Redemption: Brent Gleason Grabs Limited Sportsman Win At Thompson Speedway

Brent Gleason celebrates victory in the Limited Sportsman feature Saturday at Thompson Speedway

THOMPSON – On May 21 Brent Gleason wasn’t quite sure if he would be returning to competition in the Limited Sportsman division at Thompson Speedway.

That night Gleason celebrated in victory lane after winning the Limited Sportsman feature, but the celebration ended up muted when Gleason was disqualified after post-race inspection for issues with his motor.

After about 24 hours of feeling like he would call it a season, Gleason decided to return. Saturday, he found the redemption he was hunting for after making that decision to return.

Gleason, of Lisbon, held off Shawn Monahan to win the 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature Saturday at Thompson Speedway.

“I have control over my car for about nine-tenths of it,” Gleason said of the disqualification. “I don’t have control over the motor. Unfortunately the people in my corner, they give me stuff to let me race. Unfortunately it was the motor that was illegal last time. To be honest, they forgot it was illegal. It was just sitting on a shelf somewhere and they said ‘Brent wants to go racing, give him a motor.’ But this is definitely a redemption. I can notice a definite difference in power, I have to drive harder. … Redemption is the whole thing I wanted today. I wanted this race. I wanted redemption. I wanted to come back and win.”

Monahan, of Waterford, was second and Scott Sundeen of Douglas, Mass. third.

“I smoothed it over,” Gleason said of issues with his motor builder after the disqualification. “It was kind of touch and go with my engine builder for a little while. But we came to an understanding, we patched it up and we’re friends again. Everything is good. He built me a brand new engine for free and said ‘Hey, we screwed up.’ Everybody along the lines screwed up. We just threw it away and we try again. That’s redemption to me.”

Matt Lowinski-Loh of Milford won the 25-lap Late Model feature. Brian Tagg of Oxford, Mass. was second and Tom Carey III of Orange, Mass. third.