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J.L. Gomer Equipment Co. Night

CAPRON, Va. (June 29) — Doug Godsey of Richmond, Va., returned from his two-race suspension with a vengeance, storming to his fourth victory of the season in the 100-lap RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Car feature, part of Friday evening’s NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program, sponsored by J.L. Gomer Equipment Co., at Southampton Motor Speedway.

Phil Warren of Norfolk, Va., started from the pole, at 95.548 mph, but gave way to his front row colleague, Richmond’s Brandon Butler, on the first circuit. Terry Allison of South Mills, N.C., emerged from the opening shuffle in second place, followed by Mike Shearin of Emporia, Va., Warren and Godsey, who had qualified sixth.

Godsey moved past Warren to take over fourth place on lap 8, then tagged along on Shearin’s back bumper and scooted by Allison on lap 24. After tailing Shearin for four laps, Godsey grabbed the runner-up spot on lap 28. As the battle brewed in his mirror, Butler pulled away to a half-straightaway lead.

On lap 32, Butler ran up on slower traffic and Godsey began to close the gap. By the 37th circuit, Butler advantage stood at little more than a car-length.

Godsey began his push for the top spot on lap 39, ducking to the inside of Butler in Turn 4. He completed the pass for the lead out of Turn 2 on the following circuit. By the halfway mark, Godsey was up by half a straightaway.

Over the second half of the caution-free event, Godsey continued to add to his margin, while Butler began to slide back through the field.

After falling back at the start, Warren regained the runner-up spot, disposing of Butler on lap 51. Woody Howard of Chesapeake, Va., took third from Butler on lap 56 and Shearin grabbed fourth on lap 66.

On lap 77, Howard, who had qualified fourth, slipped by Warren for second place. To have a shot at overtaking Godsey, who was up by more than a straightaway, he needed a friendly caution flag. The yellow banner stayed hidden, though, and Godsey won by 4.204 seconds.

Howard was second, followed by Warren, Allison and Shearin. Butler, after leading the first 39 laps, faded to a ninth-place finish, dropping a lap to Godsey on the 85th circuit.

In Victory Lane after the event, Godsey commented on his evening: “We had a bad qualifying. I haven’t been here in six weeks and ran a good first lap and messed up the second lap. Just knew, if we took our time, we had a good race car.”

Runner-up Howard felt he could have done even better with just a little assistance: “I was dying for a caution. I think if we’d had a caution, we’d have had something for him. The car was good. It was a little loose. I kinda heated up the right-rear tire. Getting stuck on the outside didn’t help nothing there at the beginning. By the time we got down and situated, I felt like I could get rolling just as fast as anybody.”

After a rocky start, Warren seemed fairly pleased with his third-place effort: “At the beginning there, we were just a little bit off. Maybe we started our tires a little bit too low or something. Y’know, ya’ gotta give to get and I thought we were gonna be OK at the end, but just got a little too loose. We’ll be back and maybe we’ll get this Ford in Victory Lane.”

Race Results
Friday, June 29, 2001 - 
J.L. Gomer Equipment Co. Night

   LATE MODEL STOCK CARS - 100 laps

1.  Doug Godsey - Richmond, Va., 100
2.  Woody Howard - Chesapeake, Va., 100
3.  Phil Warren - Norfolk, Va., 100
4.  Terry Allison - South Mills, N.C., 100
5.  Mike Shearin - Emporia, Va., 100
6.  Jason Rudd - Suffolk, Va., 99
7.  Bud Kenny - Virginia Beach, Va., 99
8.  Chris Hopkins - Petersburg, Va., 99
9.  Brandon Butler - Richmond, Va., 99
10. Tommy Cherry - South Mills, N.C., 99
11. Jim Williams - Chesapeake, Va., 99
12. Jeff Sipe - Middletown, Pa., 99
13. Lee Cox - Richmond, Va., 98
14. Max Smith - Roanoke Rapids, N.C., 98
15. Jimmy Adkins - Chesapeake, Va., 98
16. Mike Conner - Gloucester, Va., 97
17. Andy Bell - Norfolk, Va., 96
18. Rodney Taylor - Petersburg, Va., 90
• Pole: Warren - 95.548 mph.
• Hard Luck Award: Williams.
• Hard Charger Award: Godsey.