BLUE RIDGE, Ga. — Dr. Kyle Amerson was in the house at Sugar Creek Raceway on Friday night with a win in the 25-lap race for the United Sprint Car Series Presented By K&N Filters.Â
The scoresheet may have said Amerson led all 25 laps, but that was after trading sliders on restarts with Jeff Oliver.
Amerson pulled away on the last restart to score his third career USCS victory and move into the top 10 of the Southern Regional points.Â
Oliver finished second and third went to National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee and the 2021 USCS champion Danny Smith.
Trey Meredith was fourth with 15-time series champion Terry Gray fifth.
Amerson took the lead from the pole position while Oliver slid Meredith in turn two to take the second spot. Meredith jumped the cushion in turn two which opened the door for Smith and Dalton to move up to third and fourth respectively on the opening lap. The first of four caution flags came out on lap four when Porter spun in turn four.
On the restart, Oliver threw a slide job pass on Amerson by diving low in turn one and sliding up in front of the leader in turn two. Amerson then performed the crossover down the backstretch by going to the inside and sliding up in front of Oliver in turn three. Merdith got by Dalton to take over the fourth spot on lap nine.
By lap 15 Meredith had caught Smith to challenge for the third spot, and made the pass for the position on lap 16. The red flag was displayed on lap 17 when fourth generation driver P.J. Reutimann flipped in turn two. Amerson pulled away from Oliver on the restart by covering the bottom of the race track.
Smith threw a slider on Meredith in turn four to reclaim the third spot on lap 17. By lap 20, Amerson had pulled out to a 1.948 second advantage over Oliver. Larkin brought out the third caution flag of the race on lap 21 when he spun in turn four. It was another sliderfest between Amerson, Oliver, Smith, and Meredith on the restart, but it was all for naught.
Dalton spun out of the fifth spot in turn four on the restart to bring out the caution flag for the final time. Amerson was able to pull away from Oliver in the five-lap dash to the finish and take a 2.377-second margin of victory under the checkered flag in a race that took 26 minutes and 25.578 seconds to complete.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps):Â 1. 29a Kyle Amerson, Montgomery, AL (1); 2. 29j Jeff Oliver, Pendergrass, GA (3); 3. Danny Smith, Chillicothe, OH (4); 4. 11 Trey Meredith, Dade City, FL (2); 5. 10 Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN (8); 6. 1d Prestin Dalton, Covington, TN (5); 7. 43 Terry Witherspoon, Jacksonville, FL (9); 8. 16 Tyler Porter, Pinellas Park, FL (6); 9. 28 Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS (11); 10. 33 Joe Larkin, Suwanee, GA (10); 11. 00 P.J. Reutimann, Zephyrhills, FL (7); 12. 20 Harley Zimmerman, Jacksonville, FL DNS.