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Godsey Takes Second Victory of Season

CAPRON, Va. (April 20) — Doug Godsey of Richmond, Va., picked up his second straight victory in the 100-lap RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Car feature, part of Friday’s Budweiser Night NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program at Southampton Motor Speedway.

Godsey started on the pole, at 96.115 mph, and jumped into the lead at the drop of the green flag, pulling ahead of Richmond’s Brandon Butler as the 24-car field rolled into Turn 1 for the first time.

Butler, bedeviled by engine problems in the season’s first two events, held down the runner-up spot for the first 21 circuits before giving way to Frank Deiny Jr. of Mechanicsville, Va., on the 22nd circuit.

The race was interrupted by only two caution flags, which appeared on laps 56 and 60. Lining up for what would turn out to be the final restart, Godsey held the lead, followed by Deiny, Butler and Jamey Caudill of Four Oaks, N.C.

Back under green, the top four broke away as fifth-place Jason Rudd of Suffolk, Va., worked past a lapped car.

Godsey had a close call on lap 74 as he ran up on the slowing machine of La Plata, Md.’s Ryan Hackett off of Turn 4. Deiny took a quick peek to the leader’s inside, but Godsey ducked to the left, blunting Deiny’s charge and clearing Hackett to maintain the lead.

Nearing the finish, Hackett came into play again. On lap 96, he momentarily held up Deiny, allowing Godsey to open a three-car-length advantage. By the finish, Deiny had narrowed the gap some, but came up two lengths shy of the victory.

Rudd, making his first Late Model start of the season, picked up the third spot from Butler on lap 86 and tailed the lead duo to the line. Butler was fourth — a victory for him, given his rough outings in the first two races. Bubba Johnston of Chesapeake, Va., completed the top five.

In Victory Lane following the race, Godsey commented on his second consecutive victory over Deiny: “We had a really good car tonight. Frank Deiny looked like he had a really good car, too. He’s gonna be tough whenever he’s down here. He’s got good equipment, got good cars from Rick Townsend, got good motors. So, yeah, he’s gonna be tough. Rick’s got him in a really good race car.”

Deiny, whose wife, Doreen, gave birth to the couple’s first child earlier in the day, was in an upbeat mood: “Yeah, 1:58 today. Had a baby girl (Faith), so I was over here trying to win her a race for her birthday, but couldn’t quite get it done. Had a lot of lapped traffic to deal with.”

Predicting upcoming success, though, Deiny continued, “Y’know, Doug run pretty good. I think, next time when we come back, though, we’ve got something for him. I figured something out there at the end. I definitely think we’ve got something for him.”

For third-place Rudd, he found the driver’s seat more to his liking than a bleacher seat: “Came out to the last two weeks out here and got tired of watching from the stands. We all kinda got together and got this thing ready to go back out here. Ended up third. I guess that ain’t too bad for the first time out of the box.”

Proving that you never can tell who might show up to race at SMS, WWF pro wrestler Bob “Hardccore” Holly of Mobile, Ala., started 19th in a Sadler-sponsored Chevrolet and came home 18th, five laps down to the leaders.

With Godsey scoring his second straight win, SMS’s “redraw rule” will come into effect for the Late Models on April 27. After time trials, the six-fastest qualifiers will redraw for their spots on the starting grid.

LATE MODEL STOCK CARS - 100 laps

1.  Doug Godsey - Richmond, Va., 100
2.  Frank Deiny Jr. - Mechanicsville, Va., 100
3.  Jason Rudd - Suffolk, Va., 100
4.  Brandon Butler - Richmond, Va., 100
5.  Bubba Johnston - Chesapeake, Va., 100
6.  Jamey Caudill - Four Oaks, N.C., 100
7.  Mike Shearin - Emporia, Va., 100
8.  Nick Woodward - High Point, N.C., 100
9.  Denny Hamlin - Chesterfield, Va., 100
10. Mike Conner - Gloucester, Va., 100
11. Jim Williams - Chesapeake, Va., 99
12. Terry Allison - South Mills, N.C., 99
13. Terry Carroll - Williamsburg, Va., 98
14. Bud Kenny - Virginia Beach, Va., 98
15. Max Smith - Roanoke Rapids, N.C., 96
16. Andy Bell - Norfolk, Va., 96
17. Rodney Taylor - Petersburg, Va., 95
18. Bob “Hardcore” Holly - Mobile, Ala., 95
19. Ryan Hackett - La Plata, Md., 87
20. Ray Hackett - La Plata, Md., 66
21. Bubba Adams - Moyock, N.C., 63
22. Chris Hopkins - Petersburg, Va., 58
23. Buck Godsey - Richmond, Va., 58
24. Ty Miller - Mineral, Va., 14
• Pole: Godsey - 96.115 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: Hopkins.
• Hard Charger Award: Bell.



