SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Carson Kvapil got a good jump on a restart with 21 laps to go and sped away to a 1.7-second win over Bobby McCarty in the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 presented by Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort Saturday night at South Boston Speedway.
However, the results of the race are unofficial pending review of post-race technical inspection. A decision on the official results is expected this coming week.
Saturday night’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 presented by Grand Atlantic Ocean Resort at South Boston Speedway was the first race of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown which also includes the Hampton Heat 200 on July 22 at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway, and the September 23 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.
If Kvapil is officially declared the winner of the race, he will earn $10,750. In addition to the $10,000 winner’s prize, he would earn a $500 award from Sunoco/Sparks Oil Company for the race’s halfway leader award and a $250 prize from Southside Disposal that goes to the race leader at the end of the third stage of the race.
“It’s awesome, it’s a big deal,” the Mooresville, North Carolina resident said of his apparent win. “I struggled here last year in this race, so to come back and rebound with a win is a big confidence booster going into Langley and Martinsville. They are all very hard races to run well in.”
Kvapil led 155 laps of the 200-lap race, taking the lead from pole winner Brenden Queen on the 46th lap and holding the top spot the rest of the race. The Chesapeake, Virginia resident led the first 45 circuits and gave Kvapil a tough battle for 135 laps before McCarty, of Madison, North Carolina and Landon Huffman of Claremont, North Carolina rallied to try to contend for the win.
McCarty and Huffman made their presence felt but Kvapil was able to open up his lead when McCarty and Huffman began battling for second place. The pair made a run at Kvapil on the race’s final restart, but Kvapil had enough speed to fend off the challengers.
“We had a good car,” remarked McCarty who won this race in 2021. “This is a back-up car we don’t run that much. There are a couple of things that are different on this car compared to our primary car. The window with this car is really small, so to be “off” and finish second is a good feeling.”
Huffman finished third, Queen finished fourth and Trevor Ward of Winston-Salem, North Carolina rounded out the top five finishers.
“We felt like we had to over-adjust to beat the eight (Kvapil),” Queen explained. “We weren’t going to beat him like we were. We took a swing at it and went a little bit too far.”
If Queen’s fourth-place finish stands he will earn the Ronnie’s Auto Body Pole Award which is worth $250 and a $250 award from GutterworX for leading the race at the end of the first stage.
Other Features
Eric Winslow had a big night in winning Saturday night’s 40-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race at South Boston Speedway.
Bruce Mayo sped past Johnny Layne to take the lead on the fifth lap and edged defending Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division champion Scott Phillips by .799-second to earn his first win of the season in the division.
Jason DeCarlo won the pole and led the entire distance in winning Saturday night’s 20-lap Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division race at South Boston.