Anchors away!
Navy vet celebrates Memorial Day holiday with win
U.S. Navy veteran Jim Robinson arrived at Cocopah Speedway on a special mission Saturday night.
He said he was there to honor the military during the Memorial Day weekend show. And he did it the best way he could, by winning the IMCA Hobby Stock Division feature event. It was his second win in a row and moved him back to the front in the chase for the division championship in the 2017 Cocopah Speedway Racing Seriesk.
But instead of talking about the statistics, Robinson said, “I want to dedicate this race to all the vets that never made it home.”
Fortunately, Robinson was one of those who did, after spending 20 years defending his country, 15 of them at sea serving aboard destroyers and cruisers. He retired in 2006 as a U.S. Navy Gunners Mate First Class.
Saturday night in victory lane he proudly unzipped the top of his driver’s suit to show the USS Vella Gulf CG-72 T-shirt he was wearing. The USS Vella Gulf CG-72 was one of the five ships he served on during his naval career.
Back on the statistical side of Saturday night’s show, Robinson is now three points ahead of another Yuma driver, Jason Beshears, in the division title hunt. The night started with Beshears three points ahead of Robinson, but when Beshears exited the track with a wounded race car while leading the feature event, that all changed.
With Beshears’ exit, Robinson inherited the lead and pulled away from the remainder of the field, enjoying a comfortable lead at the finish line.
Joshua Cordova, from Somerton, finished second, Yuma’s Rick Hibbard was third, Yuma’s Ashley Hunt ran fourth and Yuma’s Mike Erwin rounded out