THORNBURG, VA – Cole Bruce picked up his second win of the 2019 season at Dominion Raceway on Saturday night, dominating in the 35-lap Dominion Racer feature and surviving a late race restart.
Bruce, 15, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, started in the second position and took the lead from Bradley Kilby on the fourth lap of the race. Bruce drove away from eventual runner-up Aaron Donnelly, until a late race caution set up a three-lap shootout. After one restart was called off, Bruce was able to secure sole possession of the lead on the second attempt and hold off Donnelly for the victory.
“This feels pretty good,” Bruce said. “I can’t thank After Hours enough. We had a great car all day. In the race, it was just hooked up. We took our time on the restart and, once we got by the leader, ship sailed from there. My spotter, Jesse Vaughan, coached me all the way through. Pretty much, after that, we kept going. When the caution came out, I knew we had to keep our heads straight and do what needed to be done. We just got a good start and got the checkered from there.”
After a rough start to the season, predominantly at South Boston Speedway, the win was exactly the confidence booster Bruce needed to keep his season on track. Bruce dedicated his win to his father, Robert Bruce, and to the Carricofe family after the passing of the family’s matriarch.
“It helps a lot. We’ve only raced four races here. We’ve won two races out of four. I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be winning races and doing what we need to do. South Boston has been kind of a struggle a little bit but we keep getting better and better every weekend. This one was very important to me. This weekend is Father’s Day, this is going out to my dad [Robert Bruce] and to the Carricoffe family. They had a recent death, the family’s matriarch, that was a true love once for them. I had to go win this one for them.”
Cole Bruce is not running for a championship at this point of the season and says they’re taking their schedule race by race. However, an upcoming $10,000-to-win Limited Late Model race at Carteret County Speedway in Peletier, North Carolina does have their attention.
“We were talking about it, the 150 lapper. We’ll see what we’ve got going on. Right now, there’s nothing we have scheduled racing-wise. We’ve got a fast car, car’s in one piece. We can go back home and learn. I’m excited about running bigger races at the end of the season. Hopefully we can go ahead and do what we need to do. Just continue to have a great season, keep the car in one piece, and win races.”
Cole Bruce is supported in 2019 by Papa John’s, Shepherd’s Heating and Air, Matco Tools, Radley Cadillac in Fredericksburg, Mullins Racing and Dinah Marie Photography.
To learn more about Cole Bruce, visit www.colebruceracing.com, “like” Cole Bruce Racing on Facebook or follow Cole Bruce on Twitter.
