POWNAL, VT – It was a dream night for Rob Maxon and the entire Maxon Racing Team Saturday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway as the Dane’s Auto Parts #96 was parked in victory lane after Mr. Crate Track USA for the biggest win of Rob’s career.
Maxon started the 30-lap feature from the fifth position after making it into the redraw. He worked his way to the second spot rather quickly, parking himself on the back bumper of leader Connor Cleveland with the hopes of making his way by.
However, he didn’t have to race Cleveland for the victory. Under a red flag for an incident in turn four, the leader pulled into the pit area and then returned to the track, trying to keep his position. Per track rules, this meant that he had to go to the rear of the field because he left the speedway surface, effectively handing the lead and the win to Maxon.
“I just wanted to make my way up to second or third quickly so that I could then start to take my time and race with the leaders,” Maxon said. “I feel bad for Connor (Cleveland) with whatever happened to him under that red flag. I would have liked to race him for the win but I’m going to take it any way I can get it.”
From the moment he got the lead, Maxon drove away to the victory and the title of Mr. Crate Track USA. It was a night the Pownal, VT driver will never forget.
“I really don’t know what to say about this car,” he said. “We thought we were done after time trials. The car wouldn’t go and it ended up being a pick-up issue in the fuel cell. My guys worked hard to get that fixed and we knew we had a good car with how we went from the back to the front in the heat race. I told them I was getting in the redraw and that was key for us.”
Now Maxon looks forward to another crown jewel in the Capital Region for Sportsman drivers, the Northeast Crate Nationals at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Friday night.
“I think we have a good piece for the Nationals up there,” Maxon said. “We went up and did some testing of a few things a couple weeks back and were really happy with the results. We didn’t have the best tires when we went up and our right front was worn out, but we’ll be ready to hopefully get the victory up there. That would be another huge one to win.”
After the Nationals at Albany-Saratoga, the next race for Maxon Racing will be Saturday night, September 8th, at Lebanon Valley where Rob will going for another checkered flag and is in a tight point battle. He is currently second in points, four points behind leader Chris Curtis. However, there is only eight points separating the top four with just two races remaining.