Despite an early season slump, Lee Pulliam emerged in the late stages of the Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 to capture his sixth win in 2016 and his sixth South Boston 200 win.
Earlier in qualifying, Pulliam’s lap of 15.932 was good enough for a third place starting spot behind Danny Willis Jr. and Matt Bowling, whose times were 15.921 and 15.909, respectively. The top five was rounded out by Peyton Sellers and Austin Thaxton after CE Falk encountered issues with his car during the session.
On the initial start, Danny Willis Jr. stuck side by side with Matt Bowling, led the first lap, and began distance himself from the field. A few laps leader, local favorite Peyton Sellers appeared off pace, bringing out the caution on lap 9.
On the restart, Willis once again grabbed the lead. After fighting the rain before the night started, another cell came over the track, bringing out the caution on lap 16. It started out light, but then it started coming down a little harder. As my dad and I went for shelter to protect our cameras, the field was brought down pit road to clean the windshields.
When the rain finally parted, the field restarted on lap 29, with Willis beginning to separate himself from the field once again. As a long green run was developing, the leaders caught the tail end of the field and began weaving in and out to keep their positions.
The next caution came out for a spin in turn four by Madyson Mulligan, who ended up suffering front end damage when Trey Crews decided to take the bottom to avoid her and ended up clipping her car.
When the field restarted, Willis once again led the way, holding the lead until the halfway break at lap 100. Up to ten cars would be inverted, and it was selected that the top nine would be flipped. This left Mark Wertz, Bobby McCarty, and Langley Champ Greg Edwards leading the field for the second half. Meanwhile, Matt Waltz, Lee Pulliam, and Danny Willis Jr. would start 7th, 8th, and 9th, respectively.
Shortly after the start of the second half, a wreck took out a handful of cars, including Willis, who had led the entire first half of the race. On the restart, Bobby McCarty took the lead from Mark Wertz.
The highlight of the second half of the race was the contact between Matt Bowling and Bobby McCarty.
“He bumped me getting into 3,” McCarty commented. “We had a run in the weekend before where he hit me twice in one race and I just got tired of it. I bumped him back square on his bumper no harder than he hit me and he went around.”
In the end, Lee Pulliam would take the checkers for his sixth win of 2016 and his sixth South Boston 200 win. “I just have to thank my team,” Pulliam commented. “I cannot thank them enough.”
After leading a handful of laps, Bobby McCarty finished third in Friday night’s race. “We had a good run,” McCarty commented. “I feel like I used my tires up a little early though.”
McCarty also knew the importance of strategy for the second half of the race with the lap 100 invert. “I rode the whole first half hoping it would play out in our favor,” McCarty added. “Luckily it did.”
To McCarty’s inside following the invert was Mark Wertz, who finished sixth.
“We were having transmission issues,” Wertz commented. “On top of that, the spring change I made during the heat of the day didn’t agree with the cooler night track temps. All in all it was a solid finish for a big race and a good points night.”
Before the late model stock feature, the night began with a 15 lap race for the Hornets (won by Kenny Mills), a 100 lap Limited race (won by Ross Dalton), and a 50 lap Pure Stock Race (won by Trey Crews).
