David Latour Jr. has watched Joey Throckmorton through his windshield enough this season at South Boston Speedway. He hopes to see him in his rearview mirror before long.
Throckmorton is five-for-five in the Limited Sportsman Division at South Boston this season. Latour has been on his bumper most of the time. He has a pair of second-place finishes, a pair of thirds and a fifth.
“Joey’s got everything figured out. He’s done his homework for sure,” said the 25-year-old Latour, who is from Long Island, New York, originally, but moved to North Carolina with his family in 2006 when his father took a new job in the area.
“Since we haven’t raced for a couple of years, we’re playing catch-up. But he’s beatable for sure.”
Latour, who raced Late Models at South Boston in 2010 and then spent the next few years racing at different tracks in the region, took the last two years off to start a family. He’s now married and the father of a baby girl.
When he decided to return to the sport this year, South Boston was a no-brainer for him. “The officials are great. Cathy (General Manager Cathy Rice) is great to work with,” Latour said of South Boston Speedway.
“It feels really good to be back. We’re having a lot of fun. We’re not racing as much as with the Late Models, but we get our racing in and have a lot of fun. That’s the key. A couple of years off got a little boring. We’re just trying to get wins under our belt.”
And speaking of wins, Latour thought he finally had one the last time out two weeks ago and that he had put an end to Throckmorton’s streak.
With just a handful of laps to go, Latour was leading and then the caution came out.
“If the yellow hadn’t come out at the end of the last race we would have gotten one,” said Latour, who is sponsored by his employer, Golden Farms Foods. “Joey told us after the race he was way too tight to get to us if it hadn’t come out.”
Latour’s car was strong on long runs, Throckmorton’s strong on the short run. It was advantage Throckmorton had on the final restart.
“We got the lead off the restart, but a lap later he snuck a right under us and got by. We’re not the strongest on short runs and he is.”
Latour will get another shot at that elusive victory Saturday night when racing returns to South Boston Speedway with the NASCAR Late Model Twin 75s racing program. There will be seven races on the card, including a 50-lap Limited Sportsman Division race, a 30-lap Budweiser Pure Stock Division race, twin 25-lap races for the Modified Division and a 15-lap Budweiser Hornets Division race.
