Wilson and Barnhill still the show at Southern

Wilson and Barnhill still the show at Southern 

Southern Raceway

Jason Barnhill had a daunting task on his hands at lap 19 of the Bay Area Modified Championship held Saturday at Southern Raceway.

Barnhill who started the race on the pole saw Kyle Rutowski utilize the high groove to take the lead on the opening lap.

Both cars remained in that order until the first caution came out on lap 19 as Russ Harris’ car came to a stop and Pebo Rogers spun.

Then on the first attempted restart Barnhill was battling for the lead and suffered a flat tire, which sent him to the pits and to the back of the field.

In turns one and two Barnhill had his third mishap of the evening as he was trying to make up ground as quickly as possible and ran into the side of Thumper Grice’s car which had spun in front of him and left him nowhere to go.

While Rutowski held off the challenges of Jesse Barnhill and Branden Harris, Jason Barnhill managed to battle his way through the field to finish fourth and claim the Bay Area Modified Championship as well as the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) title.

Jesse Barnhill ended up second behind Rutowski at the end of the race followed by Harris.

Jason Barnhill claimed the IMCA title by just one point over Rutowski.

A second generation driver put on a show in the NeSmith Street Stock.

J.C. Wilson, a young racer from Harold, Fla., led all 20 laps to claim his first feature win at Southern.

Wilson, who started on the pole, held off some stiff challenges for the lead from Branden Harris and Justin Hamilton during the race.

Following the second caution on lap 12, Frank Wilson, J.C.’s father, managed to move up to second and held on to that spot until the checkered flag few.

Rounding out the top five were Harris, Hamilton, and Bo Bailey.

After the race, Bailey’s car failed technical inspection. Due to the infraction Kyle Kichler moved up to fifth.

In the Street Stock division it was Jessica Donaldson recording her second consecutive feature win as she added to her ever growing points lead.

While Donaldson held off some early challenges from Lane Heaton and Terry Mayhair the big race came down to second place.

As the checkered flag was flying for Donaldson, the cars of Chad Robinson, Carl Dodson, and Christopher Brown went three wide for second, third, and fourth.

After track officials met it was determined that Robinson won the race to the line followed by Dodson and then Brown.

Jason Dollar rounded out the top five.

In the Vintage division, Kraig Crossley was better late than ever.

Crossley was one of four drivers who had to start at the back of the pack due to arriving after the heat races had concluded.

On lap 13, Crossley had worked his way to the front of the pack and passed Jamie Mozingo, whose car was fading late in the race.

A spin by Robin Christensen set up a one lap dash to the checkered flag.

As the cars were battling for position on the restart, James War’s car touched wheels with Aleck Alford’s car sending the 2015 Vintage Series champions car headed to the inside wall.

Crossley left the action behind him and drove to the win while John Cody managed to finished second followed by Alford, Chris Bayhi, and Mozingo.

This was the second feature win of the night for Crossley, who had raced and won the vintage race in Blackmon, Fla., earlier in the night

On Oct. 1 racing action will return to the “South’s Finest Dirt Track” with racing in all classes and the return of the Southern Outlaw Sprints and a demolition derby to cap off the nights action.

Gates open at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and racing action is set for 7:30 p.m.

For more information about Southern Raceway you can check the track out on Facebook or look them up online at www.southernraceway.com.

Heat Races

Pure Stock Heat 1 – 1. Christopher Brown, 2. Jason Dollar, 3. Chad Robinson, and 4. Tucker Byrd.

Pure Stock Heat 2 – 1. Lane Heaton, 2. Tommy Lowery, 3. Ronnie Hardy, 4. Bennie Kimmons, and 5. Hunter Lewis.

Pure Stock Heat 3 – 1. Jessica Donaldson, 2. Terry Mayhair, 3. Carl Dodson, 4. Keith Bonga, and 5. Stephanie Jaye.

Pure Stock Heat 4 – 1. Jake Moore, 2. Jacob Myers, 3. Gueston Rogers, 4. William Davis, and 5. Austin Nathey.

Vintage Heat 1 – 1. Jamie Mozingo, 2. Billy Shaw, 3. Randy Chavers, 4. Jerry Bohlman, and 5. Wesley Riddles.

Vintage Heat 2 – 1. Aleck Alford, 2. Andrew Findley, 3. Mark Rast, 4. Tommy Gilmore, and 5. Justin Scott.

Vintage Heat 3 – 1. John Cody, 2. Junior Jordan, 3. Kelsey Martin, 4. Robin Christensen, and 5. Logan Nathey.

NeSmith Street Stock Heat 1 – 1. J.C. Wilson, 2. Branden Harris, 3. Aaron Huffstutler, 4. Frank Wilson, and 5. Blake Salakas.

NeSmith Street Stock Heat 2 – 1. Brandon Kilpatrick, 2. Curtis Faircloth. 3. Justin Hamilton, and 4. Kyle Kichler.
Results provided by Bill Gamblin