RPW Column: Peter Britten Didn’t Need The Lap 12 Caution Tuesday At Volusia; Settles For Second

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – BARBERSVILLE, FL – Peter Britten is probably wishing Jack Lehner, Jim Britt and Tyler Jashembowski were able to make it one more lap Tuesday at the Volusia Speedway Park before they brought out the caution flag.

That way, Britten’s amazing lap 12 restart, when he was able to get by leader Stewart Friesen, would have been scored official. Then, maybe, just maybe, the Australian would have gone on to win his career first gator as part of the DIRTcar Nationals.

However, now, we’ll never know.

Unfortunately, luck was not on Britten’s side in that regard. DIRTcar officials reverted back to the last completed lap and that put the Halmar Racing 44 back in the top spot…a place he would not relinquish in the remaining laps as he went on to score the win.

Britten had to settle for the $2,000 second place prize. However, now, he and all of his fans are left to wonder, what if.

“Yea, I definitely didn’t want to see that caution come out,” Britten said. “Even if I had gotten that jump, I knew Friesen was fast but I thought we were right there with him.”

As good as his #21A was on Tuesday night, does Britten feel he could have found his way to victory lane?

“It would have been interesting to see if we could have held him off,” he said. “I’m just tickled to be here right now.”

It’s been an interesting few weeks in the Sunshine state for Britten and his team who debuted a brand new Bicknell chassis machine during the Short Track Super Series swing at Bubba Raceway Park.

However, that new car only made it to turn three on the first lap of the first feature as he was involved in a vicious accident that saw him get upside down.

Britten ran Rich Scagliotta’s Troyer #8 for the rest of Brett Deyo’s races at the Ocala, FL track. The team then began working their tails off to put together a new Bicknell in time for the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia.

Peter and the 21A crew put in many long nights at Max and Mike McLaughlin’s shop in North Carolina to get the car finished. It seems like their dedication paid off with how good of a car they had Tuesday.

“It’s just been a thrash for us since we wrecked the car the first night out at Bubba,” he said. “A lot of people helped us out to even just make it back to the race track, let alone be as competitive as we were tonight.”

Anyone that knows Peter knows he’s very humble and grateful to all who assist with his racing efforts. With as much work as he and his team has put in since totaling that race car at Bubba, this time is no different.

“I’m so thankful for Ryder Racing, Tommy Faxon Excavating and a whole heap of guys on this car,” he said. Dylan (Zacharias) and I thrashed on this thing day and night basically to get it ready. You know, it’s a good feeling to be up here for sure.”

Now, Britten and his team will try to get one spot better on Wednesday night when the Super DIRTcar Series returns to Volusia for night two of the Big Block Modified portion of the DIRTcar Nationals.