CRANDALL, Texas — Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series action the RPM Speedway saw a local hometown favorite and an out-of-state invader take the opening night wins Thursday at the third annual Summit Southern Nationals.
Veteran racer Bobby Ruffin used the high side of the quarter-mile bullring to make a three-wide pass for the lead on lap seven, and then led the final 13 circuits to claim the $1,000 winner’s paycheck in the Sunoco USRA Factory Stocks.
Shawn Graham paced the first six laps with rusk’s Jason Hood in second and looking for a way underneath the leader.
Ruffin, however, found the top of the back-stretch to his liking and sped past both drivers to claim the top spot which he never relinquished.
Tenth-starting Dalton Faulkner was able to get by Hood to snare the second spot with Chris Davis and Cameron Cook completing the top five.
Current Sunoco USRA Factory Stock national points leader Walter Hamilton was battling inside the top 10 when mechanical troubles ended his feature race with just three laps remaining.
Cody Smith jumped out from his pole position and built a huge lead over the field during the first seven laps of the 20-lapper when hard contact with a lapped car sent the back-marker spinning and the yellow flag waved for the first time.
Smith slipped up high one lap after returning to green flag racing and Coty Tupper raced by to take the lead just before the race’s second caution.
During the yellow, Smith ducked into the pits with a flat tire resulting from the earlier contact with the lapped car.
Two more cautions slowed the pace during the final 13 laps, but Tupper was never seriously challenged as he sped to a $1,000 payday with Kale Westover and Thomas Blackwell coming home second and third to put three cars with the No. 15 on the door on the podium.
Michael Dabney was fourth and Tommy Davis Jr. rounded out the top five while clinching his second straight USRA Limited Mod national title.