Rain or Blizzard, Hunter Robbins is the Winner at Pensacola
That train of momentum that Hunter Robbins has been riding on for the past few weeks finally came around full-steam this past weekend for the young driver as he headed down to Five Flags Speedway (FL). He found himself standing in a very familiar place, as the former Snowflake 100 winner took victory Friday night in the first Blizzard Series event of the year at Pensacola.
While on paper Robbins won the event, he crossed the finish line second behind fellow Alabama driver Augie Grill. It was a familiar scene of the past, considering both drivers finished one-two at the Rattler event at South Alabama Speedway just last month. But this time, it was all about Robbins as Grill was disqualified after technical inspection, handing the win to the 15-year-old.
“We didn't want to win the race like that,” said Robbins. “I'd rather pass him on the track. It's not the way you want to win. But we are still happy with the win. Even with finishing second, the momentum's still there, and we're still riding on that train - that string of good runs - and hopefully we'll go on and run out front wherever.”
When the weekend started, Robbins’ Maui Jim #18 was fast. He was able to put it out front in qualifying, securing a third-
place starting position. Once the race started and Robbins fell into second place, it turned into a battled between he and Grill for the top spot.
“We changed a little bit of stuff with the setup, but we ended up back with what we unloaded with (for the race). We unloaded fast right off the trailer. We changed a little bit of stuff and everything just made the car better and better, and it was great to be able to do that right off the trailer.
“Where you qualify is important here. We qualified third and stayed up there the whole night. It allowed us to stay out of that mess, because all of the wrecks happened behind us. If we continue to qualify well, we'll put ourselves in position to do well. We are counting on winning more of these things before the year is out.”
Any win is good, but Robbins definitely has his eye on the bigger picture, claiming the Blizzard Championship and securing himself a spot in that very important race that comes at the end of the year – The Snowball Derby. The top-two drivers in the Blizzard Series points at the end of the year are guaranteed spots in the Snowball Derby.
“It's good to start out well in the Blizzard Series,” added Robbins. “It’s also because of the provisional for the Derby. It's kind of neat to run for points somewhere since we've never really ran for points anywhere. It’d be pretty nice to win a championship for our sponsors Maui Jim, X-1R, Bell Helmets, ARP Racing Bodies and Hawaiian Tropics.
Hunter Robbins in victory lane. (51 Photos)
“We'd like to get the locked-in provisional for December, but hopefully we won't have to use one and we'll have a good qualifying run like we did tonight. And who knows, maybe we will be in victory lane again.”
The next race for Robbins will come next Saturday at Mobile International Raceway as part of the rescheduled Viper Series event that was supposed to come this past Saturday.
For more information on Hunter Robbins, contact Jason Buckley at (704) 788-2134 or visit HunterRobbins.com for more information. For marketing opportunities with Hunter, please contact Richard Walton at Walton Motorsports Marketing at (205) 337-9587.
