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Bailey’s Night

CAPRON, Va. (Sept. 21) — Brandon Butler of Richmond, Va., posted his seventh victory of the season in the Bailey’s 100 for the RaceWorld.com Late Model Stock Cars, part of Friday’s NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program at Southampton Motor Speedway.

Doug Godsey of Richmond, who trailed Butler by only 12 points in the division standings coming into the event, started from the pole. He qualified at 94.768 mph and shared the front row with Butler, who clocked in at 94.253 mph.

As the event got under way, Godsey powered into the lead, pulling ahead of Butler on the backstretch on the opening circuit. Butler settled into second. Behind the lead duo, the field remained door-to-door.

Trouble broke out in a big way on lap 2 when about a third of the 17-car field piled up in the middle of the back straightaway. Terry Allison of South Mills, N.C., and Bugs Hairfield of Chesterfield, Va., were sidelined by the incident.

Two beneficiaries from the accident were Owen Miller of Emporia, Va., and Chad Mason of Richmond, who started 14th and 16th, respectively. Miller lined up for the restart in seventh, while Mason was ninth.

Back under green, Godsey opened a narrow lead over Butler. Emporia’s Mike Shearin occupied the third slot, while Jim Williams of Chesapeake, Va., moved up to fourth and was soon joined by Miller, in fifth.

Godsey’s night came to a sudden end on lap 11. Heading into Turn 1, his car belched a puff of white smoke, then a large plume in the middle of the corner. As the caution flag waved, he coasted to the pits.

With Godsey out of the running, Butler assumed the lead. Shearin, Williams, Miller, Max Smith of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and Mason lined up behind the leader.

As the race resumed, Butler pulled away from the pack. By lap 20, he was up by half a straightaway. In his mirror, though, the scramble was on.

Mason took fifth place from Smith on lap 13, while Miller grabbed third from Williams on the 16th circuit. Mason bypassed Williams for fourth on lap 25 and Tommy Cherry of South Mills, N.C., who started from the rear after pitting following the lap 2 incident, cracked the top five on the next circuit. Cherry picked up the fourth spot, slipping by Mason, on lap 28.

Butler enjoyed a six-car-length advantage when the race’s third caution flag waved on lap 55, bunching the field.

On the restart, Butler was separated from runner-up Shearin by two lapped cars and he took full advantage of the situation, quickly regaining his half-straightaway margin as Shearin worked past the slower cars. Cherry, meanwhile, made a charge at Miller, but was forced back in line by one of the lapped machines.

On lap 67, Miller caught up to Shearin and poked a fender alongside him in Turn 4. The two Emporians raced side by side until lap 69 when Shearin powered ahead off the second corner. With Shearin running about a lane up from the bottom of the track in the turns, though, Miller stayed in contention for the position, waiting for the right opportunity.

The last of the race’s four caution flags appeared on lap 74.

On the ensuing restart, Butler, once more, began to ease away. Cherry made another bid for third place, which was rebuffed by Miller, who was soon pressuring Shearin for second.

At the finish, Butler was the winner by 1.186 seconds — about five car-lengths. Miller, meanwhile, worked alongside Shearin in Turn 4 on lap 99 and grabbed second on the final lap, edging Shearin by a car-length at the stripe. Cherry and Mason were fourth and fifth, respectively.

In Victory Lane after the race, Butler commented on Godsey’s misfortune: “Hate that Doug had bad luck there at the beginning. We’ve had some good battles all year long. Would’ve like to have beat him on the racetrack. Don’t know if we could have or not. I know the track got mighty greasy. It’d have been interesting to see how good he would have been versus us. We were a little bit loose, too.”

Former Modified ace Miller, who was making his SMS Late Model debut, was pleased by his runner-up showing: “I’m here just to get some time in for the OktoberFAST (250 on Oct. 21) and it looks like we might have a little something. This is the best finish I’ve had all year — second place. I wanted to get on top of the car and dance and all that stuff like Brandon does.”

Third-place Shearin offered a simple assessment of his night: “The car just won’t handling. About 50 laps into the race, it just got loose. All I was doing was fighting, holding on. After I moved up a groove, it got better, but it was still loose. I couldn’t get no bite uup off the corner. Once Owen got up under me, I give him the line ‘cause won’t no need to try to hold him up.”

With Godsey falling out early in the race, Butler’s lead in the standings has swelled to 40 points — 978-938. The division will be off on Sept. 28 and will wrap up their 2001 points season on Friday, Oct. 5. Depending on the number of entrants for the Oct. 5 race, Butler may only need to start the race to clinch the championship.