Sherrills Ford, North Carolina driver Trevor Cline continued his successful 2023 season by scoring the $3,000 Top Gun Invitational win in October at the Millbridge Speedway over a star studded field. 

A regular competitor in the North Carolina 600 Micro Sprint racing scene, Cline has had a very successful 2023 season that includes six event wins, along with multiple starts in the Midwest in National Midget competition throughout the summer months. 

With a change in the parking at the Millbridge Speedway, only a select number of drivers were invited to compete in the first ever Top Gun Invitational. Drivers from all backgrounds, including many in the NASCAR ranks, Speedweek Champion Zack Bealer, major event winners Steven Snyder Jr, Brian Carber, and Christian Bruno and a host of others all found themselves on the invitational list for the first event. 

Thirty-six drivers entered the grounds for competition on Monday night, where Trevor set quick time in time trials over Midget driver Zach Wigal, and runner up in Speedweek points Alex Ruppert. A runner up finish in his heat race sent Cline to the A Main where wheel to wheel action, contact, and slide jobs were the norm! 

Following a late race restart, Cline utilized the bottom side of the speedway to tiptoe underneath NASCAR driver Sheldon Creed on the white flag lap. The two made contact wheel to wheel down the back straightaway, staying side by side through three and four, and to the start finish line where Cline narrowly collected the win! 

The win for Cline was his sixth of the season between Millbridge and the Mountain Creek Speedway, with Cline also taking the 2023 Wednesday Night, Wingless 600 point championship! Hyper X7 driver “Hot Rod” Joey Robinson finished on the podium in third. While teammate to Cline, Aidan Turner also finished inside the top five with a fourth place finish. Also inside the top ten were Hyper Drivers: Neal Allison (7th), Alex Ruppert (8th), Carson Brown (9th), and Lavar Scott (10th).

Photographs courtesy of Dawson Hess.