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RaceWorld.com Night

CAPRON, Va. (Aug. 10) — Outrunning an approaching storm as well as his fellow competitors, Brandon Butler of Richmond, Va., breezed to his fifth victory of the season in the 50-lap Race World.com Late Model Stock Car portion of Friday’s rain-shortened NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program at Southampton Motor Speedway.

Qualifying at 94.563 mph, Butler earned the pole position for the event and shared the front row with Richmond’s Doug Godsey, who ranks second to Butler in both the SMS Late Model standings and NASCAR’s Atlantic Seaboard Region Competition Performance Index.

As the race got under way, Butler leaped into the lead, pulling ahead of Godsey as the field rumbled onto the backstretch for the first time. Godsey settled into second, followed by Phil Warren of Norfolk, Va., Jamey Caudill of Four Oaks, N.C., and Terry Allison of South Mills, N.C.

By lap 10, Butler had bolted to a five-car-length lead. He kept adding to the advantage and, as the field passed beneath the crossed flags, he was up by better than half a straightaway.

Behind the leader, the battle for second was heating up as Warren closed in on Godsey.

On lap 27, Warren drove under Godsey at the entrance to Turn 1. The two raced door-to-door until Turn 3 on lap 29 when Warren grabbed the upper hand. The exchange allowed Butler to extend his margin to a full straightaway.

As the race entered its last 10 laps, Butler caught up to the tail of the field. While the leader patiently picked his way through traffic, Warren began to make up ground.

It was too little, too late for Warren, though, as Butler won by 1.869 seconds — a little more than half a straightaway.

Godsey, keeping his title hopes alive, was third to the line, followed by Caudill and Allison, who fought off Richmond’s Wayne Grubb in the closing circuits to take fifth place.

In Victory Lane after the race, podium finishers Butler, Warren and Godsey were pointing toward the evening’s second Late Model event.

Asked about his winning run, Butler replied, “Car’s been hooked up the last couple weeks. Y’know, Phil and Doug, they’re as tough as anybody in the region and, luckily, we’ve kinda hit on something here and, maybe, we can pull this next one off. To get the first one, that’s a big night for us and we’re excited already.”

Runner-up Warren, the points leader at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., expressed a bit of frustration at his recent outings: “Second’s getting old. It’s about seven or eight in a row for me. At Langley, either one of the Edwards brothers (Greg and Danny), each week, they take turns beating me and I come down here and Brandon and Doug take turns beating me. Maybe we’ll win the next one. We had a pretty good car. He (Butler) was just long gone.”

Third-place Godsey was also hoping for some redemption in the nightcap: “We got tight again. We’re gonna make a little adjustment for the second race. Hopefully, it’ll help, but he’s (Butler) pretty good right now.”

NASCAR Weekly Racing Series
Southampton Motor Speedway
Race Results
Friday, August 10, 2001 - RaceWorld.com Night

   LATE MODEL STOCK CARS - 50 laps

1.  Brandon Butler - Richmond, Va., 50
2.  Phil Warren - Norfolk, Va., 50
3.  Doug Godsey - Richmond, Va., 50
4.  Jamey Caudill - Four Oaks, N.C., 50
5.  Terry Allison - South Mills, N.C., 50
6.  Wayne Grubb - Richmond, Va., 50
7.  Mike Shearin - Emporia, Va., 50
8.  Jim Williams - Chesapeake, Va., 50
9.  Mike Conner - Gloucester, Va., 50
10. Duane Shreeves - Chesapeake, Va., 50
11. Bud Kenny - Virginia Beach, Va., 49
12. Andy Bell - Norfolk, Va., 49
13. Max Smith - Roanoke Rapids, N.C., 49
14. Buck Godsey - Richmond, Va., 44
15. Bob Shreeves - Chesapeake, Va., 3
• Pole: Butler - 94.563 mph.
• Hard Charger Award: Bell.