SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Trevor Ward and Landon Pembelton emerged as the winners of the twin 75-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined Saturday night’s Sentara Health Race Night event at South Boston Speedway.
That, however, is not the big news of the night.
The big news of the night is that Ward and seven-time South Boston Speedway champion Peyton Sellers are unofficially tied for the division points lead with one race remaining.
After winning the first of the two 75-lap races that headlined the night’s racing action, Ward finished second in the second race. Sellers finished fourth in the first race and fifth in the second race.
Unofficially, Pembelton, who finished third in the first race and won the second race, trails the leaders by eight points entering the season’s final race.
In what was arguably the closest race of the season, Ward won the opening 75-lap race in dramatic fashion, surging past leader Ryan Millington on the frontstretch on the final lap of the race and edging Millington by a half a car length to earn his sixth South Boston Speedway win of the season.
“Going into the night I was seven points down (to Sellers) and I just wanted to chip away it,” Ward remarked. “I had a great car tonight. Ryan (Millington) was good too, and I timed it just right. I ran him down at the right time for a lapped car to intervene in that deal. I slipped by him to get the first one.
“In the second race, I kind of ran out of tires, but Pembelton was strong and we put on a heck of a battle in that race as well.”
Millington, who led all but the last lap of the first race, finished second, just .135-second behind Ward with Pembelton finishing third, Sellers finishing fourth and Jacob Borst rounding out the top five.
In the second race, with the top eight finishers of the first race being inverted for the start, Pembelton started sixth but needed only four laps to get to third place. He passed Borst to claim second place on the eighth circuit, and set sail after leader Andrew Grady.
The Virginia resident quickly caught Grady and took the lead on the 24th circuit. Pembelton never relinquished the lead after that, fending off constant challenges by Ward by .262- second, or about three car lengths, at the finish.
“I felt we had a really good car in the first race,” Pembelton pointed out. “The second race we weren’t quite as good, but I was able to manipulate Trevor’s line a little bit, and it helped me out a ton.
“The car was on point,” he added. We’re planning on bringing it back and getting it ready for the next race.”
Millington finished third, Grady finished fourth and Sellers rounded out the top five.
Cory Dunn had come close to pulling off a win several times in his two years. Saturday night he finally broke the ice, earning his first career South Boston Speedway victory in the 50-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race.
Former division champion Johnny Layne won the 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race.
Landon Milam started on the pole and led the entire distance to win the 20-lap Dollar General Hornets Division race.
Shayne Lockhart took the overall race win and the Modified Division win and Kevin Floars took the Sportsman Division win with a fourth-place overall finish in Saturday night’s 25-lap race for the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club at South Boston Speedway.
