Sargent Wins at Madison For 2nd Win in 3 Races

2025-05-26

It took Randy Sargent a couple of years and several runner-up finishes before he was finally able to get to victory lane in the Big 8 Series in October. Now, just two races later, Sargent picked up his second series win, this time at Madison International Speedway. 

QUALIFYING

Eighteen cars put down a qualifying time, with Zack Riddle picking up his third straight fastest time award at the track. With a time of 18.683, it was just .073 faster than Jon Reynolds Jr. but enough to pick up the $108 bonus. 

HEATS

Sargent started on the front row of the first heat and took the lead from the start. Three laps in, Dale Nottestad began to peek inside and briefly got side-by-side with Sargent. Nottestad bobbled into turn one which allowed Sargent to clear and win the heat. 

The second heat saw Brady Liddle and Grant Brown start on the front row. Liddle struggled with the car on the bottom lane, allowing Brown to get ahead. As Bobby Wilberg worked on Liddle for 2nd, Brown walked away from the others. As Brown finished the heat, Alex Braseth had an issue that resulted in a hard hit into the outside wall, the car catching on fire. Braseth was able to immediately get out of the vehicle.

FEATURE

The 48-lap feature began with Joshua Lundy and Jayden Johnson leading the field to the green flag. The two battled side by side for the opening two laps before Johnson edged ahead to take the early lead.

Jake Gille quickly moved into second, with Sargent, Jerry Mueller, and Carson Phillips close behind. On lap 9, Johnson drifted high coming out of turn two, allowing Gille to slip by for the lead. Sargent followed suit, taking over second place just one lap later.

As the race progressed, the field began to spread out until a spin on lap 16 brought out the first caution. On the restart, Gille maintained the lead, with Sargent in second and Mueller in third. Wilberg jumped into fourth, overtaking Johnson, while Nottestad cracked the top five on lap 18, just before another spin brought out the second caution.

Back under green, Gille again led the way, followed by Sargent and Wilberg, with Mueller and Nottestad rounding out the top five. Sargent held firm in second while Mueller, Riddle, and Wilberg engaged in a tight battle for third. Mueller emerged ahead, with Riddle eventually climbing to fourth, shuffling Wilberg back to fifth.

By lap 27, Gille and Sargent had pulled away from the field. Coming out of turn three, Sargent dove to the inside and completed the pass to take the lead. Meanwhile, Mueller continued to fend off Riddle until lap 31, when Riddle finally cleared him, but by then, the leaders were already a full straightaway ahead.

With ten laps remaining, Sargent was turning the fastest laps on the track, steadily increasing his lead. Despite hopes from the trailing cars, no caution ever came to bunch the field back up. Sargent maintained control all the way to the checkered flag, claiming the victory.

Jake Gille finished second, followed by Zack Riddle in third, Dale Nottestad in fourth, and Bobby Wilberg rounding out the top five. Find the full results here.

The next Big 8 Series race takes place at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, IA on Friday, June 6th. Find the entry form here.