The first race of the 2016 Southeast Super Truck Series was held this past Saturday, March 26th, at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Granite Falls, North Carolina. For Columbus, Ohio native Ricky Bowers, it was a chance to continue the momentum gained from the 2015 season. Ricky and his number 61 Leicht Motorsports team had ended the 2015 season earning the Southeast Super Truck Series (SEST) Rookie of the Year.
“We really wanted to carry over the momentum from 2015 into 2016, and we did just that,” said Bowers.
Ricky started off the first race day of the 2016 season well, by posting the third and fifth fastest practice times in the first two practices, respectively. The number 61 team kept the mojo on their side, as Bowers went on to qualify fifth out of 16 trucks for the 75 lap feature event for the SEST Series. Every super truck race, the pole winner rolls a large dice, to see what the invert will be for the start of the feature. On Saturday, pole sitter rolled a five, meaning that Ricky would invert to start on the pole position for the main event.
The feature race began very well for Bowers, as he jumped out to the lead as soon as the green flag dropped. Bowers would extend the gap to the second place car, having as much as a three second lead at one point, as there was a fierce battle for second throughout most of the green flag run. That large lead went away in an instant as there was a caution on lap 22, brought out by a truck that got into the wall in Turn two.
Ricky had a good jump on the restart on lap 25, but it wasn’t enough to hold off former champion, Lee Tissot, on the outside. Bowers also had his hands full with two other trucks passing to the outside, forcing Bowers back to forth. The remaining 50 laps of the race went caution free, as everyone was trying to chase down the leaders. Ricky eventually passed for third with ten laps to go, and that would be where he finished.
“This was a great way to start the season,” Bowers said after the race. “We got to lead some laps, and show everyone just how fast Leicht Motorsports trucks are.”
The third place finish matches Ricky’s best finish in a Southeast Super Truck thus far.
“It was important to start off the 2016 season strong, and we couldn’t do it without the help of everyone at Leicht Motorsports and our sponsors Cometic Gasket, Sikk Shades, and MPM Marketing.”
Bowers will be at Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, SC, in less than two weeks for Race number two of the Southeast Super Trucks Series.
