SOUTH BOSTON, VA :: Two drivers that had scored wins at South Boston Speedway earlier this season, Peyton Sellers and Lee Pulliam, split wins in Saturday night’s Charles Anderson Lawn Care Presents Italian Delight Family Restaurant NASCAR Late Model Twin 75’s racing program.
Sellers, a former NASCAR Whelen All American Series national champion and former South Boston Speedway champion, won the first of the night’s pair of 75-lap NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division races.
Pulliam, the two-time defending NASCAR Whelen All American Series national champion and defending South Boston Speedway champion, won the nightcap. The win, his 34th career NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division race win at South Boston Speedway, lifted him into a tie with former South Boston Speedway champions Barry Beggarly and David Blankenship for second place on the South Boston Speedway Late Model Stock Car Division all-time career win list.
Sellers, from Danville, Va., took lead from pole winner C.E. Falk III of Virginia Beach, Va. on lap 48 and pulled away from his challengers to score his third win of the season at the .4-mile oval. His margin of victory over Pulliam, the race runner-up, was 1.850 second.
Falk finished third with Matt Bowling of Ridgeway, Va. and Austin Thaxton of South Boston, Va. rounding out the top five finishers.
With the top seven finishers from the first race being inverted for the start of the second race, Josh Oakley of Rougemont, N.C. started on the pole for the nightcap and led the first seven laps before being overtaken by Bowling.
Bowling led 14 circuits before Pulliam, who started sixth, bolted into the lead on lap 22. Once in front, Pulliam had it all his way, cruising across the finish line 2.852 seconds ahead of runner-up Bowling. Thaxton finished third with Sellers finishing fourth and Bobby McCarty of Summerfield, N.C. rounding out the top five finishers.
Sellers averaged 86.965 mph in winning the first race. Pulliam, from Semora, N.C., averaged 85.964 mph in winning the second race.
Eighteen drivers started both races, which were caution free.
Crews wins Limited Sportsman Division race
Trey Crews of Halifax, Va. took the lead on lap 35 when race leader J.D. Eversole of Richmond, Va. pitted to serve a penalty for allegedly jumping a restart and held on to win the 50-lap Limited Sportsman Division race.
The win was the second of the season for Crews, who entered the race leading the division points standings.
Bob Davis of Thaxton, Va., Daryn Cockram of Blacksburg, Va., Daryl Carver of Prospect Hill, N.C. and Barry Beggarly, Jr. of Providence, N.C. rounded out the top five finishers.
The race was intense throughout as Tommy Peregoy of Clarksville, Va. and Danny Willis Jr. of Cluster Springs, Va. battled each other as they attempted to unseat Eversole from the lead.
On lap 30, Willis and Peregoy made contact while chasing Eversole and crashed on the backstretch. Crews, who was riding in fourth place just behind the battle for second place, inherited second place for the restart.
Willis returned to the race after his team made repairs to his car and finished seventh. Peregoy’s car was too badly damaged to be repaired and had to settle for a 12th-place finish.
NASCAR racing will return to South Boston Speedway Saturday night, May 10, with the NASCAR Whelen Late Model 100 racing program. The NASCAR Whelen Late Model 100 racing program will start at 7 p.m. and will be headlined by a 100-lap race for the drivers and teams in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model Stock Car Division.
