SELLERS SWEEPS SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY LATE MODEL TWINBILL ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Rundstrom Takes Limited Sportsman Win, Layne and Davis Split Pure Stock Twinbill, Hornets Race Results remain Unofficial
By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway
SOUTH BOSTON VA….After having won the 100-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division race at South Boston Speedway a week earlier Peyton Sellers remarked he was going to be hunting trophies the rest of the season.
Photo Courtesy Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway
Peyton Sellers is congratulated by Hitachi Energy representatives in Victory Lane following his win in the first race of the twin 75-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined Saturday night’s Hitachi Energy Race Night event at South Boston Speedway. The win was his 70th career Late Model win at South Boston and the fifth win of the season at South Boston Speedway. Sellers swept the Late Model twinbill on the night, claiming his 71st career win and sixth on the season, as well
Saturday night the eight-time South Boston Speedway champion picked up two more by sweeping the twin 75-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined the Hitachi Energy Race Night event Saturday night at South Boston Speedway.
“We cleaned up on them a little bit tonight,” Sellers remarked in the wake of the wins that pushed his career win mark at South Boston Speedway to 71 victories.
“It’s hard to do that right now. As competitive as it is with the eight-car invert for the start of the second race. There are too many good cars here to try to get by every time.”
The Danville, Virginia resident sped past pole winner, two-time Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 winner Connor Hall on the fourth lap and drove away to a 1.514-second won over runner-up Conner Weddell, leaving Weddell with his fourth consecutive second-place finish and fifth runner-up finish in his last six starts.
Landon Pembelton of Amelia, Virginia, Dillon Harville of Kernersville, North Carolina and division points leader Trevor Ward of Winston-Salem, North Carolina rounded out the top five finishers in the 16-car field.
The nightcap was much more dramatic, with Sellers perfectly executing a restart with seven laps to go following the race’s third caution period to gain the lead. From there he fended off a stiff challenge from Pembelton, Ward, and Weddell to complete the sweep and run his season win total at South Boston Speedway to six. Deac McCaskill of Raleigh, North Carolina rounded out the top five finishers.
Prior to that, Sellers had surged past Ward for the lead right after a restart that had come three laps earlier.
“I was very fortunate to have those late-race restarts like that and be able to fire back off,” Sellers noted. “I’ve lost some like that, so to win one like that is good. I knew we had a good car. Once the tires cooled back off, that was the key to it all. That’s what it takes, being in the right place at the right time.”
Pembelton was pleased with his pair of Top-3 finishes, a solid effort that resulted after his team had to replace the rear end in his car late in Friday’s pre-vent practice day.
“All things considered it was a great weekend for us,” he said. “We broke the rear end in the car on Friday. I’m thankful we were able to go to the shop, thankful R&S Race Cars is right here, get a rear end and put it in the car. We were way off on adjustments until about qualifying time, and the car was okay. We said we would go race and see what it does. Third in the first race and second in the second race, you can’t ask for much more.”
Ward was battling hard, especially in the second race when he was surrounded by Sellers, Pembelton, and Weddell.
“I was playing defense,” Ward said. “I didn’t really want to put up a big dogfight. We were fighting some issues with the car. We needed to be better. Obviously, we didn’t get the win, but we’ve got to look at the big picture for the championship. I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
Ward entered Saturday night’s twinbill with a 19-point lead over Sellers in the division championship chase and left the event with finishes of fifth and third. Unofficially, Ward holds an 11-point edge over Sellers heading into the final race of the season, a 100-lap race, on Saturday, September 12. Pembelton, with finishes of third and second, remains in third place in the division point standings, and is unofficially 12 points behind Sellers heading into the season’s final race.
The second race featured a lot of exciting action. There were four lead changes among three drivers. Sellers led twice for a total of 44 laps, Ward led twice for a total of 24 laps, and Chase Burgeson, who drives for Lee Pulliam Performance, started on the pole and led the first seven laps.
Two-time Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 winner Connor Hall finished sixth in the first race in a Nelson Motorsports entry. He did not compete in the second race.
The twinbill featured a stacked field of cars that included five drivers that entered the weekend in the Top-20 of the NASCAR Local Racing Series powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts Division I national standings.
Brian Rundstrom, Jr. Wins 50-Lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division Race
Sixteen-year-old Brian Rundstrom Jr. of Green Bay, Virginia earned his fourth win of the season in Saturday night’s 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division and flipped he script on the division points chase.
Rundstrom sped past pole winner Dennis Holdren of Roanoke, Virginia on the 34th circuit, one lap after the restart that followed the race’s lone caution period, and edged Collin Hilton of Eden, North Carolina by .891-second to take the win. The runner-up finish was Hilton’s best finish of the season.
Holdren finished third, Tristan Brunelli of Powhatan, Virginia finished fourth and Dan Rogers of Powhatan, Virginia finished fifth.
Brunelli held a two-point lead over Rundstrom in the division point standings entering the event. However, the win by Rundstrom coupled with Brunelli’s fourth-place finish has unofficially vaulted Rundstrom into the division points lead. Unofficially he holds a two-point lead over Brunelli entering the division’s final race on September 12.
