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Butler Takes Flag-to-Flag Victory

South Boston, VA……..Bailey’s driver, Brandon Butler, lit the smoking lamp in qualifying for the Bailey’s 250 PLUS presented by Domino’s Pizza. Capturing the RACERAP.com pole award with a quick lap of 15.909, Butler led the field for the Textilease Late Model Division Domino’s Pizza 100 to the green flag. With a slice of incentive for the CarQuest Auto Parts Road to Charlotte, Butler was hungry for his chance to visit victory lane.

Butler pulled out front, before Kenny Bowes (#80- Danville, VA) made contact with H.C. Sellers III and spun in turn two. Both Bowes and Jeff Oakley (#17) were penalized for speeding on pit road. Busch Series veteran, Wayne Grubb (#4-Mechanicsville, VA) who is making his presence known at South Boston again in 2001, made contact with Eddie Johnson (#57-Richmond, VA) in turn four to bring out the second caution, as Butler continued to be pursued by Timothy Peters (#2- Providence, NC). Johnson came charging back through the field, bringing the crowd to their feet. The championship driver put his car up to third place, but was never in contention to race the leaders. Brandon Butler kept the home fires burning at “America’s Hometown Track” by leading from flag-to-flag for the victory. Peters finished a strong second, followed by Johnson, Sellers, and Rodney Sawyers (#85 Ridgeway, VA). Butler gave his crew a water shower, as he raised his fists in victory.

“What a month we’ve had? We’re tickled to death with running this good. Timothy was pretty darn good, but we were able to get the win. What a dedicated team and group of talented people. With Bailey’s and their support we’re able to make all this happen. We appreciate Domino’s for sponsoring the race and making South Boston a great place to run. We’re dedicated to making the championship run and we appreciate CarQuest for their invitation to run at Charlotte. We’ll gladly take the opportunity, if we can make that happen.”

Charles Barnes put his Bailey’s #99 on the pole for the American General Finance Limited Sportsman pole, giving Bailey’s a great showing in two divisions. The first of 40 lap twins would see caution wave on lap 5 for a spin in turn two. Chris Blalock (#2-Kenbridge, VA) would take over the lead from Barnes and pace the field, before caution again slowed the charge on lap 28. Blalock extinguished Barnes’ final charge to claim the victory, with Jody James (#3 South Boston, VA) finishing third. Wayne Roach (#71) powered to fourth, with Billy Myers (#05-Hurt, VA) rounded out the Top 5.

Ryan Francisco (#81-Nathalie, VA) inherited the inverted pole position for 40 more laps of Limited Sportsman action. Billy Myers grabbed the early lead, but Jody James pulled around the inside on lap 14. Caution waved on lap 19, but it did not slow the hard charging James. As Myers and Francisco battled for the second position, James drove to victory for his first-ever Limited Sportsman win. Francisco bested Myers for second, as Barnes and Roach raced for strong Top 5 finishes.

Alan Marshall (#17-Colonial Heights, VA) rumbled from the top spot, as the NASCAR Rolling Thunder Modifieds inverted their starting order. Ronnie Davis (#14-Ashland, VA) pulled to an early lead, but John Thorpe (#63-Richmond, VA) wrestled it away on lap 5 before experiencing mechanical problems. A three-car tangle brought caution on lap 35, with Stinson claiming the lead from Davis on the restart. Clean up crews were in full motion, as Mark Slye (#57) coated the race track with fluids and Chad Gordon (#3-Emporia, VA) emptied his transmission fluid in turn three and was pushed behind the wall. Caution on lap 39 would be the final slowing of this race before Stinson claimed the victory followed by Davis, Bernard Emory (#44-Petersburg, VA), Marty Manberry (#50), and polesitter Alan Marshall.

Pure Stock 4s blazed to life, on the first lap, with a three wide battle at the stripe, which brought out the caution, as Chucky Cook (#22) made contact with the wall. The precedent, for this event, was set on the first lap as door-to-door racing took place in all four corners. Jeff Wilson (#7-Durham, NC) pulled his Volkswagon Scirroco to the outside on the final lap to win by a bumper over Barry Kirby.

Super Stocks took their 20 laps to task with Brent Evans (#44) on the pole. Timmy Farrell (#3-Durham, NC) took the lead from the outside, as Billy Goble (#18-Danville, VA) rode in third. At the halfway mark, Brian Deal (#98-Forest, VA) turned his ride around on the backstretch. Farrell led the restart, as Jimmy Purnell (#38) spun in turn two before Tommy Chandler (#37) made a hard impact on the front stretch wall. After a short red flag, Farrell led the final laps to the checkered flag over Evans, Goble, James Turner, and Ron Davis.

--SoBo PR