LUCAMA, NC :: It was the third installment of the “Dirty Dozen” series at Southern National Motorsports Park this past Saturday and it was a familiar face up front.  Defending NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Champion, Lee Pulliam would dominate the first race and looked like he would sweep the night. Tommy Lemons, Jr. had something to say about that though.

Another strong field of 24 cars would roll off for the first 100 lapper with Pulliam and Justin Snow leading the way. Snow would quickly be disposed of first by Deac McCaskill and then the rest of the top ten as machine began to fade badly fighting a tight condition. Another surprise up front would be Hunter Devers as he tried to attach himself to the bumper of McCaskill to chase down Pulliam but the National Champ would be much too strong for them on this night.

Out of both races, the only caution would be in the first 100 lapper at halfway for “debris” … or should we say the “Pulliam is just slaying the field too much” caution. It didn’t matter though.  He simply pulled away again and began lapping the back of the field within a few laps. The only real mover of the race was Josh Berry as he put Devers back to fourth but Lemons was on his tail for the entire event giving the best racing of the night.

After the race, most drivers were scratching their heads.

“I am just going to have to make a lot of changes obviously, Lee simply just drove away from us,” said McCaskill.

Tommy Lemons was on the other side of the fence though as he said, “Our car was good, I think we will be excellent in the second race, we just gave up too much space in track position with qualifying.”

Justin Snow was beside himself though, “The thing was so tight I couldn’t even drive it. We tested down here and it was great, it’s just really discouraging but we are going to throw some things at it and see what happens.”

For the second race, the top seven cars were inverted putting Brandon Dean on the pole. Dean would hold the top spot for the first few laps but Devers was tapping his bumper every lap, that was until the freight train of Pulliam and Lemons came to the front. They would move Devers to the high side and pass for second on lap 12 and then begin to pressure Dean for the top spot. Pulliam would pull to the inside and pass Dean for the lead only to have Dean dive deep in the corner the very next lap giving Pulliam a shot and sending him high up the track. This would allow Lemons to scoot by but Dean’s time up front would be short-lived as the duo passed him back just two laps later.

Now, with Pulliam regrouped, would he blister his way back to the front? At first it looked that way as he zeroed in on Lemons and set him up off turn two and got to the inside. They would race side-by-side in a great battle with Pulliam eventually getting the top spot and all of us thinking this would go like the first race. But that was not to be, Lemons was not done with Pulliam and set him back up taking the top spot three laps later and began to drive off in the sunset.

The race would go caution free as some of the heavy hitters began to struggle. Lemons was long gone, Pulliam was trying to maintain and McCaskill was fading. The surprise of race two was JR Motorsports driver Ried Lanpher as he was on a rail. In only his third start in a full sized car, he would come through the top ten and take home his best finish ever with a strong third. Dean would hold off Devers for fourth as McCaskill would fade back to sixth. Snow never recovered from race one and parked his ride with a few laps to go.

The next race for the “Dirty Dozen” cup will be the first race of the season at Motor Mile speedway on April 27th and you can bet all the heavy hitters will be there for that one

RESULTS – RACE #1
1. #1 Lee Pulliam
2. #08 Deac McCaskill
3. #88 Josh Berry
4. #27 Tommy Lemons
5. #48 Hunter Devers
6. #14 Mike Darne
7. #5 Brandon Dean
8. #25 David Polenz
9. #8 Reid Lanpher
10. #50 Jamie Caudill
11. #7W Louis White
12. #0 Justin Snow
13. #83Y Tyler Hughes
14. #2 Myatt Snider
15. #7 Adam Resnick
16. #25 Derrick Lancaster
17. #11 Paul Green
18. #83 Jon Findley
19. #10 Travis Green
20. #29 Melvin Langley
21. #23 Michael Rouse
22. #1B Tony Grady
23. #51 Ray Terczak
24. #38 Ricky Jones

RESULTS – RACE #2
1. #27 Tommy Lemons
2 #1 Lee Pulliam
3. #8 Reid Lanpher
4. #5 Brandon Dean
5. #48 Hunter Devers
6. #08 Deac McCaskill
7. #88 Josh Berry
8. #50 Jamie Caudill
9. #14 Mike Darne
10. #25 David Polenz
11. #83Y Tyler Hughes
12. #25 Derrick Lancaster
13. #2 Myatt Snider
14. #1B Tony Grady
15. #11 Paul Green
16. #83 Jon Findley
17. #51 Ray Terczak
18. #23 Michael Rouse
19. #0 Justin Snow
20. #29 Melvin Langley
21. #7 Adam Resnick
22. #7W Louis White
23. #10 Travis Green
24. #38 Ricky Jones