JAMAICA, Va. – Jeremy Pilkerton has come close to a Victory Lap Pro Late Model win multiple times over the last two years, but it all came together as Pilkerton held off current point leader Austin Hubbard to score his career first victory.
Pilkerton would take the lead from Matthew Hildebrand on lap eight after getting to the inside out of turn three.
“We have come so close here on so many occasions, it feels great to finally get this win,” Pilkerton said in Virginia Is For Racing Lovers victory lane.
On the drop of the green flag, the racing went three- and four-wide throughout the field with Hildebrand leading the first lap. Hildebrand would lead the first seven laps before having Pilkerton sneak up to take over the top spot.
Once out front, it looked as if Pilkerton would run away and hide, as the action behind him was intense for second. Hubbard, Ray Love Jr. and Corey Almond waged a three-way battle for second.
Hubbard ultimately took control of second, then he set out to catch Pilkerton for the lead.
Hubbard tried several times to wrestle the lead away, but each time, Pilkerton was up to the challenge. Pilkerton crossed the finish line 1.473 seconds ahead of Hubbard.
Almond, Hildebrand and Love Jr. rounded out the top five.
Meanwhile, Ray Kable made his first trip to the Budweiser Modified count, sweeping both qualifying and the feature.
Kable set the fast time and inverted the top four cars with the pill pull, putting Joey Polevoy on the pole. Polevoy would lead the first lap with a battle for second raging behind him.
Kable won the battle for second and immediately set out for Polevoy, who Kable would catch and take the lead from on lap seven. Once out front, Kable pulled away from the battles behind him and cruised to the win.
Rick Hulson, Polevoy, Lance Grady and Chase Butler rounded out the top five.
It took Tim Shelton a whopping six laps to get to the lead for the Truckin’ Thunder Sportsman feature.
Matt Mead made a little slip on lap five, but that was all the opening that Shelton needed. Mead made a couple of runs at the lead only to have Shelton pull away again.
Tyler Shipp would take second from Meads on lap 17. Shipp had a shot during a restart on lap 20 to get inside Shelton, but couldn’t complete the pass and had to fall back into second.
Shelton would go on to win by a 2.310 second advantage. The victory was Shelton’s fourth in as many tries.
Shipp, Meads, James Givens and Adam Breeden rounded out the top five.
In the Collision One Limited Stock Car division, sometimes it pays to be a little lucky.
Johnny Brooks almost had his night in the 20-lap feature turn in a much different direction. On the lap seven restart, leader Raymond Harper was guiding the car to green when his car went dead with Brooks up under his rear bumper.
Brooks would fall back six spots before the caution flew for Harper. That put Brooks back on the point for the restart. He would then come back from the incident to take his second win in a row.
Brian Maxey, Cory Bradley, Jacob Buie and John Hankins, Jr. rounded out the top five.