ROUGEMONT, NC :: Craig Moore turned in another dominating performance to claim his fourth victory in six races in a 75 lap late model feature at Orange County Speedway.
Before the track’s biggest crowd of the season, Moore won the pole and set sail early. Outside front row starter Brandon Baker challenged Moore early and actually led a lap after one of the race’s early restarts. But once a few green flag laps would pass, Moore’s car displayed the same superiority that was seen in a 100 lap win the previous week.
Tripp Massengill took over second position around the event’s midpoint and took up the chase. He was in position to challenge after a lap 68 caution when Mason Hudson’s broken transmission billowed smoke and left fluid on the speedway . Massengill was able to to stay close to Moore after the race’s final restart, but unable to mount a real threat for the lead and finished in the runnerup spot for the fifth time this year . He now trails Moore by six points in the battle for the track’s 2013 championship.
Behind Moore and Massengill to round out the top five were Baker, Mike Chambers and Terry Dease. Billy Martin finished sixth and was the last car running of the original 12 starters. The most serious incident of the night came when Daniel Moss and Chris Davis crashed in turn two on lap 37. Neither driver was hurt , but both cars were eliminated.
Baker later claimed a 35 lap affair for the track’s limited late model division that was his second straight in that class.
