Robert Strmiska wins Carolina Mini Stock Nationals headliner

After having to restart at the tail of the field following a halfway break as a result of replacing a broken shifter, Robert Strmiska stormed through the field in the final 50 laps of the 100-lap Carolina Mini Stock Nationals feature on Saturday.

Strmiska went on to win over Cody LeBlanc and A.J. Sanders, who had a photofinish for the runner-up position.

“I knew I had a good car but I was pretty worried,” Strmiska said in victory lane.  “I knew I could probably get to third but I knew it was going to be really hard to get by A.J. and Cody.  We got there pretty fast, the 16 was dropping oil everywhere which wasn’t helping.  It hurt the other guys which helped me and I got by them pretty fast.  Everyone gave me room.”

Sanders picked up the win in the Pro-4 feature; Brenton Irving outdueled Keagan Abrams in a Legend Car thriller; and Sammy Pacitti was victorious in both Bomber and U-Car competition.

Results

Carolina Mini Stock Challenge: 1. 90-Robert Strmiska[9]; 2. 7NH-Cody LeBlanc[4]; 3. 32-AJ Sanders[7]; 4. 16B-Blaine Curry[2]; 5. 1-Shane Canipe[1]; 6. 81-Chuck Wall[14]; 7. 24-Blaze Sanders[8]; 8. 7-Nolan Walker[13]; 9. 86-Dakota Mellor[5]; 10. 27-Stonewall Kniceley[3]; 11. 88-Zak Taylor[11]; 12. 16-Michael Tucker[12]; 13. 2-Carson Reed[6]; 14. 19-Ian Szaklu[10]

Legend Car: 1. B1-Brenton Irving[2]; 2. 6-Keagan Abrams[3]; 3. 22-Brody Sciortino[6]; 4. 99-Carsyn Gillikin[4]; 5. 83-Scotty Benford[1]; 6. (DNS) 52-Daniel Dean

Bomber: 1. 43P-Samuel Pacitti[5]; 2. 9B-Bradley Morgan[1]; 3. 72-Harry Artemisio[4]; 4. 15-Brandon Tartanian[3]; 5. 34-Michael Withrow[7]; 6. 77-Richard Smith[6]; 7. 9-Deanna Stancill[2]

U-CAR: 1. 43P-Samuel Pacitti[1]; 2. 17-Brian Gooden[2]; 3. 43M-Juan Mejia[3]; 4. 1-Jeff Dunn[4]

2025 Champions Honored

The 2025 Carteret County Speedway champions were honored on Sunday in a ceremony at the Moonshiner’z Bar & Grill, located in the infield of the 4/10-mile speedway.

The 2025 champions were: Rusty Daniels (Charger), Mike Cooper (Street Stock), Abby Jolly (Mini Stock), Mitchell Kerstetter (U-CAR), Sammy Pacitti (Bomber), Scotty Benford (Legend Car), and Maci Stancill (Jr. Mini Cup).

Additional awards were presented, with Maci Stancill taking Rookie of the Year honors, flagman Jack Ward being presented the Leon Burrow Employee Dedication Award, Juan Mejia being presented the Mark Watson Dedicated Racer Award, Richard Smith taking home the Bobby Watson Sportsmanship Award, and Scotty Benford receiving the track’s first Marketing Award.