Casey Roberts
The 2015 season provided Casey Roberts with plenty to be proud of. The veteran driver earned the season-long Ultimate Super Late Models Series championship that offered up a first prize reward of $20,000. And at the same time, the Toccoa, GA resident added the Ray Cook-promoted Southern Nationals mini-series crown during a two week summer run.
“We definitely had a real good year,” Roberts agreed in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “Anytime you can win a few races and a couple of championships in one year, that’s pretty awesome. Hopefully we can just have another good year this year and see how things play out here.”
And the No. 101 team has a new outlook on the current season. Roberts hopes that fresh equipment will allow him to remain a force throughout the southeast region in 2016. Two new Longhorn Chassis will be at the disposal of the Cushman Motorsports organization in whatever challenges they decide to take on during the coming campaign.
“We actually sold both of the cars we ran last year so we’ve got one new car at the shop that isn’t quite ready and the one we have out here hasn’t got but a couple of races on it,” Roberts pointed out. “My car owner keeps us in fresh equipment and that goes a long way so you’ve just got to make sure you don’t have any DNFs or anything like that when you get mixed up in points.”
And 2016 has started off on a positive note as well. Roberts scored a $5,000 victory along with a third place effort in a double-header event this past weekend with the Southern All Stars Dirt Racing Series in Cochran, GA.
After such remarkable achievements during a given season, Roberts admits that he puts pressure on himself to perform as well or even better during the next racing campaign. However, he also points out that car owners Jim and Ann Cushman only offer encouragement with no added pressure.
“My car owner don’t never put pressure on me, he’s good as gold, but I tend to put a lot on myself,” Roberts declared. “I just want to go out and try to win every race we go to, I know that’s impossible, but that’s the mentality. That’s what we’re here for is to win races. We just go out and do our best and try to win the race. A lot of times you come up short but sometimes you get a few wins and it makes it rewarding.”
Roberts’ No. 101 Longhorn
As far as plans for this year go, Roberts and his team are playing a game of wait-and-see. But if their early performance is any indication, it looks as if Roberts may be on his way to earning more trophies and big payouts in the future.
“We’ll just see how it goes, week by week. I’m not sure if we’re going to do any points deal or not this year. We’ve kind of tossed it around but we’re still a little undecided right now of what to do this year. We may just pick and choose, but I’m not sure.”