Johnny Layne, Dillon Davis Split Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division Twinbill
Division points leader Johnny Layne of Halifax, Virginia and Dillon Davis of Nathalie, Virginia emerged as the winners of Saturday night’s twin 15-lap races for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division that were part of Saturday night’s Hitachi Energy Race Night event.
Layne’s victory was his eighth of the season. Davis’ win in the second race marked his third win of the season.
Layne passed former division champion Joe Allred of Scottsburg, Virginia for the lead on the sixth lap, but Allred stayed on Layne’s rear bumper and fell just shy of a win. Davis finished third, B.J. Reaves of South Boston, Virginia finished fourth and Jarrett Johnson of Danville, Virginia finished fifth.
Layne finished a car length shy of Davis at the finish in the second race. B.J. Reaves, Jay Hemenway of Wake Forest, North Carolina and Johnson completed the top five finishers in the nightcap.
Dollar General Hornets Division Race Results Are Unofficial
Cameron Goble of Ringgold, Virginia crossed the finish line first in the 20-lap Dollar General Hornets Division race. However the results were unofficial as of late Saturday night.
Chris Penick of Evington, Virginia crossed the finish line second and Cameron Moss of Danville, Virginia was third across the line.
Unofficial Results
Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car – Feature 1
1 26 Sellers, Peyton
2 8W Weddell, Conner
3 0 Pembelton, Landon
4 33 Harville, Dillon
5 77W Ward, Trevor
6 22H Hall, Connor
7 6M McCarty, Bobby
8 22C Burgeson, Chase
9 77S Stallings, Blake
10 8J Oakley, Joshua
11 1 Grady, Andrew
12 08 McCaskill, Deac
13 57 Johnson, Chase
14 12 Peregoy, Zach
15 22X Winslow, Eric
16 22R Reaves, BJ
Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car – Feature 2
1 26 Sellers, Peyton
2 0 Pembelton, Landon
3 77W Ward, Trevor
4 8W Weddell, Conner
5 08 McCaskill, Deac
6 8J Oakley, Joshua
7 33 Harville, Dillon
8 57 Johnson, Chase
9 1 Grady, Andrew
10 12 Peregoy, Zach
11 22X Winslow, Eric
12 77S Stallings, Blake
13 6M McCarty, Bobby
14 22R Reaves, BJ
15 22C Burgeson, Chase
Budweiser Limited Sportsman Feature
1 88R Rundstrom, Brian
2 05 Hilton, Collin
3 1 Holdren, Dennis
4 18 Brunelli, Tristan
5 33 Rogers, Dan
6 8 Dawson, Drew
7 5 Peregoy, Beverly
8 2 Daniel, Trace III
9 62 Mountcasel, Ross
10 22S Penick, Jordaine
11 45 Crews, Stuart
12 88 Dawson, Justin
13 91 Elliott, Chris
14 8M McGowan, Landon
15 01 Dawson, Jared
Southside Disposal Pure Stock Feature 1
1 9 Layne, Johnny
2 17 Allred, Joe III
3 63 Davis, Dillon
4 11 Reaves, BJ
5 88 Johnson, Jarrett
6 31 Sanford, Caleb
7 77 Reaves, Zach
8 12 Hemenway, Jay
9 6 Winslow, Eric
10 29 Pool, Colby
11 10 Mayo, Anna
12 83 Milam, Kendall
Southside Disposal Pure Stock Feature 2
1 63 Davis, Dillon
2 9 Layne, Johnny
3 11 Reaves, BJ
4 12 Hemenway, Jay
5 88 Johnson, Jarrett
6 83 Milam, Kendall
7 31 Sanford, Caleb
8 29 Pool, Colby
9 10 Mayo, Anna
10 77 Reaves, Zach
Dollar General Hornets Feature
1 18 Goble, Cameron
2 24 Penick, Chris
3 29 Moss, Cameron
4 83 Milam, Landon
5 71 Humphries, Braden
6 4 Stoltz, Aaron
7 83C Milam, Kendall
8 0 Tatum, Mack
9 76 Armstead, Kristian
10 33 Sangillo, Christian
11 14 McCauley, Mark
12 28 Mullins, Cliff
13 54 DeCarlo, Jason
14 27 Sykes, Nicholas
Next Event at South Boston Speedway
Championships in all four of South Boston Speedway’s NASCAR-sanctioned racing divisions will be decided when NASCAR Local Racing Series powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts racing action returns on Saturday night, September 12 with the Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event.
Four races are set for the final event of the speedway’s championship points season with a 100-lap race for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division highlighting the night’s racing action.
Also slated are a 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, a 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division.
Fans will be treated to a colorful fireworks show presented by Italian Delight Family Restaurant of South Boston, Virginia following the final race of the night.
The Saturday, September 12 event schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m., practice starting at 3:25 p.m., frontstretch grandstand gates opening at 3:30 p.m., trackside parking gates opening at 5:30 p.m., qualifying at 6 p.m., pre-race ceremonies starting at 6:45 p.m. and the first race of the night starting at 7 p.m.
Adult advance tickets are priced at $12 each. Adult admission at the gate on race day is $15. Suite passes are $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, veterans and military personnel, first responders, healthcare workers and students with ID may purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day. Kids ages 12 and under are admitted free.
The latest news and updates about the Hitachi Energy Race Night event and South Boston Speedway may be found online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, the track’s social media channels, or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
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