Overdrive

48 | Overdrive | November 2018 Custom Rigs R icky "Rude" Proffitt had little doubt coming into the final race of the 2018 Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series season that he would emerge as the back-to-back champion. Proffitt held a lead of more than 600 points head- ing into the Oct. 13 contest at Elko Speedway in Elko New Market, Minnesota. Only a catastrophic series of events would have pre- vented him from repeating as champion. Instead, Prof- fitt led for most of the race and finished second. "I had a comfortable lead coming in, but I wasn't anything until that checkered flag dropped," Proffitt said. "I didn't think [the race] was ever going to end, but I got the champi- onship and came in second. I'm tickled to death." Proffitt, a trucker and na- tive of Weaverville, North Carolina, started the race in the pole position. He held the lead through four out of five cautions before truck racing rookie Mark Noble got the best of him on the fifth restart and never looked back. Noble was second in points entering the race, but his win wasn't enough to close the gap with Proffitt. Rounding out the top five in the season's overall points standings were Justin Ball, Tyler Kruckeberg and Allen Boles. The Bandit Series is set to return in 2019. Bandit Series sees repeat champion BY MATT COLE Ricky "Rude" Proffitt was crowned the back-to-back Minimizer Bandit Big Rig Series Grand Champion at Elko Speedway in Minnesota. PDQ Performance_OVD0518_PG.indd 1 4/12/18 4:43 PM

• Cover
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