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Dominion Paving & Sealing Night

CAPRON, Va. (April 13) — Doug Godsey of Richmond, Va., wired the field for his first win of the season in the 100-lap RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Car portion of Friday’s NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Dominion Paving & Sealing Night program at Southampton Motor Speedway.

Godsey earned the pole for the event with a 96.019-mph qualifying effort. Philip Morris of Ruckersville, Va., posted a qualifying speed of 95.446 mph and shared the front row with Godsey. Eighteen of the 25 starters were within a half-second of the pole speed.

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As the race got under way, Godsey and Morris battled door-to-door with Godsey pulling ahead as the field came around to complete the opening circuit. Morris settled into second, while Frank Deiny Jr. of Mechanicsville, Va., moved into third.

By lap 24, Godsey had opened a five-car-length advantage as Deiny pressured Morris for the runner-up spot. Deiny bypassed Morris on lap 27, slipping past in Turns 3 and 4.

After only one yellow flag during the first half of the event, the second half was punctuated by five caution periods as drivers back in the pack jousted two- and three-wide, scrambling to stay ahead of Godsey and on the lead lap.

On each restart, Godsey was able to fashion a fairly comfortable margin over Deiny, who had to guard against a move by Morris. While he held off Morris’ bids for second, Deiny was never able to mount a serious challenge to Godsey.

On the final restart, with two laps left, Godsey grabbed a two-car-length edge, extending it to three lengths by the finish. Deiny was second, followed by Morris and Jamey Caudill of Four Oaks, N.C.

Nick Woodward of High Point, N.C., SMS’s 2000 Late Model champ and the 2000 NASCAR Atlantic Seaboard Region titlist, made his first SMS start of ‘01 and came home in fifth. An uncharacteristic qualifying effort placed him 18th on the starting grid. He patiently worked his way toward the front, though, cracking the top five on lap 63 and holding that spot to the end.

In Victory Lane after the race, Godsey commented on Deiny’s second-place run: “Frank Deiny had a super good car. I like racing with Frankie. I wasn’t too worried about Frankie behind me doing anything stupid. He’s a good driver...always raced me clean.”

Of his own effort, Godsey said, “(My) car’s been good all day. I came down here and practiced the other night. We had brake trouble last week. Just got the brakes straightened out, basically, and the car was pretty daggone good tonight.”

For Deiny’s part, he was pleased with his outing: “Doug ran all year here last year and this is my second race here, so he had a year of experience on me. That’s a Townsend car, too, so if we had to finish second, at least we finished second to a team car.”

Third-place Morris, meanwhile, held out hope for future races: “Those guys (Godsey and Deiny) were running great. This car was running OK. We just need to tweak on it a little bit. It’s gonna be a good piece. This is the one we won all the races with in ‘98, but it’s asking for something different than my car, so we’ll work on it.”

   LATE MODEL STOCK CARS - 100 laps

1.  Doug Godsey - Richmond, Va., 100
2.  Frank Deiny Jr. - Mechanicsville, Va., 100
3.  Philip Morris - Ruckersville, Va., 100
4.  Jamey Caudill - Four Oaks, N.C., 100
5.  Nick Woodward - High Point, N.C., 100
6.  Wayne Grubb - Richmond, Va., 100
7.  Mike Shearin - Emporia, Va., 100
8.  Terry Allison - South Mills, N.C., 100
9.  Denny Hamlin - Chesterfield, Va., 100
10. Bud Kenny - Virginia Beach, Va., 100
11. Jeff Sipe - Middletown, Pa., 100
12. Bubba Johnston - Chesapeake, Va., 100
13. Chris Hopkins - Petersburg, Va., 100
14. Woody Howard - Chesapeake, Va., 99
15. Neil McClanan - Moyock, N.C., 99
16. Jim Williams - Chesapeake, Va., 99
17. Terry Carroll - Williamsburg, Va., 98
18. Andy Bell - Norfolk, Va., 98
19. Max Smith - Roanoke Rapids, N.C., 98
20. Buck Godsey - Richmond, Va., 98
21. Rodney Taylor - Petersburg, Va., 94
22. Tony Grady - Raleigh, N.C., 92
23. Mike Conner - Gloucester, Va., 87
24. Bubba Adams - Moyock, N.C., 61
25. Brandon Butler - Richmond, Va., 23

• Pole: Godsey - 96.019 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: Smith.
• Hard Charger Award: Woodward.