Mid-season champions crowned at Southern Raceway

MILTON — Southern Raceway crowned its mid-season champions on June 18, but while some drivers enjoyed their conquest, others were conquered by the three-eighths mile dirt.

In the NeSmith Panhandle Challenge Series, Taylor Jarvis and Joseph Joiner posted qualifying laps in the 15-second range.

Jarvis took the pole with a lap of 15.68 seconds; Joiner was just eight hundredths of a second slower.

But the excitement between the two drivers occurred even before the race started.

Todd Jones spun his crate late model in turn one at the drop of the green flag. Due to the spin, track officials elected to do a complete restart.

During the caution, Joiner — who had gone high in turn two — was driving back to his position and drove over the front of Jarvis’ racecar. This led to Joiner being black flagged for the incident, which caused Jarvis to spin on the front stretch.

When the field was reset, Jarvis took the lead and never looked behind him for the entire 25-lap run.

The only time the event was slowed was for a caution on lap seven that involved four cars — Brandon Hood, Cody Smith, James Ward and James Gilmore.

Kyle Bryant managed to get close on a couple of occasions late in the race, but he settled in for second.

Rounding out the top five were Kevin Maher, Jones and Ward.

In the Open Wheeled Modified Division, it was a bad night for series points leader Ryan Fowler.

Fowler was involved in two incidents before the cars even completed a single lap.

The first incident to bring out the caution involved Fowler and Todd Neiheiser.

After the cars were reset for a second start, Fowler once again had issues coming off turn four and was hit by teammate Mike Lane before his disabled race car collected Tyler Allen and Nick Poole’s cars.

When the race finally got underway, Lane and Lucas Morris battled out front, with Morris taking the lead on lap four.

A spin by Jason Lockwood on lap six brought out the caution and Morris suddenly had issues with his car and left the track.

Todd Neiheiser took the lead and managed to hold off Lane, who tried a bonsai move in turn three and slid up the dirt.

Rounding out the top five behind Neiheiser were Doug Rogers in second, Poole, Fowler, and Brian McArdle.

Kevin Mitchell showed a strong car in the NeSmith Street Stock heat race, and it was even better in the 25-lap feature.

Mitchell needed 10 laps to negotiate the field and take the lead from Bo Bailey. After he made the pass, Mitchell never looked back as he crossed the finish line with almost a half-lap lead.

Bailey, who entered the race as the points leader, finished second, followed by Jim Jarvis, J.C. Wilson, and Brandon Kilpatrick to round out the top five.

The Pure Stock Division offered a lot of strong racing action as the top 10 in points battled to the checkered flag.

Jessica Donaldson started the race on the pole and held the lead until lap nine, when Mike Emmons took the lead and never looked back.

Emmons was challenged late in the race by Bubba Fletcher, but a caution on lap 24 set up a one-lap winner- takes-all dash for the checkered flag.

Fletcher finished second behind Emmons followed by Donaldson, Carl Dodson and Jesse James to round out the top five.

In the Vintage Division, it seemed like a night of déjà vu as Blake Martin, John Cody and James Ward battled up front for the lead.

With Martin leading, everything went haywire on lap eight. Ward’s car broke and, while Ward was slowing, Cody made contact with a slower car driven by Donald Hall.

With Martin leading, the only car that seemed to have a chance of catching him was being driven by Levi Donaldson, but he came up just short and finished second.

Rounding out the top five were Craig Crossley, Brandon Kilpatrick and Cody, who recovered from his earlier mishap and a lap 22 spin to finish fifth.

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HEAT RACE RESULTS

NeSmith Street Stock Heat

1. Kevin Mitchell

2. Layne Jones

3. Alan Flanagan

4. Steven Jernigan

5. Billy Arnett

Open Wheeled Modified Heat 1

1. Brian McArdle

2. Dan Neisius

3. Shawn Pitts

Open Wheeled Modified Heat 2

1. Nick Poole

2. Doug Rogers

3. John Joiner

4. Jason Lockwood

Vintage Heat 1

1. Levi Donaldson

2. Kylan Nathey

3. David Spears

4. James Calhoun

Pure Stock Heat 1

1. David Holland

2. Troy Williams

3. Raymond Alford

4. Dylan Merritt

Pure Stock Heat 2

1. Terry Mayhair

2. Kurt Horne

3. Keith Bonga

4. Roy Brook

5. Gueston Rogers

Pure Stock Heat 3

1. Lane Heaton

2. Jacob Myers

3. Bennie Kimmons

4. Larry Day

5. Jack Rodrigues

NeSmith Crate Late Model Qualifying

1. Taylor Jarvis, 15.68

2. Joseph Joiner, 15.76

3. Joshua Huss, 16.16

4. Kevin Maher, 16.21

5. James Gilmore, 16.28

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COMING UP

This Saturday, the Pure Stock Six Shooter Series will make its second appearance at Southern Raceway. Gates open at 4:30 p.m.; racing starts 7:30 p.m. at the track, located at 9359 Nichols Lake Road.

See www.southernraceway.com for admission costs and other details about the June 25 event.