Matt Brabham uncharacteristically finished dead last in Saturday’s action, which meant he would start on pole for Race 2 on Sunday. This worked immensely well for him as he dominated the first and final segments en route to his 27th career Stadium Super Trucks victory and sixth at Long Beach.

Blake Wilkey, who joined Brabham at the bottom of the Race 1 running order, tried to chase him down early on but was outmatched by Shaun Richardson. Saturday winner Max Gordon, on the other hand, spun into the wall on Lap 2 after landing on the back of his dad Robby on the frontstretch. Fortunately, the competition caution erased both the deficit he had to face and the margin Brabham had over everyone.

Richardson took advantage of the yellow flag on the ensuing restart to pass Brabham for the lead in Turn 1. Behind them, Robby and Max worked their ways through the order and into podium range. By the second competition yellow, Richardson led Brabham, Robby, and Max.

After the next green flag, Brabham returned the favor to Richardson by ducking to his inside as they entered Turn 1. They ran side by side before Brabham cleared him as they went around the fountain.

The Gordons also found a run past Richardson and knocked him off the podium. However, the father and son spent too much time fighting among each other for second that Brabham was able to pull away. Robby managed to decrease the gap on the final lap, but had no overtaking opportunities as Brabham pulled away.

Max’s third and his win on Saturday earned him the overall for the weekend.

“We had a good truck this weekend,” said the younger Gordon. “My dad’s still got it. He just shows that when he wants a shot, he’s definitely one of the best competitors we got in the field. Obviously, Matt Brabham did a good job today and held us off toward the end.

“Unfortunately, coming into the first lap, I hit the ramp and I landed on the back of my dad and did a little 360 off the jump. Went to the back and then I went to the back again. On the last restart, I was pretty much close to the back and just tried to see how far we can go from there.

“Pretty good weekend.”

Richardson settled for fourth, his best finish in America and his strongest outing in any SST race since placing third in Townsville Race 2 with the Boost Mobile Super Trucks in 2021. Wilkey was sixth while fellow series newcomer JC Meynet finished eighth after hitting the wall on the last lap.

Trey Hernquist had a battery issue that prevented him from taking the green flag, ruining an otherwise breakthrough weekend as he scored his first series podium on Saturday.

Results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver
1	1	83	Matt Brabham
2	9	7	Robby Gordon
3	10	77	Max Gordon
4	5	444	Shaun Richardson
5	4	21	Zoey Edenholm
6	2	357	Blake Wilkey
7	6	57	Bill Hynes
8	3	28	JC Meynet
9	8	957	Myles Cheek
DNS	7	50	Trey Hernquist

Featured image credit: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach