Ricky ‘Rude’ Proffitt holds off ’88 Mike’ to pick up fourth Bandit Series win

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Updated Oct 21, 2017

Ricky “Rude” Proffitt picked up his fourth $10,000 check of the Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series season this past weekend for his second win at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, S.C.

Proffitt had to come from the back of the field and had to battle “88 Mike” Morgan side-by-side for the final three laps to win the race. He also had to overcome a brief gas pedal issue early in the race.

“I started in 12th and got up and into something, and the gas pedal fell backwards,” Rude said after the race. “I thought I didn’t have a gas pedal and the race was over for me, but I got that straightened up. I battled. I earned this one.”

Ricky “Rude” Proffitt picked up his fourth win of the season and his second at Florence Motor Speedway this past weekend.Ricky “Rude” Proffitt picked up his fourth win of the season and his second at Florence Motor Speedway this past weekend.

Morgan, who wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get his No. 88 Mack back in racing condition after a crash two weeks ago sent him over the wall at Highland Rim Speedway, battled Proffitt down to the very end of the race before spinning out coming out of turn four on the final lap. Morgan was still able to control the truck enough to cross the finish line in second place.

“We didn’t have one of our inside tires on the back of the truck there at the end, so I was racing on three back tires,” Morgan said. “I fishtailed back and couldn’t do anything. I almost pulled it off. I’m glad to be back [after the crash at Highland Rim]. I’m glad we got the truck back to the track in one piece. It was in bad shape.”

Allen Boles, who Morgan collided with two weeks ago, also had to rebuild his truck in order to make it to the race. He led for about 10 laps of the 25-lap race and finished third before colliding with Morgan on the front stretch at the end of the race as Morgan was trying to get his truck under control.

A few trucks bottlenecked on the front stretch after Boles and Morgan collided at the end of the race, causing a few collisions as the racers crossed the finish line.

With the win, coupled with a seventh-place finish by Tommy Boileau, Proffitt was able to stretch his points standings lead to nearly 120 points with just two races remaining on the schedule. The Bandits will return to action this weekend, Oct. 14, at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, N.C., then will conclude the Series’ inaugural season on Oct. 28 at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga.

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