A stellar season for Kenny Collins and Coltman Farms Racing continued Saturday evening in the Southern All Star Racing Series at East Alabama Motor Speedway.
In his first race with a brand-new Longhorn Chassis, Collins patiently bided his time behind the front two cars of J.R. Moseley and Dalton Cook before overtaking both to win the first night of the Alabama State Championships, which was Brett Coltman’s first circuit win as a car owner.
For Collins, winning Saturday’s feature in the Alabama State Championships was special for many reasons, as he finally crossed a victory at East Alabama off his list after enduring many years of struggles at the facility.
“This one’s pretty awesome,” Collins said. “I’ve been coming here since 2005 trying to win one of these races. When I first started racing, [the Alabama State Championships] were always our vacation race at the end of the year. This place is very special to me, so it’s cool to finally win one after 17 years.”
Collins can recall so many different reasons as to why a win at East Alabama has been out of reach, but he entered Saturday’s feature with more confidence on his side knowing the car provided by Coltman would be strong enough to contend.
After qualifying the fastest in his group, Collins faded back to fourth on the initial start. He eventually made his way back into the third position and began searching for grip all while Moseley and Cook engaged in an intense battle for the lead.
Once Collins passed Cook, he waited for the right opportunity to overtake Moseley, whose car had started to fade during the run. A slide job from Collins was all he needed to assume control of the race and pull away for his first Alabama State Championships victory.
The only other person more excited than Collins about the triumph was Coltman himself, who knew that bringing the veteran racer aboard his burgeoning program would give it the best opportunity to win every week.
With Collins and Dwayne Frady on his side, Coltman admitted that his Dirt Late Model program has already made significant strides and is confident that Collins is only going to accumulate more victories after his triumph in the Alabama State Championships.
“This win feels really great,” Coltman said. “The entire team worked really hard to put together an amazing car. We’ve come a long way and Kenny is such a great racer who has been around a long time. He sets the cars up to how he likes them and that makes a difference.”
Collins added that his victory in the Alabama State Championships was exactly what Coltman Farms Racing needed following a disappointing showing in the World 100 at Eldora Speedway, in which they failed to qualify.
Despite their shortcomings at Eldora, Collins never doubted the speed of the cars inside the Coltman Farms Racing shop and knew it was only a matter of time before he and Coltman celebrated a major Dirt Late Model win together.
“Our confidence was about half-shattered after [the World 100] at Eldora last week,” Collins said. “This definitely makes everyone feel a little better, but everyone has been working so hard. Brett has been providing us everything we need and it feels good to win one for him. I’m glad he got to be [at East Alabama] too.”
Collins would like to thank Brett Coltman, Dwayne Frady, Josh Bishop, his parents, his crew and everyone else that assists him, along with MPM Marketing, Longhorn Chassis and his sponsors in Coltman Farms, Bilstein Shocks, Fast Shafts, XS Power, WP Shocks, VP Fuels, Andy Durham Race Engines and Vic Hill Race Engines.
MPM PR
