This past Saturday, Southern Raceway entertained fans with its annual fireworks show, but there were plenty of firework on the track as well.
Feature racing got off to an exciting start as the Pure Stocks offered plenty of fireworks to cap off their big race.
Chandler Shaw jumped out to an early lead, but by lap three Jason McDaniel, who was looking for his fourth consecutive feature win, took control of the race.
McDaniel would remain out front despite the five cautions including the last on lap 18 that set up a shootout over the final two laps for the win.
Starting in the row behind McDaniel was Adam Ellison and Jake Senterfitt.
Ellison started the race from the 14th spot and had spent most of the night working his way through the field.
McDaniel started to pull away with visions of another checkered flag dancing in his head until he reached turn four on the last lap.
Going into turn four McDaniel’s car got loose and started to go around and as it did, Ellison and Senterfitt were quick to react.
Senterfitt went high, while Ellison went to the low side of McDaniel’s car and were door handle to door handle heading down the front stretch to take the checkered flag.
While both drivers were fighting for position Senterfitt’s car started to climb the front stretch wall as Ellison pulled ahead by inches to take the win.
Rounding out the top five were Josh Howell, Josh Benton, who raced his way into the field from the B-main, and Shaw.
The Vintage feature didn’t calm things down much as Ricky Haugen was not going to let this race slip away.
Haugen started off with the early lead, but by lap seven he was running third behind Kraig Crossley and Aleck Alford.
Crossley could not pull away from Alford and Haugen appeared to be stronger at the start of a run, but would fall off as the laps wore on.
Then lightening struck as Alford brought out the final caution on lap 19 when he spun in turn one to set up a green-white checkered finish.
Crossley was out front on the restart, but Haugen was right behind him in row two with Don Hall.
On the restart Haugen stayed right with Crossley and peeked to his inside for an opportunity to pass.
Then on the final lap Crossley was trying to hold Haugen off as they prepared to launch off turn four towards the checkered flag.
Haugen seized the opportunity and muscled his way past Crossley for the win.
Alford rallied back to finish third followed by Hall and Derrick Benton to round out the top five.
In the 604 crate late models you had to watch yourself on the start as two drivers were caught for starting early by track officials.
The first one was Bo Slay, who lost his front row starting spot for jumping the initial start.
DG Hawkins got the benefit of that mistake, but Hawkins would be caught making the same miscue on a lap seven restart.
While all of this was going on Benny Boudreaux out of New Orleans, Louisiana, found himself out front and taking the checkered flag at the end.
Rounding out the top five were Slay, who recovered to finish second, followed by Hawkins, James Gilmore, and Steven Jernigan.
This Saturday Sothern Raceway will hold its annual Mid-Season Championship races in modified, pure stock, street stock, stinger, sportsman, and vintage divisions.
For information on Southern Raceway follow them on Facebook at southernraceway.
Southern Raceway is located at 9359 Nichols Lake Rd. Gates open at 4 p.m. and hot laps start at 6 p.m.
Southern Raceway
July 6, 2019
Pure Stock
Heat 1 – 1. Chandler Shaw, 2. Jake Senterfitt, 3. Savannah Edmondson, 4. Jacob Myers, and 5. Dennis Edwards.
Heat 2 – 1. Justin Adams, 2. David Jones, 3. Jason Jackson, 4. Dillan Petty, and 5. Lane Heaton.
Heat 3 – 1. Jessica Donaldson, 2. Josh Howell, 3. Chris Hayes, 4. Brandon Harris, and 5. Josh Benton.
Heat 4 – 1. Jason McDaniel, 2. Rodney Howell, 3. Willie Peak, 4. Aaron Tugmon, and 5. Gary Lippincott (DNS).
B-Main – 1. Josh Benton, 2. Dennis Edwards, 3. Aaron Tugmon, 4. Brandon Harris, and 5. Jacob Myers (DNS).
Wintage
Heat 1 – 1. Ricky Haugen, 2. Derrick Benton, 3. Don Hall, and 4. Robin Christensen.
Heat 2 – 1. Aleck Alford, 2. Chris Brown, 3. Kraig Crossley, and 4. JD Fuqua.
IMCA Open Wheel Modified
Heat 1 – 1. Jesse Barnhill, 2. Buster Foley, 3. James Roete, 4. Nathan Ingersoll, and 5. Sean Pierce.
Stinger
Heat 1 – 1. Justin Baker, 2. Desmend Mouton, 3. Brandon Kilpatrick, 4. Chuck Pursell, and 5. Steve Sidner.
Heat 2 – 1. Billy Haynes, 2. Josh Douglass, 3. Curtis Cotton, and 4. Katherine Montgomery.
Heat 3 – 1. Eddie Queysen, 2. Michael McDougall, 3. Jonathan Thompson, and 4. Jeremey Fowler.
Durrence Layne Street Stocks
Heat 1 – 1. Mike Lane, 2. James Ward, 3. Tommy Lowery, 4. Evan Folmar, and 5. Kyle Kichler.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Fireworks on and off the track at Southern