GRAND STOCKS - 40 laps

1.  John Eversole Jr. - Richmond, Va., 40
2.  Ken Rountree - Gates, N.C., 40
3.  Michael Perkins - Petersburg, Va., 40
4.  Terri Williams - Capron, Va., 40
5.  Keith Edwards - Pendleton, N.C., 40
6.  Bill McGonigal - Richmond, Va., 40
7.  Trey Dixon - Chesapeake, Va., 40
8.  Buster Wade - Petersburg, Va., 40
9.  Chris Mueller - Chester, Va., 40
10. Irvin Stephens Jr. - Franklin, Va., 40
11. Brad Higginbotham - Chesapeake, Va., 40
12. Mike West - Corapeake, N.C., 40
13. Ricky Vaughan - Petersburg, Va., 40
14. Steve Zuskin - Disputanta, Va., 40
15. Paul Mutta - Moyock, N.C., 39
16. Bubba Hubbard - Richmond, Va., 38
17. Herbie Williams - Chesterfield, Va., 32
• Pole: Rountree - via redraw among top 6 qualifiers.
• Fastest Qualifier: Eversole - 88.670 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: H. Williams.
• Hard Charger Award: T. Williams.



PURE STOCKS - 25 laps

1.  David Wheeler - Prince George, Va., 25
2.  Steve Pittman - Ivor, Va., 25
3.  Brian Smith - Portsmouth, Va., 25
4.  David Allison - Chesapeake, Va., 25
5.  Preston Wheeler - Prince George, Va., 25
6.  David Seed - Chesapeake, Va., 25
7.  Gary Barrows - Williamsburg, Va., 24
8.  Cameron Walker - Dinwiddie, Va., 24
9.  Gary Swindell - Suffolk, Va., 23
10. Danny Martin - Milwaukee, N.C., 23
11. Robert Stell - Hobbsville, N.C., 20
12. Tommy Pittman - Ivor, Va., 2
• Pole: D. Wheeler - 78.939 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: Stell.
• Hard Charger Award: S. Pittman.



MINI STOCKS - 25 laps

1.  Troy Hutcheson - Virginia Beach, Va., 25
2.  Rick Freeman - Gloucester Point, Va., 25
3.  Brent Mann - Pendleton, N.C., 25
4.  Mike New Jr. - Chesapeake, Va., 25
5.  Wayne Newton - Colonial Heights, Va., 25
6.  Rickie Waters - Virginia Beach, Va., 25
7.  Phillip Barnes - Woodland, N.C., 24
8.  Heath Emons - Chesapeake, Va., 24
9. Wayne Bradley - Sutherland, Va., 18
• Pole: New - via redraw among top 6 qualifiers.
• Fastest Qualifier: Freeman - 84.063 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: Barnes.
• Hard Charger Award: Hutcheson.



MODIFIED RACING SERIES - 40 laps

1.  Chad Gordon - Emporia, Va., 40
2.  Thomas Stinson - Chesterfield, Va., 40
3.  Mark Slye - Toano, Va., 40
4.  David Winslow - Varina, Va., 40
5.  Tony Poythress - Littleton, N.C., 40
6.  Rusty Wood - Powhatan, Va., 40
7.  Bruce Cole - Waldorf, Md., 40
8.  Buddy Emory - Dinwiddie, Va., 40
9.  Bryan Spivey - Moseley, Va., 40
10. Brian Loving - Williamsburg, Va., 40
11. Jay Williams - Franklin, Va., 40
12. Chris Wall - Chesapeake, Va., 40
13. Brad Weaver - Emporia, Va., 40
14. Dwayne VanTassel - Chesapeake, Va., 39
15. Tony Wilbur - Glen Allen, Va., 39
16. Ronnie Davis - Ashland, Va., 38
17. Bill Hackney - Glen Allen, Va., 37
18. Junior Hargrave - Murfreesboro, N.C., 35
19. Steve Goetz - Corapeake, N.C., 31
• Pole: Stinson - via redraw among top 6 qualifiers.
• Fastest Qualifier: Slye - 95.777 mph.