Scotty Benford cements dominance of Legends division at Carteret

PELETIER, NC – Scotty Benford cemented his dominance in the Legend Car division on Saturday night with two statement victories at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway.

In the first of two races in a Legend Car doubleheader, which served as an INEX National Qualifier event, Benford started from the pole and drove away from the field en route to victory, punching his ticket to the INEX Asphalt Nationals in Las Vegas later this year.

An invert of lead lap cars in the second race relegated Benford to a 10^th place starting position.  After an early caution, Benford quickly raced his way into the top-four, but would be caught up in another incident in the early laps, sending him to the rear of the field.  Halfway through the 20-lap race, Benford rocketed past Oliver Missner to take the lead and drove away with the win.

“That was a crazy race,” Benford said in victory lane after the second feature.  “I didn’t mean to get into Kaiden [Ridenhour].  I cut down on him and that was my bad.  After that first caution, I was like, the starter broke and I couldn’t get it started back up.  Then I was worried I was going to run out of fuel but, I got there at the end, and it paid out.”

Benford now has 10 wins on the season in the Legend Car division at Carteret.

Rusty Daniels picked up his 10^th win of the season, remaining undefeated in Charger competition after passing Gator Williams early in the 40-lap race and driving away.  Michael O’Brien raced his way to a runner-up finish with Brandon Head finishing third.  Gator Williams faded to fifth.  Daniels remains undefeated on the season.

Other winners: Sammy Pacitti (Bomber), Mitchell Kerstetter (U-CAR), Maci Stancill (Jr. Mini Cup), Paxton Smith (Bandolero).

Next up on the schedule at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway is the Islander Hotel & Resort Carteret Clash presented by Milam Equipment Rentals, headlined by the SMART Modified Tour.  The Carolina Crate Modified Series and Carolina Mini Stock Challenge will also be on the card for race, which is one of the biggest of the year, on Saturday, August 30.

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Results

Charger (40 Laps): 1. 16-Rusty Daniels[1]; 2. 61-Michael O'Brien[6]; 3. 16H-Brandon Head[4]; 4. 21-Gerald Benton[3]; 5. 71-Gator Williams[2]; 6. 5-Haley Williamson[5]

INEX Legend Car National Qualifier (20 laps): 1. 51-Scotty Benford[1]; 2. 19-Brody Rhodes[12]; 3. 6-Austin Eckert[9]; 4. 28-Oliver Missner[2]; 5. 97-Michael Bivens[3]; 6. 100-Kaedin Ridenhour[4]; 7. 18-Knox Bryant[8]; 8. 6A-Keagan Abrams[5]; 9. 006-Landon Barefoot[7]; 10. 54-Seth Demis[6]; 11. 52-Daniel Dean[11]; 12. (DNF) 9-Joshua Hopkins Jr[10]

Legend Car – Race 2 (20 laps): 1. 51-Scotty Benford[10]; 2. 28-Oliver Missner[7]; 3. 19-Brody Rhodes[9]; 4. 6-Austin Eckert[8]; 5. 006-Landon Barefoot[2]; 6. 18-Knox Bryant[4]; 7. 100-Kaedin Ridenhour[5]; 8. 54-Seth Demis[1]; 9. 52-Daniel Dean[11]; 10. 9-Joshua Hopkins Jr[12]; 11. 6A-Keagan Abrams[3]; 12. (DQ) 97-Michael Bivens[6]

Down East Home Bomber (25 Laps): 1. 43P-Samuel Pacitti[1]; 2. 91-Timothy Medeiros[3]; 3. 9-Deanna Stancill[2]; 4. 43-Juan Mejia[4]; 5. 5-Jack Kress[5]; 6. 11-Kaleb Watson[7]; 7. 87-Justin Rountree[6]; 8. 77-Richard Smith[8]; 9. 34-Michael Withrow[9]

U-CAR (19 Laps): 1. 13-Mitchell Kerstetter[4]; 2. 22-Haiden Thomas[2]; 3. 11-Travis Miller[3]; 4. 17-Brian Gooden[5]; 5. 66-Ronnie Kropp[6]; 6. (DNS) 3-Ricky Heigl Jr; 7. (DNS) 43-Joe Wade

Bandolero / Jr. Mini Cup (10 Laps): 1. 46-Paxton Smith (B)[1]; 2. 18-Maci Stancill (JMC)[3]; 3. 69-Grayson Gurkin (JMC)[2]; 4. (DNS) 4-Jase Williams(JMC)