Before the Thunder Road Harley Late Models took to the track for the Thunder Road-Harley Davidson 200, fans were entertained with a thrilling finish to the 75-lap Duragloss Limited Sportsman feature, in which Jessica Dana held off Trey Crews to pick up her second consecutive victory at South Boston Speedway.
“It feels amazing,” Dana said in victory lane. “I knew we had a fast car, and I knew we could come out here and win again. There’s a lot of tough competition here, and it was a really big race. I’m really thankful and really happy that we were able to put it into victory lane, and I have to thank ProPac International and J&J Machinery for coming on board and giving me this opportunity.”
The qualifying session before the featured proved to be adventurous for Dana and many of her fellow competitors, as she and Kirstin Simmons lost control of their cars coming off Turn 4, while BooBoo Dalton bounced off the wall coming to take the checkered flag. There were no issues for Trey Crews, who put up a time of 15.437, which earned him the pole for the Duragloss Limited Sportsman feature.
Crews got out to a strong start at the drop of the green flag, holding off challenges from Karly Budzevski and Daniel Moss to build a comfortable lead during the first third of the feature. As Crews drove way from the competition, Dana quickly worked her way up from her fifth starting position, and found herself in second place after only 15 laps and in a great position to chase down Crews for the lead.
The next several circuits around South Boston Speedway featured an incredible battle between Crews and Dana, in which Dana would get a strong run off the exit of Turn 2, while Crews would response with a strong entry into Turn 3, which allowed him to keep the lead. Dana would make several attempts to get alongside Crews, but his consistency through both ends of the track forced Dana to exercise patience in order to find her way to the front of the pack.
The competition caution on Lap 40 gave Dana the ideal opportunity to take the lead away from Crews, as she would battle with him for three laps before finally pulling ahead of him on Lap 46. Dana would have to deal with one more late-race restart following an accident involving BooBoo Dalton, but the Olympia, Washington native would pull away from the rest of the field to win the 75-lap Duragloss Limited Sportsman feature.
One of the first people to greet Dana in victory lane following the race was four-time Whelen All-American Series champion Lee Pulliam, who served as both the owner and spotter for Dana during the race. Dana has been thankful for all of the assistance that Pulliam has given her over the past several months of her career, adding that his coaching over the radio is what made a difference at the end of the race.
“We were just riding around the first half of the race waiting for the competition caution, and Lee said ‘don’t make a move on him until we get that caution,'” Dana said. “That’s what we did, and we were able to get past him and we pulled away at the end.”
Crews, who entered the race leading the Duragloss Limited Sportsman standings by three points over BooBoo Dalton, salvaged a solid points day by holding on to the second position behind Dana. Karl Budzevski would come home in the third position, while Jacob Borst and Daniel Moss rounded out the Top 5.
Unofficial Results:
1. 9 Jessica Dana
2. 9 Trey Crews
3. 26 Karl Budzevski
4. 25 Jacob Borst
5. 58 Daniel Moss.
6. 17 Jason Myers
7. 82 Barry Beggarly Jr.
8. 50 Boo Boo Dalton
9. 19 Bob Davis
10. 4 Kirstin Simmons
11. 16 Brandon Jones -18
12. 8 Drew Dawson -23
