PELETIER, N.C. – Brandon Clements picked up his first Limited Late Model win of the season at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway on Saturday night.
Clements started the race in the fourth position and took the lead from Chris Burns on the third lap of the race. A competition caution with 25 laps to go tightened the field up, allowing T.J. Barron an opportunity. However, on the ensuing restart, Clements rocketed away from the field and never looked back as he scored the victory, ending a winless streak that dated back to Oct. 27, 2018.
“We wanted to be aggressive and get the lead there to start with,” Clements said in victory lane after the race. “It means so much here to be able to have the restart and control the field. We just wanted to kick everybody’s ass.”
For Clements, the victory was a relief. He last won in the final race of the 2018 season and, aside from a couple runner-up finishes and a Mini-Stock win in May, the 2019 season has been frustrating.
“This sport is very humbling,” Clements explained. “To be as good as we were last year and come out this year and pure suck, it’s just been parts after parts and we found problem after problem. Me and Wendell [Davis] spent many nights working on this thing. He was getting frustrated with it and I was getting frustrated with it. I just want to thank all the fans and sponsors for sticking with us.
“I really want to dedicate this to my mom. She’s been having a rough time. Without her, I wouldn’t be able to do this racing stuff.”
Boo Boo Dalton eventually made it around Tyler Horne, then around T.J. Barron to finish second.
“When you get one in front of you that far, it’s just hold on and pray for a caution,” Dalton stated. “We weren’t even sure we were going to be in the top-three there for a little bit. I’m tickled to death. We’ve been out here twice and have a second, fourth, and a second. We’ll keep it up and hopefully will be up on that checkered flag pad before too long.”
Barron went on to finish third while Chris Burns and Tyler Horne rounded out the top-five.
After a wild start to the Legends feature, which took five attempts to finally go green, Ryan Matthews raced his way to his first Carteret County Speedway victory of 2019. Matthews got around Spencer Saunders with just seven laps remaining in the race to take the lead – and the win.
Spencer Saunders ultimately settled for the runner-up spot, his third consecutive second-place finish. After a tumultuous start to the season, Emily Day came home with a third-place effort.
Midway through the U-CAR feature, Steve Sullivan, while leading, got loose and then spun off the front bumper of Curtis Lanier, which allowed Andrew Jackson to inherit the lead. However, Sullivan roared back to the lead in the closing laps to pick up his second win of the year.
Chris Burns picked up his fourth consecutive Street Stock victory over Billy Slater and Kevin Benton. Slater and Benton raced to second and third on the last lap after Gary Rochelle Jr. and Mike Cooper both looped their cars around racing for the runner-up spot.
Justin Thompson scored the champ Kart victory while Scott Brooks won in Mini Cup competition and Caleb Braswell was triumphant in the Jr. Mini Cup feature.