PELETIER, N.C. – Layne Riggs became the first repeat winner of the season with Solid Rock Carriers CARS Late Model Stock Tour on Saturday night, holding off Corey Heim in an marathon event at Carteret County Speedway.
Riggs qualified on the pole and led wire-to-wire as chaos ensued behind him during the course of the 90 lap event that lasted more than three hours. A race that started with 23 late model stocks and finished with just seven cars running at the end of the race which was shortened from the scheduled 125 laps due to the race’s 11 cautions and four red flags and an 11pm curfew.
“It was just a wild race with the racetrack coming apart and people couldn’t even get two laps in the race,” Riggs said. “We ended up prevailing and here we are in victory lane. Really glad that we qualified on the pole today. We had a lot of speed. First two-time winner this year. We’ve had a lot of drought in the CARS Tour and I feel like we’ve got our stuff together and luck at the same time.”
With his second-consecutive victory, Riggs will cut his points deficit to series leader Jared Fryar down to seven points and is alive in the battle for the CARS Tour championship.
“The race was so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen,” Riggs said. “We might go and win the next two and everybody else that’s in front of me or near me might have bad luck. We’ve got to go into the mindset that we’re going to win every race we go to like always and keep charging.”
The victory was emotional for Riggs, who won two races at Carteret County in 2018 and was close with former track owner Bobby Watson – who passed away just weeks after Riggs’ win in the 2018 Labor Day Classic.
“I hope he’d be proud,” Riggs remarked. “Rest in peace, Bobby. He was a great man, did a lot for this sport and racetrack. He put his heart and soul into it. I hope that he’s proud of where it’s at and how we’re still racing here and hope to keep the legacy going.”
Heim ended up finishing second after challenging Riggs for the win on multiple restarts, even managing to get past him, but having to relinquish the lead due to a caution.
“We struggled a lot in practice yesterday and this morning,” Heim said. “We thought we were a pretty mediocre car but we made some gains. I think we qualified sixth, started on the outside. After that, we put our car on track and got inside starting spots from there on out which is really important at this track. We definitely played our cars right. We were there at the end and avoided all the wrecks, obviously. Had a good race with Layne. Unfortunately, came home one spot short.”
The race was slowed by 11 cautions and four red flags, resulting in an average speed of 11.882 mph over the course of 90 laps. The race was halted twice due to track repairs and ended under caution when a late race caution came out just prior to the track’s 11 p.m. curfew.
Jared Fryar finished in third while Connor Mosack and Bobby McCarty completed the top-five. Ronald Hill finished sixth while Brandon Pierce finished seventh – the last of the cars running at the end of the race.
Chase Singletary scored the victory in the Legends feature with a last lap pass on Zack Brown. The victory was Singletary’s second win in a Legend Car and his 11th overall feature win at Carteret County Speedway.
In the Super Truck division, Jody Measamer picked up his fifth win in the division and his sixth overall at Carteret County Speedway. Anthony Goodyear finished second while Justin Johnson finished third.
The finish:
Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Jared Fryar, Connor Mosack, Bobby McCarty, Ronald Hill, Brandon Pierce, Jessica Cann, Nolan Pope, Stacy Puryear, Brandon Clements, Mini Tyrrell, Chad McCumbee, Justin Johnson, Jonathan Findley, Jonathan Shafer, Trevor Ward, Travis Truett, Sammy Smith, Matt Cox, Camden Gullie, Tyler Matthews, Chris Burns.