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Grubb, Butler Take Twin 75s at SoBo

Full Results at Bottom

South Boston, Va….The ” True Value Night at the Races” made for a full evening of family racing entertainment. In the first of Twin 75s for the NASCAR Textilease Late Models, H.C. Sellers III (Danville, VA) took the RACERAP.com pole with a quick lap of 15.726. Sellers pulled his Danville Community College Chevrolet out in front of the 25 car, competition-heavy field.

H.C. Sellers III

Three Late Model Track Champions, one Busch North veteran, one Busch Series veteran, and one ASA hopeful lined up to wage battle on the fabled 4/10th mile oval at SOuth BOston. Bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side all the way back to tenth brought the crowd to their feet. Sellers battled the charges of Brandon Butler (Chester, VA) and Gilbert King (Chesterfield, SC) as the early laps unfolded with Lee Cox (Richmond, VA) spinning on lap 15. He and fellow Richmond driver, Mike Lee, made contact in turn two. Wayne Grubb and King made contact in turn one, with Grubb sliding up the track.

Jim Sink (#94) made it three-wide to get past Grubb for fourth. Points leader Timothy Peters charged from tenth to fourth, as Grubb and Sink made contact with Gilbert King in turn four. King collected Old Dominion Speedway champion, Mark McFarland, who made contact with 2000 Rookie of the Year, Scott Worley. Sink collected Dean Ward (Winston-Salem, NC) as many of the top runners were involved in the incident on lap 25.

With the restart, hard driving Scott Worley climbed back to 11th before Clark Simpson looped his #9 machine coming out of turn two on lap 54. Clark collected Southside Speedway champion, Eddie Johnson and Chris Hatchett. Hatchett was involved in another spin on lap 62 with Jeff Oakley #17. On the restart, Worley stuck his bumper under Steve Stallings causing both to slam the outside wall in turn two. Stallings rammed Worley after the incident and was disqualified. The late lap caution set up a mad dash to the finish with Sellers fighting off Brandon Butler and Wayne Grubb.

Brandon Butler

Butler contacted Sellers going into turn one, causing many cars to dive for open space. Troy Woods (Durham, NC) slammed the back of Sellers with rookie Kenny Bowes (Danville, VA) also sustaining damage in the melee. Former Busch North Series driver, Brandon Butler led the caution-diminished field’s final sprint to the checkered flag. Grubb, pressed hard by Peters, finished second with Woodward and Sawyers completing a war worn Top Five.

After a six car invert, Justin Snow (Danville, VA) drew the pole for the second 75 lap Late Model event, but H.C. Sellers III took over in the #90 for Nick Woodward and started at the rear of the filed instead of third. Rodney Sawyers quickly moved to the lead followed by Peters. Peters made a move under Sawyers making contact that unsettled the entire field.

Cars powered into turn three, as the field bunched up in a twisted pile of sheetmetal. Only eight cars were able to continue without visiting pitroad. After a lengthy red flag clean-up, Justin Snow again emerged as the leader followed by Wayne Grubb. Many teams worked feverishly to get their cars back into the race. Eddie Johnson was the first to get back on track before the green flag waved.

Rodney Cook pulled his damaged Ford off the rollback to get back in the action. Snow led the first 5 laps after the red, but spun by himself in four, giving Grubb the lead. With only 14 cars left on the track, Wayne Grubb had plenty of open track before Brandon Butler maneuvered through the field and challenged for the lead on lap 65. Grubb held off Butler’s charge, while working through lap traffic to find his way to victory lane for the first time in 2001.

“It’s been awhile, but we’re back here. Sammy Houston got this thing together…I don’t know how I got through that thing, I was a little tight, but we put it together.”

Ron Davis (Durham, NC) brought a strong field of Super Stocks to the line in the first race for True Value Night at “America’s Hometown Track” SOuth BOston Speedway. On lap six, Davis made contact with a lap car causing three car incident on the frontstretch. Davis was forced to pit under caution, with Junior Hancock (Danville, Va) inheriting the lead. Points leader, Billy Goble, charged to Hancock’s rear bumper and completed the pass off of turn four on lap 13. James Turner (Durham, NC) made his move around Hancock, as Bennie Franklin (Rustburg, VA) tried for third. Hancock was able to hold the third position, as Goble took the checkered flag over a hard driving James Turner. Goble made it two in a row in his quest for the 2001 Track Championship.

