EAST MILTON — Two weeks ago Chris Brown found himself sitting on the hood of a fellow vintage driver’s car like a hood ornament. Saturday night he turned someone else’s misfortune into a trip to victory lane at Southern Raceway.
Brown was in third place and staying out of trouble when the front two cars driven by Blake Martin and Chris Bayhi spun in front of him. He was able to slow down and drive around the cars to take the lead.
From there on it was Brown putting a lot of space between himself and the rest of the field, while Martin and Bayhi restarted lap eight at the tail end of the field and worked their way through the pack.
Brown held on for the win, with Martin and Bayhi at second and third, respectively. Bubba Fletcher and Robin Christensen rounded out the top five.
In the pure stock, Adam Ellison threaded the needle coming off of turn two on the opening lap and moved to the lead, which he never relinquished despite five caution flags.
An interesting battle developed between John Bryant and Layne Heaton for second place.
Both drivers started back in the field, but in the final five laps they battled for second and third. On the last lap, Bryant’s car was up the track enough that Heaton moved underneath and drove off the bottom to edge him by a fender at the finish line.
Josh Howell, fourth, recovered from two separate incidents that inflicted a great deal of cosmetic damage to his car, followed by Jason Jackson.
In the 604 Crate Late Models it was Bo Slay’s night. The fastest qualifier by a mere eight thousandths of a second, Slay ran away from the field for the win and the big $1,000 pay out.
The Milton driver started lapping cars before the midway point of the race.
Pace’s Johnathon Joiner finished second, followed by Taylor Jarvis, Kyle Bryant and James Gilmore.
In the Durrence Layne Street Stocks, Calvin Cook felt a little pressure at the start, but by the time he sped off of turn four in the opening lap he never looked back.
Cook, who started beside pole sitter Derek Gilmore, stayed even with Gilmore until turn four. They drove away from the field as the race was slowed by just two cautions.
Austin Moye was third, followed by Jim Jarvis and Toby Reeves.
Tommy Lowery handled two late restarts to win the stinger feature. Josh Douglas finished second, followed by Steve Sidner, Eddie Queysen, and Tony Southard.
On May 17, the track will host the third ladies league Friday Night Light Series, the IMCA Modifieds, Stingers and Slingshots.
Saturday is Military Appreciation Night, with the sprint cars, pure stock, street stock, vintage, modifieds and a demolition derby.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Brown notches first vintage win after previous topsy-turvy race