RPW Exclusive: Tale Of Two First-Timers Sunday At The Ridge; Gibbons & Bobar Not “Limited” Anymore

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Column By: TOBY LAGRANGE / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – Sunday night at The Glen Ridge Motorsports Park it was a tale of two first time winners, both of which not only picked up their first career feature event wins in their respective divisions but did so after starting in the newest of the local, Dirt Modified type divisions – the Limited Sportsman.

While DIRTcar 358 Modified Sophomore Carter Gibbons and DIRTcar Sportsman rookie Tyler Bobar are not household names yet, they proved Sunday night that on the path to being just that.

Gibbons started the 35-lap feature event on the outside of the second row with his Crazy Mike Beef Jerky sponsored number 427. Once head starter Brandon Krutz dropped the green flag he took off like a metaphoric rocket.

When Bill August crossed the scoring loop to complete lap number one, Gibbons was a long side and when the field entered the backstretch, he was in control of the race lead.

If you weren’t there Sunday night, you are probably thinking that the remaining 34 laps went caution free and Gibbons was able to open a large lead before heavy hitters such as defending track champion Jordan McCreadie and all-time division feature winner Lance Willix were able to make their way to the front.

No probably’s about it, you would be wrong.

Brian Calabrese spun on lap three which forced a restart. The restart would see Gibbons have Bill August along side and Jordan McCreadie and defending overall DIRTcar Northeast Sportsman Champion Andrew Buff right behind him.

Gibbons returned to the lead when racing resumed and McCreadie was hot on his tail. Without going into a lap-by-lap breakdown of the remaining laps, lets just say that McCreadie hounded the 26 year old all the way up to the final lap when Carter was able to pull away just a little.

An excited, shocked and appreciative Gibbons was a very popular winner and expressed his emotions in victory lane.

“I have been trying for a long time to just get a good result out of this,” Gibbons said. “I finally was able to put it back up on the top spot.”

Gibbons only other feature win at the track came in the Limited Sportsman division near three years ago to the day – June 20th, 2021.

“A lot of work went into this,” Gibbons told the crowd before thanking his crew, family and sponsors.

Like Carter Gibbons, Tyler Bobar came into the night looking for his first career win in his current division. Unlike Gibbons, Bobar is a DIRTcar Sportsman division rookie in 2024.

Bobar also did something that Gibbons did not, he dominated his feature event.

The Canajoharie, New York driver started on the front row and bolted out to the lead at the drop of the green flag. After 30 laps, Bobar not only was still there but could call himself a DIRTcar Sportsman division feature winner.

“That was definitely something,” Bobar said in amazement after the win.

Newer race fans may not be aware that these cars do not have mirrors and the only contact with the world outside of the driver’s seat is via a one-way communication from the Race Director/Scorer to the driver. This means that Bobar had no idea how far ahead of second place Dylan Eldred he really was.

“I didn’t know where they were,” Bobar said of the remainder of the field. “So, we just kept it on the hammer and here we are.”

Bobar came into the night trailing current DIRTcar Sportsman points leader Zach Buff by 40 points. With his win and Buff’s third place finish, Bobar’s deficit is now unofficially 32 points and he will go from the fourth position to third, behind Buff and Taylor Wason.

Gibbons meanwhile also came into the night fourth in the point standings, however will now move to second in the chase for the DIRTcar 358 Modified track championship. He trails Lance Willix by 20 points unofficially.

If Sunday’s nights action at The Ridge was any indication, the tale featuring these two rising stars will be something to watch all season long.

 
 
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