There might be no one as excited to return to North Wilkesboro Speedway (NC) for the ASA STARS / Southern Super Series ECMD 150 than the defending SSS series champion. Hunter Robbins had a nice ride through North Carolina in 2022 on his way to the SSS series crown. He picked up a win at Tri-County Motor Speedway (NC) and later finished second in the 75-lap event at North Wilkesboro.
“North Wilkesboro really suited my driving style, ” said Robbins. “We unloaded really well when we ran there last fall and that just carried on during the night. We qualified sixth or seventh, but we were second in our heat race and that led to us being second in the feature. We are looking forward to going back after the run we had last time out.”
This will be the second trip to North Wilkesboro Speedway for Robbins and car owner, Ronnie Sanders in their PitBoxes.com number 18. The defending series champions were of course a part of the first ASA STARS National event at Five Flags Speedway (FL) in March, but they didn’t make the trip to Madison for the last race.
“We hated that we couldn’t go to Madison, but several of the guys on our crew can’t get away from work for a long period of time like that. We are able to support the STARS events in North Carolina because it’s closer to home. With the types of purses they are putting out and the quality of cars racing it almost feels like a solid top five run could feel like a win.”
Robbins is chasing points again in the Southern Super Series and a few good finishes could have him rethinking the travel to some of the national races later in the season. They plan to be at the All American 400, but will first focus on the first of two North Carolina Doubleheaders.
While there is no event at Tri-County Motor Speedway this year, the next stop comes at a special place for Robbins as the series will shift to Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) for the Tar Heel 250. Robbins is a former Pro Cup Series winner at the track as he took the win there in 2008.
“We do like the extra distance races and the Pro Cup win in 2008 was a 250-lap race,” added Robbins. “We have never run a Late Model there, but I still feel good because of that win and it’s an old worn out race track and that’s the same type of track we run a lot of our races on.”
Robbins used a strong run of podium finishes and consistently to claim last year’s ASA Southern Super Series championship. While the car has been fast, the bad luck bug has hit them a bit to start the year.
“We avoided the bad luck so much last year we kinda knew we were due for some unlucky breaks,” added Robbins. “Our Hamke machine was fast at Montgomery, but the rain got us twice so we are really just itching to get back racing after a long time off between races.”
The North Carolina swing gets underway with the ECMD 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Tuesday, May 16th. The 150-lap combination race with the ASA STARS National Tour will be the first of two combination events in the month of May. The series will shift to the Hickory Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 25th for the Tar Heel 250.
The northern swing continues for the Southern Super Series in the Tar Heel State with a doubleheader at Southern National Motorsport Park on Thursday, June 22nd and then at Carteret County Speedway on Saturday, June 24th. Both races will be a 100-lap contest with a $5,000 bonus if a driver can win both races.
For more information on the ASA Southern Super Series visit the series website www.southernsuperseries.com and visit the ASA Stars Tour site starsnationaltour.com