ALTAMAHAW, NC – A late-race incident between former Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour champions Bobby McCarty and Josh Berry, who was multiple laps down, changed the complexion of The Race at Ace 125 presented by LessExpensiveCars.com, and paved the way for a photo finish between Ryan Millington and Layne Riggs.
McCarty had dominated much of the 125-lap race at Ace Speedway, but, with five laps to go, Berry retaliated for an earlier incident between the two, taking McCarty out of the race. Ryan Millington inherited the lead and appeared poised to score his first career win before Layne Riggs roared past in the closing laps. Millington had saved his best for last and was able to get back by out of the final turn on the outside to pick up the victory over Riggs by 0.040 seconds.
“I would’ve been happy with a second-place tonight,” Millington said. “We worked so hard this week. I am so thankful for this one. Praise the Lord we won this one. We’ve worked so hard. We’ve had such tough luck in the CARS Tour and, man, this one is just bittersweet. It sucks we didn’t get to win it the proper way but I’m glad we won it. It’s part of racing. Next time, maybe Bobby [McCarty] will slide around a little different so he doesn’t put himself in that situation.”
Millington relished in his first series victory at a track where he has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years.
“It is amazing,” Millington said. “I can’t thank everybody enough. We do everything in the shop behind our house. We work our ass off. I just, God, this one’s amazing. I’m just glad we were able to pick one off.”
Riggs had hoped to snap a two-year winless streak in the CARS Tour but took his second place in stride and respect Millington for racing him clean.
“That’s the best racing you can get without wrecking the guy for it,” Riggs said. “Thanks to Millington for running me clean. Thanks to Ace for putting this race on and having fans in the stands. You might not think it, but the drivers can see the fans. They know that they’re cheering for you and it really brings excitement to the racetrack. Thanks, everybody for running me clean.”
After qualifying 13th, Josh Berry raced his way up to second but was tangled up in an incident with race leader Bobby McCarty on a lap 80 restart. Later in the race, Berry retaliated for the incident from five laps down, taking McCarty out. After the race, Berry said he wanted to deliver a statement.
“We didn’t qualify great, worked our way up to second,” Berry said. “The first restart, he played games and jammed on the brakes and I thought, ‘here we go again.’ And he went into three and turned. That’s what I saw. I’ve got a lot of people congratulating me. Sometimes, enough is enough man. I’m tired of getting run into. It looked like he was having a lot of trouble lapping me, I don’t know. He could have just went high but it took a little time to do that. I’ve heard them make every excuse in the book. Overall, I hate to race like that and be like that. I represent good people who are well respected in this sport, but sometimes enough is enough.”
McCarty expected some retaliation from Berry, but did not expect to be taken out of the race by the veteran driver.
“I had a feeling something was going to happen, I didn’t think it was going to be that,” McCarty said. “But, you know, you get frustrated, you do stuff like that. Just part of it man. I felt, getting into three, spotter was telling me, ‘rear bumper almost clear, you’ll have him clear by center,’ and he just sailed it off in there and caught me in the right rear. It’s frustrating. I felt like we had a good car up until that point. Stuff happens. I don’t hide beind racecars. He can do whatever he wants.”
McCarty said he would be back at Hickory next Saturday night.
“I go to win races. I don’t hind behind racecars.”
Berry was parked by series officials and later disqualified for the incident.
Jared Fryar finished in third while Nolan Pope and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-five.
The Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour will return to action on Saturday night for the RaceFace Tel-Med 300 at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Unofficial Results
- Ryan Millington
- Layne Riggs
- Jared Fryar
- Nolan Pope
- Sammy Smith
- Justin Carroll
- Blake Stallings
- Corey Heim
- Brandon Pierce
- Camden Gullie
- Connor Mosack
- Gage Painter
- Trevor Ward
- Jonathan Shafer
- Matt Cox
- Taylor Gray
- Jessica Cann
- Bobby McCarty
- Adam Lemke
- Tyler Matthews
- Ronald Hill
- Justin Johnson
- Bubba Pollard
- Jonathan Findley
- Chad McCumbee
- Mini Tyrrell
- Deac McCaskill
- Josh Berry
