SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Trevor Ward made fans gasp as he slid backwards across the finish line while taking the checkered flag on Saturday.
Ward was so good, and his lead was so big on the final lap, that he wanted to give the fans a thrill as he took the win. He sure did.
Ward made a mistake, which turned the car sideways as he won Saturday’s 125-lap Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division race in dominating fashion – the race headlined a wild Bojangles Race Day at South Boston Speedway.
“The driver just ran out of talent,” Ward remarked with a smile. “I was trying to show off to the fans a little bit. I knocked it out of gear and obviously couldn’t drive it straight to the line and I turned it around backwards and won the race backwards. That was definitely something different I will never forget.”
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina resident dominated the race, winning the pole in qualifying and leading all 125 laps enroute to his first win of the season at the .4-mile oval and his seventh career win at South Boston Speedway.
His margin of victory over runner-up Landon Pembelton of Amelia, Virginia was 1.137 seconds.
“We knew we had worked hard on the car this week to get everything dialed in as much as possible,” Ward noted. “We were able to hit on some stuff that I think carried us farther than what we were expecting. I was really glad it paid off for us.”
Ward had virtually walked away from the rest of the field when a mishap on lap 102 brought out the race’s only caution period. That gave Pembelton and two-time NASCAR national champion and eight-time South Boston Speedway champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia an opportunity to make a run at Ward on the restart.
One lap was all Ward needed to separate himself from his challengers. Ward rebuilt a good lead, and while he had the mishap speeding to the checkered flag, he had plenty of margin to leave no doubt about the outcome of the race.
“I was prepared for a caution,” Ward said. “I didn’t think we would run 125 green laps. I was very conservative, waited for that restart to happen, and was able to capitalize when it did.”
Sellers finished third behind Ward and Pembelton with Tyler Matthews of Richlands, North Carolina and Carson Brown of New London, North Carolina rounding out the top five finishers.
Drew Dawson and Brian Rundstrom Jr. split wins in the twin 30-lap races for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division that were part of Saturday afternoon’s Bojangles Race Day event at South Boston Speedway.
Jarrett Johnson surged past Johnny Layne with two laps to go and won the 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race to earn his first career win.
Cameron Moss took the lead from Landon Milam and drove to his first career win in the 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division.
Sixty-five-year-old Donovan Freeman took the overall race win and the Sportsman Division win in the 25-lap race for the regional touring East Coast Flathead Ford Racing Association
