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Butler Sweeps Twins

South Boston, VA.It's not often that a driver sweeps a NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division twinbill at the South Boston Speedway. In fact, there had been only 12 sweeps of twin race events at South Boston Speedway entering Saturday night's American General Finance Twin 75's.

Brandon Butler

Brandon Butler of Chester, Va. made it an even dozen here Saturday night fending off sophomore driver Scott Worley of Long Island, Va. to win the first race and holding off veteran Rodney Sawyers of Ridgeway, Va. to take the nightcap.

"We just had everything going right tonight." Butler said after making the sweep that pushed his win total to three in the first six races of the season here at South Boston Speedway.

"We've got a new Danny Cox engine. It's an awesome piece. I feel like the car has been there. We've had some mechanical difficulties but we seemed to put it all together tonight."

That, Butler did.

The 28-year-old driver from Chester, Va. won the pole and led every lap enroute to winning the first race.

His closest challenger, H.C. Sellers, III of Ringgold, Va., and third-place runner, Timothy Peters of Providence, N.C. were knocked out of contention in a mishap on lap 52 that began when Sellers was attempting to lap the slower car of Jeff Oakley of Prince George, Va. The two cars tangled and crashed, collecting Peters, Kirk Stewart of Moseley. Va., and Sawyers in the melee.

Worley moved up into second place for the restart with rookie Owen Miller of Emporia, Va. sitting in third place, Eddie Johnson of Ashland, Va. in fourth place and Greg Davis of South Boston, Va., driving the car normally driven by Kenny Bowes of Danville, Va., rounding out the top five.

H.C. Sellers III

Two laps after the race restarted, Sellers got into Oakley causing Oakley's car to spin on the backstretch and tag the retaining wall. After the race resumed again, Sellers was black-flagged by NASCAR officials and was forced to submit to a stop-and-go penalty under green flag racing conditions, erasing his bid to salvage a good finish.

The race went green the rest of the way with Butler pulling away and sprinting across the finish line .95 second ahead of Worley. Miller, Johnson and Sawyers rounded out the top five finishers. Butler started fourth in the nightcap as the top four finishers were inverted for the start but it took him only 15 laps to get past Miller, the early leader. Once he got in front, he and Miller gradually inched away from a big pack of cars that included Davis, Johnson, Worley, Sawyers, Dean Ward and Peters who were fighting for position behind them.

As it happened in the first race, a major pileup in the nightcap ended the bids of several of the top challengers. This time the crash occurred in turns three and four on lap 52 when Davis and Worley, battling for third place, got together and spun, collecting Ward, Johnson and Sellers.

That elevated Sawyers to third place behind Butler and Miller on the restart with Peters in fourth and Johnson in fifth place. Another quick caution for debris on the track kept the leaders bunched up for yet another restart on lap 53.

Rodney Sawyers

Sawyers got by Miller two laps after the racing resumed with Peters following in line. Miller, thinking he had a flat tire, headed for the pits on lap 57, effectively taking him out of contention.

From there Butler pulled away from the field and finished 1.13 seconds ahead Sawyers. Peters took third-place, Johnson finished fourth and Chris Hatchett of Penhook, Va. finished fifth in the unofficial tally.

Billy Myers of Hurt, Va. picked up his third win in as many starts here, starting on the pole and leading all the way to win the 40-lap race for the Limited Sportsman Division.

Ryan Francisco of Nathalie, Va. challenged Myers until he became involved in a mishap on the 27th lap. That elevated Jody James of Clarksville, Va. to second place, Donald Brace of Cary, N.C. to third place and Richard Hylton of Danville, Va. to fourth place.

James and Myers appeared to be in trouble when James accidentally got into Myers in the second turn and both spun on the 37th lap. But, because the caution flag had come out for another spin on the opposite end of the track just a couple of moments prior to that, Myers and James were put back at the head of the pack for the restart. Myers managed to hold off James over the final three laps of the race and edged James by a car length and a half.

Brace and Hylton followed the two leaders and rounded out the top four finishers in the unofficial rundown.

Thomas Stinson of Chesterfield, Va. picked up his first win of the season and the tenth of his career in the Modified Racing Series with his victory in the 50-lap race for the "Rolling Thunder" Modifieds. Stinson finished 2.12 seconds ahead of David Winslow of Varina, Va. with Bill Hackney of Glen Allen, Va. and Allen Marshall of Colonial Heights, Va. rounding out the top four finishers in the unofficial post-race rundown.

Stinson inherited the lead on the fourth lap when race leader Buddy Emory of Dinwiddie, Va. was black-flagged for jumping the restart on the second lap following the race's first caution period.

Once in front, Stinson fended off the challenges of Marshall, Marl Slye of Toana, Va., Emory, and finally, Winslow, to get the win.

Brent Ferrell of Durham, N.C. took the lead on the ninth lap and went on to win the 15-lap race for the Pure Stock 4's division.

It turned out to be a big night for the Ferrell family as Gary Ferrell of Durham, N.C. took second place and Timmy Ferrell of Durham, N.C. rounded out the top three finishers to make it a Ferrell Family sweep. Early-race contenders, Dennis Sargent of Durham, N.C. and Jeff Wilson of Durham, N.C. were knocked out of contention when they tangled in the first turn on the sixth lap of the race.

"America's Hometown Track" South Boston Speedway gets back to racing action for a Sunday afternoon companion race with the Richmond International Raceway events on May 6th. The Textilease Late Models will be in action, as well as, Limited Sportsman, Super Stocks, Modifieds, and Pure Stocks. For advance ticket purchases, fans can call the "Ticket Hotline" at 1-877-440-1540 or log onto our website at:www.southbostonspeedway.com