South Boston, VA(April 4, 2009) — South Boston Speedway opened their season a few weeks ago with Philip Morris, the reigning NASCAR Whelen All-American National Champion winning the race. This week with Motor Mile Speedway, Morris’ home track opening up he wasn’t there, but the car count was strong and some of the young guns were ready to tackle twin features.
Race #1
The Late-Models were in action once again at South Boston Speedway, and with last weeks winner Philip Morris at Motor Mile, a new winner was ready to emerge. 21 cars took the green flag for racing in twin 75 lappers as companion events for the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modifieds, with Justin Johnson taking the first, and Nick Smith winning the nightcap. Without trouble in the first race of the night, Smith could have easily doubled up.
Qualifying had an unusual twist for the twins, your first lap was where you started the first race, your second for the second race, and the top 5 would be inverted for race #2. Nick Smith would grab the top spot, getting around the bullring in a fast time of 15.830 to beat out Jonathon Bailey for the top spot. They were followed by David Quackenbush, Justin Johnson and Deac McCaskill to round out the top 5. C.E. Falk, usually great in qualifying, had a terrible first lap saying, “Honestly, my brain didn’t communicate with my foot”, and over drove his car into turn 1 starting him in 15th. He did improve greatly on lap 2 timing in 5th, thus putting him on the pole for race #2. Another crowd favorite, Rodney Cook, had a leaking oil pan gasket in practice, and changed shocks and springs right before qualifying. The changes didn’t help much as the #14 timed in 16th and 17th for his two races, making for a long night.
Race one had action before the green flag, as Doug Godsey stopped in a cloud of smoke on the backstretch. A bolt had backed itself out of the brake bracket, and jammed the wheel locking it up. Godsey would be towed off and make repairs for the second twin 75. As the green flew, Smith would jump to the lead. Lap 1, caution 1, as Drive For Diversity driver Laura Hayes gets tangled up with Kenny Forbes and Bobby Griffin and noses into the wall, ending the Californian’s night.
Back to racing and back to business for Nick Smith. The top 5 would separate themselves from the field early, with Dustin Storm finally able to make the pass on McCaskill for 5th spot at lap 23. A caution on lap 25 for a spin by Eddie Johnson would set the stage for some of the more exciting racing of the night. On the restart Justin Johnson dives to the inside of Bailey for the runner-up spot, opening the door for Quackenbush to follow. Right on their tail are the cars of McCaskill, Dane Rudolph and Dustin Storm, with every car making contact with another trying to gain spots after the restart. In all the battle, Falk was able to get by McCaskill for 5th, but the story turned up front.
Nick Smith, quick in practice, super quick in qualifying, and walking away with the race, suddenly slowed and hit pit road instantly, giving Johnson the lead. The culprit was a distributor going bad, and he knew it before it happened.
“It started to cut out a few laps before that, so I knew something was wrong. We’ll fix it real quick and be ready for race 2,” said a dejected Smith.
Back on track it was all Justin Johnson up front, as he had the field completely in hand. Behind him though, there were two “comers”, and a sure “goer”. Dustin storm had been on a tear since the drop of the green flag, and CE Falk had picked off nearly half the field to get right on Storm’s bumper. With 21 laps to go, the pair gets by Quackenbush for 3rd and set their sights on Jonathon Bailey in second. The driver going the other way was Deac McCaskill. McCaskill started 5th and ran with the lead pack until late, falling to 8th in the late going as Eddie Johnson and Lee Pulliam both got by.
In the end it was Justin Johnson picking up his first win of 2008, and he vowed that this is the first of many as he celebrated in victory lane.
Race #1 Finish:
1 – 6 Justin Johnson
2 – 89 Jonathan Bailey
3 – 16 Dustin Storm
4 – 40 C.E. Falk III
5 – 57 Eddie Johnson
6 – 91 David Quackenbush
7 – 3 Lee Pulliam
8 – 08 Deac McCaskill
9 – 18 Dane Rudolph
10 – 14 Rodney Cook
11 – 8 Josh Oakley
12 – 9 Bruce Anderson
13 – 7 Dude Gibbs
14 – 85 Bobby Griffin
15 – 77 Michael Hardin
16 – 04 Bugs Hairfiled
17 – 88 Nick Smith
18 – 03 Kenny Forbes
19 – 4 Danny Willis, Jr
20 – 22 Laura Hayes
21 – 05 Doug Godsey
Race #2
As the second race of the evening got started, CE Falk let everyone know that his qualifying run didn’t indicate the kind of car he had, as he jumped out early and tried to leave the field. The man who had problems while leading in the first race, Nick Smith, was not going to let that happen.
Smith was a man on a mission as he passed cars at will, starting 5th and on lap 30 getting by Quackenbush for second, and trying to put Falk in his sights after Falk had nearly a straightaway lead on the field. The distance looked to be insurmountable, but the longer they ran, the faster Smith got.
The two leaders up front were lapping the field, but there was good racing back in the pack. Justin Johnson, race #1 winner, had lost the handle on his Bailey’s ride and had Jonathon Bailey, Lee Pulliam and Eddie Johnson all over him. Lots of contact was made on lap 42, and as the cars scattered, with Eddie Johnson making a daring outside move passing Pulliam, Bailey and Johnson from turn 3 to the exit of turn 4.
The race looked to be all but done, the leaders were gone and the rest of the field had gotten separated by a few car-lengths. 2007 Old Dominion Speedway champion, Michael Hardin wasn’t done with his evening yet. In the opening race of the night Hardin retired early with overheating issues. At the time when asked if he’ll run the second race, the Maryland driver stated, “I don’t know whats wrong, everything looks good, we have all the tape off and can’t see anything wrong at all. We’ll just start the second race and probably pull in so it doesn’t hurt it”.
Well as it turns out the car wasn’t hurt it wasn’t even whimpering … it was fast. Hardin started in the 9th spot, and quietly made his way to the front, making his last move of the night with 28 laps to go, getting by McCaskill for the 3rd spot.
Nick Smith was the car to beat at SoBo on this night, as he cruised to victory in race #2. If not for the bad distributor in race #1, we could very well be talking about a sweep of the evenings events. Smith gave all the credit to his crew on the win.
“We knew we had a good car, these guys went to work and got me back out there and we were able to come home with the win tonight, I couldn’t of done it without them,” concluded Smith.
Race #2 Finish:
1 – 88 Nick Smith
2 – 40 C.E. Falk, III
3 – 77 Michael Hardin
4 – 08 Deac McCaskill
5 – 57 Eddie Johnson
6 – 03 Kenny Forbes
7 – 16 Dustin Storm
8 – 8 Josh Oakley
9 – 3 Lee Pulliam
10 – 18 Dane Rudolph
11 – 6 Justin Johnson
12 – 89 Jonathan Bailey
13 – 7 Dude Gibbs
14 – 85 Bobby Griffin
15 – 91 David Quackenbush
16 – 14 Rodney Cook
17 – 04 Bugs Hairfiled
18 – 05 Doug Godsey
19 – 9 Bruce Anderson
20 – 4 Laura Hayes
21 – 22 Danny Willis, Jr.
