LUCAMA, NC :: Haley Moody picked up her first victory of the 2014 season and her first Limited Late Model win at Southern National Motorsports Park on Saturday night. Moody qualified on the pole and dominated the first of two Limited Late Model features en route to her first victory of the season.
“It feels really good,” Moody said. “We had a car to win. When we qualified, I knew we had a chance to win if we could keep Andrew Grady off of us. He had a strong car as well. We had a good car. We hit our restarts and the car ran really well all night.”
Moody’s first victory of the season was much anticipated for the 19-year-old driver who has had several strong runs on the season. She had appeared to have wins in hand twice during twin Limited Late Model races on April 26th. Two weeks prior to that, she had a top-five run cut short when she was taken out of the race off another car’s front bumper.
“We knew it was coming sometime,” Moody stated. “We kept working towards it the right way.”
Moody’s night was not without adversity, however. In the second twin race, she was involved in an accident and knocked out of the race while recording another strong effort.
“We had a really fast car the second race too but got caught up in some dumb crap,” Moody remarked. “It sucks we got tore up after winning the first race.”
Despite the adversity in the second race, the victory in the first race gave Moody confidence and she feels it’s the first of many wins to come.
“I think I can win more,” she commented. “We just keep going the right way. We can keep making the car better and getting faster each week. There’s tough competition running with us.”
In the Late Model Stock Car race, Deac McCaskill initially scored the victory over Tommy Lemons, Jr., Mark Wertz, Myatt Snider and Payton Ryan. However, after the race, McCaskill was stripped of his win in postrace technical inspection over issues relating to his carburetor, resulting in Lemons inheriting the win.
“A win is a win,” Lemons said. “I’d rather win on the track. The way our luck’s been the last few weeks, I’ll take them any way I can get them.”
With track points leader Lee Pulliam running at South Boston and Deac McCaskill disqualified, Lemons will gain points on his main rivals for the track championship at Southern National.
After a strong run at Southern National, Snider told RACE22.com that he was planning on mounting a charge at the Southern National Motorsports Park track championship.
Travis Green inherited the victory in the second Limited Late Model feature after Andrew Grady was stripped of his win.
Southern National Motorsports Park will host the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) on May 31st. On June 7th, the Late Model Stock Cars and Limited Late Models will be back in action for what will serve as the Father’s Day Weekend event. The race will be dedicated to the memory of Jerry Moody, Haley Moody’s father, who passed away on November 24, 2013. Jerry Moody was a longtime friend to the racing community who helped launch careers for several drivers in Late Model racing.
