Crabtree Grabs Gladiator Debut at Tyler County

Middlebourne, WV - On Saturday night, race fans at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, West Virginia witnessed history. After one event in September of 2025 to announce the series, Tyler County fans witness the first race of a multi-race season for the Gladiator Sprint Tour.

The Gladiator Sprint Tour is a Winged 410 Sprint Car sanction, powered by FAST on DIRT owner/promoter, Aaron Fry. Gladiator Sprints are a more economical Tour compared to the FAST on DIRT series, offering race tracks in the Ohio Valley area a cheaper way to bring in 410 sprint cars. Likewise, the smaller purse is likely to keep the "big dogs" away, giving smaller budget teams a chance to find a win throughout the season.

Jacob Bengenwald and Mike Keegan led the 13-car field to the green flag on Saturday night. The initial start was called back when Bengenwald got the jump on the field before reaching the start cone in turn four. Another caution flew immediately when Eric Marten lost control of his No.5M in turn two. The third attempt to start the 25-lap main event was successful with Bengenwald leading the opening laps with Carmen Perigo in tow.

Perigo found the front of the field about 10 laps into the race as the front of the field found lapped traffic. Just ahead of the halfway mark, Kory Crabtree moved into the second spot and began reeling in Perigo. In a void of lapped traffic, Crabtree drew in on Perigo, and before the pair reached another wave of lapped traffic, Crabtree licked the stamp and sent a slider in turns three and four to take the top spot with just five laps to go.

Crabtree held on for the win over Begenwald, who found his way back by Perigo. Bryan Nuckles and Mike Keegan rounded out the top five.

"Just a new car, and we just had to figure it out," Crabtree said in victory lane. "It drives totally different than last year's car; we totaled it at Eldora."

The Gladiator Sprint Tour is set to be back in action on Friday, April 10th at Ohio Valley Speedway and Saturday, April 11th at Atomic Speedway in a co-sanctioned show with FAST on DIRT. Fans can find out more by logging on to BOSSFASTSprints.com.

Unofficial Results:

1. Kory Crabtree

2. Jacob Begenwald

3. Carmen Perigo

4. Bryan Nuckles

5. Mike Keegan

6. Danny Smith

7. Brianna Lawson

8. Eric Martin

9. Dave Dickson

10. Anthony Gaskins

11. Casey Smith

12. Billy Morris

13. Josh Davis