MADISON, N.C. – Jeff Parsons appeared ready to settle for second in Saturday’s Sheetz Mid-East Modified Tour feature at 311 Motor Speedway, but instead he ended the evening celebrating in victory lane.
Parsons took the lead coming out of turn four on the final lap when leader Andrew Durham’s left-rear wheel broke free from his car, allowing Parsons to blow by him and steal the victory.
The strange finish was the cherry on top of a wild 20-lap feature for the tour featuring 602 modifieds.
Stephen Pedulla and Hank Taylor led the field to the green flag to start the feature, but just as the field was completing the first lap a multi-car crash on the frontstretch brought out the first caution flag of the race.
Racing resumed and Pedulla and Taylor remained at the front of the field, with Pedulla pulling clear into turn one. Pedulla continued to lead until the fifth circuit when a massive crash on the fronstretch brought the action to a quick halt.
Coming out of turn four Jason Adams made contact with the outside wall and his damaged car drifted low into traffic, leading to four cars making hard contact. Among them were Daniel Allen and Greg Brown, with Allen’s car nearly flipping before coming to rest on top of Brown’s car.
Upon coming to rest Allen’s car quickly caught fire. Allen and Brown both escaped their cars as safety crews worked to put out the blaze. The incident and resulting cleanup led to a lengthy red flag period.
After more than 30 minutes racing finally resumed with Pedulla continuing to lead Taylor and Durham, but the drama was far from over.
Taylor chased Pedulla until the leaders caught the tail of the field, which opened the door for Taylor to sneak by and take the lead with six laps left. Not to be outdone, Pedulla stayed with Taylor and the two continued to battle for the lead.
With three laps left Pedulla got back to Taylor’s inside and entering turn three the two made contact. Both leaders spun as a result, handing the lead to third-place Durham. Pedulla continued while Taylor retired to the pits, where he expressed his displeasure for what happened with series officials.
The first attempt to restart ended quickly when Chris Stowe spun in turn two, requiring another restart. The second time Durham quickly pulled away and looked well on his way to victory.
Unfortunately, his left-rear wheel had other ideas. As Durham began to roll through turns three and four on the final lap his left-rear wheel began to spark before completely departing his race car.
As a result Durham spun out of turn four, gifting the lead and the victory to Parsons at the checkered flag.
Jeff Robinson finished second, followed by Zack Tate, Chase Cardwell and A.J. Belanger.
While Durham was celebrating his victory, Pedulla and Taylor had a heated conversation in the pits about what happened with three laps left in the race. It led to a brief scuffle amongst members of both teams that was quickly broken up.
In other action, Gary Mabe powered to victory in 604 crate late model action over Colby Quick. Fourteen-year-old Jamison McBride started from the pole and led the entire 15-lap 602 crate late model feature. In the final feature of the evening, Johnathan Sarratt drove to victory in the 15-lap UCAR main event.
Saturday’s event was broadcast by SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Pit Row TV.
The finish:
Jeff Parsons, Jeff Robinson, Zack Tate, Chase Cardwell, A.J. Belanger, Stephen Pedulla, Jim Manka, Josh Fields, Chris Stowe, Dean Noseworthy, Colt Gilliam, Cole Hendrick, Andrew Durham, Lawson Rodgers, Chris Callahan, Hank Taylor, Robert Poole, Brandon Bentley, Greg Brown, Bobby Jones, Jason Adams, Mike Fain, Jeremy Steele.