What started as a picture-perfect Saturday ended with some of the best action that Carteret County Speedway has seen so far this year.
Dylan Newsome started out the night by setting the quick time in the Solid Rock Carriers Big Money Late Model Series and dominated the first twin feature of the night.
The first Legend feature certainly did not disappoint with California's Jake Bollman and local star Brenton Irving swapping the lead multiple times in the 20-lap feature. Irving would ultimately make the final move to secure the win in the first feature.
The invert for the Late Model field was a two which put the young gun, Tristan McKee, on the pole with Dylan Newsome to his outside. McKee got the early lead but then made contact with the turn two wall resulting in a caution being thrown for debris. On the restart, Newsome settled in behind before making the move to get around McKee and would not look back. "The $2,000 certainly helps tonight, but it's just a step to get to that $10,000 payday for winning the championship at the end of the year." said Newsome in victory with his eyes certainly set on the Solid Rock Carriers Big Money Late Model Series championship.
The final feature of the night was the second Legends twin of the night and with an invert of eight was bound to bring excitement. Carsyn Gillikn started on the pole but it was Chase Singletary who found his way to the front and around her quickly. Singletary was caught by Bollman and would fend him off, even through heavy lap traffic and multiple close calls. Singletary looked to have it sealed until a caution on the last lap for the first twin winner, Brenton Irving, forced a green-white-checkered finish. On the final lap, Bollman was able to get around Singletary and secure the win to finish off an exciting night of racing.
There was controversy about the finish of the second Legends twin. The caution flew in turn four on the final lap due to a driver being in an unsafe position. That being said, the caution was thrown prior to the leader taking the checkered flag which means the race was not over and that we would finish the race with a green-white-checkered. When a caution is thrown, similar to NASCAR, we signify it with the WHELEN Track Safety Lights around the speedway - meaning that the yellow flag does not need to be displayed immediately if the caution lights are triggered. In this instance the caution lights were triggered (signifying that the caution is out) prior to the leader crossing the line, thus resulting in a green-white-checkered finish. Special thanks to Racing America for being on hand and assisting with the photographic/video evidence that this indeed did occur as outlined in the aforementioned explanation.
The full story and results from all of our other exciting divisions will be coming soon. The next event on the schedule is July 2nd when the Carolina Pro Late Models and Carolina Crate Modifieds come to town! Tickets are on sale now at carteretspeedway.com/clash