Crossley edges Haugen in vintage feature at Southern Raceway

EAST MILTON — Cancer Awareness Nigh at Southern Raceway Saturday night gathered a lot of people to support a great cause while witnessing some great racing.

One race in particular in the Vintage class was decided by a matter of inches.

Ricky Haugen and Craig Crossley started the feature side by side on the front row.

After 20 laps and eight caution flags they both finished side by side with roughly two inches deciding the winner.

Haugen jumped out to the lead and held it for 19 and three-quarters of a lap.

After taking the white flag, Haugen had the lead with Crossley driving hard and looking for the one mistake for the opportunity to take the win.

Heading into turn three Haugen seemed to go a little higher than he had the entire race and when it came to the race off of turn four Crossley was faster to the gas pedal.

"I simply made a mistake and over drove (the car) into turn three on the last lap," Haugen said, who has dominated the vintage class with nine wins this season. "I completely slid up out of the groove and I couldn’t get back into the gas."

Crossley was excited about the win.

"When I set off in three and four, I was able to pull ahead off of turn four," he said. "I looked over towards him and he was clearly behind me. It was a great night of racing with a great group of folks."

For Crossley, the win almost didn’t happen when he nearly lost it and fell back to fifth place as the drivers raced back to the caution on lap 14.

"I ran out of talent," said Crossley. "I over drove (the car) coming out of three and going into four. I about spun myself out."

Rounding out the top five were James Ward followed by Gueston Rogers and Jerry Bohlman.

Saturday night’s action was used to bring awareness to cancer while also helping to raise funds for Travis Stowers and Bobbie Jean Joiner, who both are currently battling cancer.

After the race, Crossley said his car number R2C stood for "Racing 2 Cure."

In the Durance Layne Street Stocks, a broken part ended the night of Harold’s Frank Wilson.

Wilson started the feature from the pole and was pulling away from the field when a front suspension part broke on lap nine and ended his evening.

Tim Fowler inherited the lead and never looked back when the race restarted with 11 laps remaining.

Fowler never looked back despite a couple of late challenges from Howie Reeves.

Reeves finished second followed by Joseph Joiner, Brandon Kilpatrick, and Dylan Hamilton.

The 602 Sportsman Late Model feature turned into more of a race of survivor as only four cars remained when the checkered flag waved compared to the 10 that started.

Colton Leyendecker, who started from the pole, kept the lead and ran away from the field despite the six interruptions (cautions).

Johnathon Joiner, who was penalized for jumping the start, worked his way back up to second followed by Joe Richbourg, Matt Chavers, and Jesse Barnhill who retired after an incident coming out of turn three.

The Pure Stock division saw another strong showing from the "New York Nightmare" Tally Warrick.

After starting third in the field, it took only 10 laps for him to find the front of the field and never look back.

Warrick built a 12-car length advantage during the final eight laps of the feature over a hard charging John Bryant.

Jessica Donaldson finished third followed by Jake Moore and Dalton Morrison.

Joseph Phillips had an easy time in the open-wheeled modified feature as he had the entire field trying to catch him.

Phillips felt some early pressure from former track champion Ryan Fowler, but that ended when Fowler and Osman Jones got together on lap four.

After the dust settled from the early cautions Kevin Mitchell finished second followed by Justin Able, Lucas Morris, and Robo Hutchinson.

In the Stinger class Russell Estain recovered from a spin on lap two and won the feature.

Estain, who started on the outside of row three, slowly worked his way through the field and on lap 15 took the lead away from Timothy Witherington and never looked back.

Witherington finished second followed by Aaron Emmons in his Mini Cooper, Hunter Lewis, and Charlie Simmons.

Racing this Saturday at the South’s Finest Dirt Track will feature action in the crate late models, street stock, pure stock as well as motorcycles and quads.

Southern will be closed on July 14 due to the six-shooter series race being held at Northwest Florida Raceway just north of Baker.

Racing at Southern will return on July 21^st with action being provided by drivers in pure stock, street stock, vintage, modifieds, sportsman and stinger divisions.

Southern Raceway is located at 9359 Nichols Lake Rd. Gates open at 4 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for military and seniors, $7 for students ages 13-18, $5 for children ages 6-12, and free for kids 5 and under.

Southern Raceway July 21 heat results

Open Wheel Modifieds

Heat 1 – 1. Todd Neiheiser, 2. Osman Jones, 3. Robo Hutchinson, 4. Mark Rast, and 5. Ryan Fowler.

Heat 2 – 1. Joseph Phillips, 2. Justin Able, 3. Lucas Morris, 4. Kevin Mitchell, and 5. James Roete.

Pure Stock

Heat 1 – 1. Jessica Donaldson, 2. J.D. Fuqua, 3. Dalton Morrison, 4. Nick Cuevas, and 5. Willie Peak.

Heat 2 – 1. Trenton Odom, 2. John Bryant, 3. Chandler Shaw, 4. T.J. Grimes, and 5. Jason Jackson.

Heat 3 – 1. Tally Warrick, 2. Jake Moore, 3. Jacob Myers, 4. Dewey Boggan, and 5. Brandon House.

Heat 4 – 1. Kylan Nathey, 2. Justin Adams, 3. Terry Mayhair, 4. Josh Howell, and 5. Bubba Fletcher.

B-main – 1. Dewey Boggan, 2. Willie Peak, 3. William Arnett, 4. T.J. Grimes, and 5. Jason Jackson.

Durrence Layne Street Stocks

Heat 1 – 1. Frank Wilson, 2. Brandon Kilpatrick, 3. Howie Reeves, 4. Dylan Hamilton, and 5. Justin Hamilton.

Heat 2 – 1. Joseph Joiner, 2. Tim Fowler, 3. Jesse Smith, 4. Therese Johnson, and 5. Austin Moye.

Vintage

Heat 1 – 1. Ricky Haugen, 2. Caden White, 3. Gueston Rogers, 4. Joe Phillips, and 5. Josh Howell.

Heat 2 – 1. Kraig Crossley, 2. Chris Brown, 3. James Ward, 4. John Wood, and 5. Kristin Rast.

Heat 3 – 1. Kenny Tarter, 2. Bobby Resmondo, 3. Jay Dotson, 4. Aleck Alford, and 5. Bill Blum.

Stingers

Heat 1 – 1. Jackson Lynchard, 2. Anthony Coefield, 3. Tommy Lowery, 4. Caleb Burkett, and 5. Chris Holmes.

Heat 2 – 2. Timothy Witherington, 2. Hunter Lewis, 3. Russell Estain, 4. Aaron Emmons, and 5. Dayne Finch.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Crossley edges Haugen in vintage feature at Southern Raceway