LAVONIA, Ga. — Mark Ruel, Jr. used his pole position to jump into the lead in turn one, and led every lap of the 30-lap USCS Georgia State Championship Race at Lavonia Speedway Friday night.
Ruel was challenged by fellow front-row starter Morgan Havener during the early part of the race before her night ended with mechanical failure. After Havener exited the race, her teammate and 13-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray moved to second to chase Ruel. Eric Riggins Jr. slipped by Gray, but could not gain ground on the leader until a restart with three laps to go.
On the final restart, Ruel opened a five-car length lead while Riggins had to hold off Gray for the runner-up spot. Terry Witherspoon followed Gray in fourth place and Jeffrey Newell out the top five drivers.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83-Mark Ruel Jr[1]; 2. 47-Eric Riggins Jr[5]; 3. 10-Terry Gray[3]; 4. 43-Terry Witherspoon[8]; 5. 12-Jeffrey Newell[13]; 6. 67M-Hayden Martin[6]; 7. 17-Alex Lyles[12]; 8. 51-Matt Linder[11]; 9. 28-Jeff Willingham[17]; 10. 67T-Brian Thomas[9]; 11. 99-Tanner Witherspoon[14]; 12. 7E-Eric Gunderson[15]; 13. 33-Joe Larkin[18]; 14. 4X-Scott Baldwin[16]; 15. 41-Luke Hill[7]; 16. B5-Brianna Lawson[20]; 17. 5-Hayden Campbell[4]; 18. 10M-Morgan Turpen[2]; 19. 20C-Anthony D’Alessio[10]; 20. (DNS) 0X-Clint Weiss