Sam LaMothe Wins 600 Micros Return to New Egypt Speedway

A small but competitive field of Eastern 600 Sprint Cars ventured onto the 7/16 mile big track at New Egypt Speedway seeking the Legends of the Fall 600 Micro victory lane.

The 7 car feature was a 10 lap shootout that was won by Sam LaMothe with Whitey Kidd close behind in second and Rich Mellor in 3^rd.

Hunter Metzger took the early until caution flew on lap 3.  Sam LaMothe took over the lead on the restart and set the pace with Whitey Kidd making a strong move into 2^nd from his 7^th place starting.   On lap 4 Richie Keller was charging hard to the front when he ended up in the loose stuff and then caught the wall cartwheeling down the back stretch bringing out the red flag.  Keller was fine but the GO was on the hook and done for the race.  When racing resumed it was LaMothe continuing his lead with Whitey Kidd in hot pursuit in second for the remaining 6 laps. Sam LaMothe held on to take the win and trip the the Legends of the Fall victory lane.

Eastern 600 Sprint Feature (10 Laps):

1.) SAM LAMOTHE 2.) Whitey Kidd 3.) Rich Mellor 4.) Dylan Metzger 5.) Rich Deck Jr 6.) John Jenkins 7.) Richie Keller

Eastern 600 Pit Notes

The 600 micros have not been on the D shaped 7/16 track at New Egypt since 2008.  A small but mighty field represented the class well with lap times within one second of the crates and speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour.

Sam LaMothe quickly moved forward and took the lead on a lap 3 restart where he stayed to take the win in the 10 lap feature shootout.  Postrace Sam noted “The track was very racy and I had a good start and was able to immediately move from the back of the field to 2^nd.  On the lap 3 restart I carried enough speed to make the pass for the lead from the top side in 3 & 4.  Once we got in front it was clean restarts and holding my line until the finish.  I like racing on these bigger tracks and it was a blast today.  We had plenty of power for the track and our speeds and times weren’t that far off of the crates.  I actually was not wide open all way around and was bumping the throttle slightly getting into the corner to set the car better.”

Whitey Kidd finished 2^nd from a 7^th starting position in the 10 lap feature race.  Whitey noted “Unfortunately we drew 7^th and dead last in the pill draw for a short 10 lap feature but we were able to make the best out of it and get up to 2^nd.  This was really cool to run a big track and the track tonight was awesome.  It was smooth and not heavy making it very racy.  We made a hard charge for the lead and was on the leader’s back bumper for the final two laps but just needed a few more laps to set up a move for the win.”  

Richie Keller is a true racer.  Richie and his crew (dad) was in the Poconos on the way to Greenwood Valley when they rained out.  They turned around and headed to New Egypt and arrived after hot laps.  They took the wing off and made a gear change for the big track at New Egypt.

Postrace Richie commented “We started 6^th of 7 and I knew I had to get through the field quickly since we were only running 10 laps.  We didn’t have the gearing right and the setup was off a little.  I was trying to just run were everyone wasn’t and with the gearing not being right I was committed to the outside.  I was able to get to the front and knew there weren’t many laps left so I cut turn 1 tight and just overdrove the corner and then slid up off of turn 2 catching the marbles and tagged the wall with the right rear.  I think when the right rear hit the wall which turned the car to the right and the right front climbed the fence and that was that.”

Richie continued “It looked a lot worse than it really was and we only damaged bolt on parts.  We didn’t bend the front end or the chassis and we had the car fixed the next day.  We had a great year with 9 feature wins and this was the first time we crashed all season so it was bound to happen sooner or later.  This season has been good; as we have finished all top 5 except two races and only had two DNF’s including our crash at New Egypt. So we have no complaints about our season this year.  This racing team is only dad and me.  We are not a high dollar team and I’m proud of what we have been able to do this year.”

On Friday & Saturday October 29 & 30th New Egypt Speedway hosts the Monster Trucks for their final event of the 2021 season.