Matt Bowling knows exciting. As a race driver he lives it on a weekly basis. Saturday night at South Boston Speedway took exciting to an all new level for him, though.

“The first race was probably the wildest and most exciting race I’ve ever been in,” said the two-time South Boston Speedway champion who swept both ends of the season-opening doubleheader Saturday.

“When we went down into turn one three wide (on the final lap), I thought ‘oh no, here we go.’ Everybody was rubbing and leaning on each other, racing for the win. But we all hung on.”

Bowling beat Bobby McCarty to the checkered in the first 100-lapper and came back to best Lee Pulliam in the second race, a race that was a bit calmer than the first, but still pretty exciting.

“In the first race we ran third or fourth the whole race, we were struggling a little bit. Things worked out on that last restart and we were able to make something happen,” said the 21-year-old Bowling who is sponsored by Hopkins Lumber, Bill Lemons People’s Save No. 9, Bowling Logging and Chipping and Pine State.

“The second race wasn’t three wide at the end, but it was exciting. We rode second most of the time. H.C. (crew chief H.C. Sellers) kept telling me to be patient. It seemed like every time I got a run on him (Austin Thaxton) we caught a lap car or a caution came out. We finally got around him.”

Bowling, who took the lead on lap 93 in the second race, figures he only led “about 10 laps” on his way to the two victories. He said he had swept twin races before at South Boston, but it didn’t compare to Saturday night’s victories.

“It was really pretty cool to do that in the first race of the season. I was really excited. It’s hard to land one win, much less two in a field like that,” said Bowling. “That was the biggest field in a while at South Boston and I was glad to see it.  There was a lot of excitement at the track. It was good to see it.

“South Boston did all the right things in the off season. All their hard work paid off. And that good racing should build the crowd up even more.”

Racing returns to South Boston Speedway this Saturday afternoon with the NASCAR Late Model 100 racing program highlighted by a 100-lap race for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock race.

The afternoon’s seven-race card includes twin 25-lap races for the Limited Sportsman and Modified divisions, a 30-lap race for the Budweiser Pure Stock Division and a 15-lap race for the Budweiser Hornets Division.

Grandstand gates open at 12:30 p.m., qualifying starts at 1 p.m. and the first race gets the green flag at 2 p.m. Adult admission is $10 with youths ages 7-12 $5. Children ages six and under are admitted free with a paid adult.