MYRTLE BEACH, SC :: Haley Moody was scored with the fastest lap in Southeast Limited Late Model (SELLM) qualifying with a literally unbelievable 20.184 second lap around the half-mile Myrtle Beach Speedway. That time of record prompted several drivers, including Moody, to question the qualifying results.
Moody, who won the SELLM Challenger race at Myrtle Beach Speedway one year ago, had only been flirting with the top-20 during practice throughout the weekend leading up to Sunday’s race. Second place qualifier Dexter Canipe, Jr. recorded a 20.292 second lap while third place qualifier Dylan Hall recorded a 20.663 second lap with most of the rest of the field within a few tenths of Hall’s time.
“I know I didn’t run that time but I’m pretty sure we would be in the top-10 so it doesn’t matter,” Moody said in an interview with RACE22.com. “There’s no good way to put it so I think they’re just going to start us up front and we’ll see what happens.”
While Moody was skeptical of the track timing, Canipe took the possible scoring glitch in stride.
“We’ve been fast all weekend,” Canipe said. “They say we ran a .29, we ran a .29.”
Dylan Ward said he had been told of the possible scoring problems and felt that he was the fastest qualifier.
“We ran a .61 and there were two cars that were a lot faster than us but we’ll take what we can get,” Hall said.
After speaking with Moody, RACE22.com spoke with Chris Johnson, Myrtle Beach Speedway race director, about the discrepancies. Johnson said there were no known glitches, said Moody’s time was legitimate, explained that she is a past winner at Myrtle Beach Speedway and that if electronic timing showed she ran a 20.184 second lap, then that’s what she ran.