Living up to their name, the NASCAR Rolling Thunder Modifieds rumbled onto the asphalt in a 50 lap event. Craig Oliver (Powhatan, VA) led from the start, but was slowed on lap 8 for a nine car pile-up in front of the main grandstand. After track clean-up, Oliver again pulled to a sizeable lead. Lap 15 saw the caution wave again, as Ronnie Davis #14 (Ashland, VA) made contact with Steve Denning #86 (Warrenton, VA). Davis was involved in the first caution and this time was forced to retire from the event. With 15 laps to go, Oliver’s machine began to smoke heavily in turn one, but he continued on to the finish. The rumble rolled with Oliver leading all the way to the end, smoke and all.

“I don’t know, but my crew told me we were smokin’ in turn one…..I feel great, winning at SOuth BOston!”, said a jubilant Craig Oliver in Victory Lane.

The greatly increased field of competitors for the 4 cylinder Pure Stock division revved their engines in a 15 lap shootout. Jeff Moore (Ringgold, VA) faded from the pole and spun his Pinto into Chucky Cook in turn two. Cook (South Boston, VA) was forced into the pits after the contact giving #77 Brent Farrell the lead. Kenneth Herndon ran second, as Jeff Wilson finished third, followed by Saccoccio.

Jonathan Cash led 2000 Track Champion, Billy Myers (Hurt, VA), from the pole in Saturday’s Limited Sportsman event. 2000 Rookie of the Year, Ryan Francisco, brought out the first caution after spilling fluid. On the track, the fluid in turn four caused three cars to spin. Cash pulled away from Myers for a 10 car length advantage in the early going, but on lap 11, another three car incident caused the field to bunch up again. Billy Myers powered around Cash on a restart that saw the field shuffle through the top 5. Cash ran back under Myers to capture the lead, but spun on the backstretch making hard contact with Sam Hall. A late lap caution set-up a green, white, checkered finish. Billy Myers held off Wayne Roach for his second straight victory, with Richard Hylton, Charles Barnes, and Jody James completing the Top Five.

The ASA/AC DELCO Textilease Medique 300 is next on the schedule for “America’s Hometown Track” on April 6th and 7th. Ward Burton will make a special appearance for the LIVE television event telecast on TNN. The NASCAR Weekly Racing Series will be on hand for the Friday Night events and the NASCAR Textilease Late Models will run a companion event on Saturday Night

First Twin 75

1  BRANDON BUTLER	
2  WAYNE GRUBB	
3  TIMOTHY PETERS
4  NICK WOODWARD
5  RODNEY SAWYERS	
6  JUSTIN SNOW	
7  OWEN MILLER
8  EDDIE JOHNSON
9  SCOTT WORLEY	
10 PHILLIP VAN DER VEER
11 CHRIS HATCHETT	
12 KIRK STEWERT
13 JEFF OAKLEY	
14 H.C. SELLERS, III	
15 RODNEY COOK	
16 MIKE LEE					
17 MARK CROPP8				
18 TROY WOODS					
19 KENNYY BOWES				
20 STEVE STALLINGS				
21 CLARK SIMPSON					
22 GILBERT KING
23 JIM SINK	
24 DEAN WARD
25 LEE COX

Second Twin 75

1  WAYNE GRUBB	
2  BRANDON BUTLER	
3  H.C. SELLERS, III	
4  EDDIE JOHNSON	
5  GILBERT KING	
6  RODNEY COOK	
7  STEVE STALLINGS	
8  PHILLIP VAN DER VEER	
9  OWEN MILLER	
10 KIRK STEWART
11 JUSTIN SNOW	
12 MARK CROPP	
13 SCOTT WORLEY
14 TIMOTHY PETERS
15 JIM SINK	
16 CHRIS HATCHETT
17 DEAN WARD	
18 JEFF OAKLEY
19 MIKE LEE	
20 RODNEY SAWYERS