SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Championship contender Trevor Ward and 14-year-old Darren Krantz Jr. split wins Saturday night in the twin 75-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined the Davenport Energy Race Night event at South Boston Speedway.
Ward, who stood two points behind Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia in the division championship chase entering Saturday night’s twinbill, won the opening 75-lap race to earn his fifth win of the season at South Boston Speedway.
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina resident took the lead from Sellers with eight laps to go in an intense battle for the lead and drove to a .945-second win over the seven-time South Boston Speedway champion.
“My guys really needed that win,” Ward remarked. “It was a good race, a good, clean hard race. The car was very good. We were able to back our pace down and let him (Sellers) get away a little bit, cool everything down and make another run at him.”
Sellers said Ward was just a little better than he was at the end of the race.
“Trevor and I put on a show that first race,” Sellers noted. “He was just a little better than I was. I faded a little bit in the last 10 laps.”
Mark Wertz finished third with Blake Stallings and Jacob Borst rounding out the top five finishers in the 17-car field.
Krantz won the second 75-lap race, edging Landon Pembelton by .858-second after a torrid battle that saw the lead change hands four times, with three of the lead changes occurring in the last nine laps of the race.
“It didn’t come easy,” Krantz said of his win. “I had to go out there, fight for it and race hard. It was very hard and aggressive racing. It was all fun racing, though. I couldn’t be more thankful for my team getting me here.”
Pembelton, who finished sixth in the opening 75-lap race, started fourth but needed only 16 laps to grab the lead. He led twice for a total of 52 laps including a stretch of 51 laps. A caution period with nine laps to go created a torrid battle between the two drivers with the lead swapping hands three times over the final nine circuits.
“It was very fun,” Pembelton said of the race. “He (Krantz) was just a little better than us at the end,” Pembelton said.
Sellers finished third, Stallings finished fourth and Wertz rounded out the top five.
Eric Winslow earned his first South Boston Speedway win of the season, edging Nathan Crews by .483-second in the 50-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race.
Johnny Layne took the lead from division points leader B.J. Reaves with four laps to go and won the 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race.
Division points leader Jason DeCarlo won both of the twin 15-lap Dollar General Hornets Division races.
