Brandon Clements led 74 of 80 laps in Saturday night’s Late Model feature at Carteret County Speedway to score his first division victory.
Clements qualified on the pole, but Tyler Horne took the early lead for Clements. On the sixth lap of the race, Clements came roaring past and drove away from the field to score the win. After the race, Clements was jubilant about his victory and about winning just two days before his second wedding anniversary.
“It’s a great anniversary present to Cali and a great Mother’s Day present to my mom, my mother-in-law and all the moms out there,” Clements said in victory lane. “Wendell Davis and his crowd and our team, this thing drove like a dream. Clay was a little better than us on the first couple laps, but after that, the car got to where it was turning really well and we could manage our tires. Clay gave us a run on the restarts but we had a dominant car.”
Jones came to Carteret County Speedway fresh off a win last weekend at Southern National Motorsports Park. He raced his way to the runner-up position after starting fifth in a race he was using as a practice session for the $15,000-to-win Solid Rock Carriers 150, which will be run on July 7th.
“Congratulations to Brandon man,” Jones stated. “That thing was hooked up for sure. We struggled bad all day. We ran awesome last weekend at Southern National. Changed a bunch of stuff and it worked there. Come down here and it’s a whole different animal down here. Flat track, no banking, we changed everything from bumper to bumper again. It’s just been a struggled today. Hot, long day. To finish second is like a win.”
T.J. Barron finished third while Mini Tyrrell, Chris Burns, Dustin Yeoman and Tyler Horne rounded out the field.
Clements became the second different winner in the second race of the season in the Late Model division. He is also the second driver, joining Clay Jones, to win races in Late Models and Mini Stocks. With his victory on Saturday, Clements should inherit the points lead.
Carteret County Speedway will once again be in action on Sunday, May 27th for the third running of the Memorial Classic. The race will be headlined by Late Models with the rest of the schedule to be finalized early this week.
