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USAR at SoBo

Door to door from the lead on back through 20th started the first five laps of competition. Mario Gosselin (#10-Lake Wales, FL) swapped the lead with Lee Tissot (#55-Arden, NC) for the early going. Hometown favorite Stacy Puryear (#11 South Boston, VA) battled from the fourth position and worked into the lead on lap 67, but Gosselin charged b a ck on lap 72. Caution waved five times in the first 75 laps, but quick track work kept the action going with little delay. Gosselin pulled to a five car advantage, while Chuck Bown (#61, Asheboro, NC) worked to put

Puryear back to third on lap 93. Caut i on waved again for a spin on the backstretch involving outside pole sitter, Lee Tissot and last year's winner Hal Goodson (#45 Winston-Salem, NC) on lap 103. After the racing grooved was cleaned, Gosselin pulled to a healthy lead on the restart. Gosseli n was in command at the halfway mark to claim hold of the Lucas Oil Products Award, just as Mark Nesbitt (#30-Asheville, NC) made contact with the frontstretch wall. Pit stops for the leaders brought a busy scene to pit road, as they picked up four Goodye a

rs and shuffled back onto the track. After the restart on lap 134, Shane Huffman (#84 Hickory, NC), who chose not to pit, held the top spot to the stripe. Gosselin restarted in the 10th position and quickly went to work bringing Jason Sarvis with him.

S tacy Puryear lost track position as slower cars made it three-wide in turn four. Lap 179 showed Huffman leading a hard driving Jay Fogleman (#8-Durham, NC) who captured the lead on lap 183. Gosselin challenged Huffman for the second position and worked t o make his way for a seventh lead change on lap 185. Just as a three-way war waged for the lead, Chuck Bown spun in turn two and collects Steve Christian (#16 Buford, GA) and Stacy Puryear. Both collected drivers were able to continue and made pit stops

to check damage. With 50 laps to go, Jay Fogleman looked poised to collect his second win of the season, but Mario Gosselin lined up in second after another amber flag bunched up the field again. With a 25 lap dash to the checkered, Fogleman outlasted G osselin until lap 235, when Gosselin made a move for the lead and spun a lapped car to bring out the thirteenth caution period. With 10 laps to go for the finish, the burner reached its maximum between Gosselin and Fogleman, but a season high fourteenth c

aution temporarily quenched the blaze. In a green, white, checkered finish, Jay Fogleman held off Gosselin for his hard fought win. Fogleman thrilled the crowd with a smoke-filled burnout and donuts before tasting his win in the Hooter's/Naturally Fresh Dressings Victory Lane.

Textilease Late Models brought their engines to life, in the first race of a Fox 99.9 FM Twin 50s show, with H.C. Sellers III (#83 Danville, VA) taking the pole and leading the 22 car field to the green flag.

Sellers led the first lap, but Timothy Peters (#2 Providence, NC) captured the top spot by lap two. All went well for Peters and he cruised out front, as Brandon Butler (#29 Chester, VA) battled Eddie Johnson (#57 Ashland, VA) with Scott Worley (#88 Lo ng Island, VA) battling Greg Davis (#45 South Boston, VA). Peters captured the win with Sellers in a solid second followed by Johnson, Butler, and Worley.

In the second 50 lap event, Timothy Peters weighed in with the competition rule and had to start sixth. H.C. Sellers III inherited the top spot for his second start from the pole. It was a hard side by side battle all around the track, as Eddie Johnson blazed into the lead on lap three. Worley worked into second on lap nine and set his sights on Johnson. After closing on the leader, Worley battle with Johnson i n every corner and swapped the lead three times in the final two laps to pull off a photo finish in the best Textilease Late Model Division event of the year. Johnson was jubilant in Victory Lane after posting his first win at the fabled 4/10th mile oval.