 7 | Kody Brusso | 75 | 0.910 |
| 3 | 114 | Adam Briggs | 75 | 3.634 |
| 4 | 25W | Dylan Bigley | 75 | 3.917 |
| 5 | 92 | Joe Winchell | 75 | 4.890 |
| 6 | 27K | Cody Krucker | 75 | 5.176 |
| 7 | 16 | Tim Sozio | 75 | 6.636 |
| 8 | 1 | Stuart Dutton | 75 | 7.720 |
| 9 | 30 | Chris Huntoon | 75 | 9.769 |
| 10 | 56 | Brandon Morris | 75 | 9.965 |
| 11 | 8 | James Seeright | 75 | 10.765 |
| 12 | 6 | Jimmy Frazier | 73 | 2 Laps |
| 13 | 99 | Lucas Hinton | 73 | 2 Laps |
| 14 | 14 | Zach Briggs | 73 | 2 Laps |
| 15 | 54 | Dan Partelo | 72 | 3 Laps |
| 16 | 12 | Joey Sims | 72 | 3 Laps |
| 17 | 51 | Will Robinson | 71 | 4 Laps |
| 18 | 29 | Bobby Mobley | 59 | 16 Laps |
| 19 | 61 | Kyle Case | 57 | 18 Laps |
| 20 | 44 | Matthew Green | 51 | 24 Laps |
| 21 | 3 | Jeff Dufresne | 42 | 33 Laps |
| 22 | 27 | Kipp McVey | 41 | 34 Laps |
| 23 | 67 | James Dubose | 26 | 49 Laps |
| 24 | 43 | Charlie Ragan, Jr. | 21 | 54 Laps |
| 25 | 40 | Brandon Strevels | 16 | 59 Laps |
