Thomas Burbage made a trip to victory lane on the eve of his 37th birthday – his first win of the season.
That victory came at East Carolina Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Burbage started on the pole and led every single lap, beating defending track champion Jeff Shiflett for the win.
“It was definitely a great weekend,” Burbage said. “Had a birthday, a great Father’s Day and a win to top it off so it was pretty cool to do that.”
Even though Burbage made it look easy, the day got off to a frustrating start. When he unloaded, he struggled with the handling of his racecar.
“We actually tested during the day and the car didn’t feel all that great,” Burbage remarked. “I don’t know if it was the tires. We juggled and made a decision not to change anything and it paid off. We set the fast lap in qualifying and the rest is pretty much history.”
Burbage’s biggest challenge all race came on the initial start of the race. He didn’t get going and lost the lead on the opening lap but regained it on the exit of turn two and pulled away.
“I’ve got a little bit of a bad start on the initial start and was able to take the lead coming off of two and never looked back,” Burbage explained. “The car was really good. We had a good car the whole race and pulled 25 lengths on them. [Jeff Shiflett] got within 10. We tried not to run the car hard to save in case there was a caution and was able to finish it off. It was pretty cool. It was cool to finally beat Louis [White].”
While in contention for a championship at East Carolina, Burbage says he also plans to visit Southern National Motorpsorts Park, feeling that the new carburetor rules give him an opportunity to be competitive at the 4/10-mile track.
The win was Burbage’s first win since August 22, 2014.
