Brad Sweet put on another Valvoline Raceway master class to storm to victory on night one of the Scott Darley Challenge.
The enormous field of 97 cars saw time trials conducted in heat race groups with the Californian secured third position before starting in that spot for his heat race and finishing in second.
Track officials made the decision to ensure time restraints didn’t come into play, along with conserving the quality of the racing surface.
The top eight dash, which Sweet had qualified for in eighth position was subsequently cancelled and the feature races commenced.
The 24-car feature race saw Sweet moving forward to third position within the opening 10 laps.
Lapped traffic came into play early and the Ruhs Bros Motorsports #99 passed second place Carson Macedo by the halfway mark and not long after drove around Australian Champion Kerry Madsen to secure the race lead.
Sweet’s win secured the team’s 10th victory together in three short seasons, along with the $19,000 prize for the opening night.
“We’ve waited four years now to get a win on this weekend and now we’ve finally got one,” Sweet said.
The team will now spend the morning doing car maintenance and preparing for tonight’s race, along with discussing the possibility of starting from position 19 in tonight’s feature race to give Sweet a chance at winning the double prize purse of $57,000 in memory of Scott Darley.