PELETIER, N.C. – Boo Boo Dalton outlasted the competition in Sunday night’s attrition-filled Bobby Watson Memorial Celebration, scoring his second late model win at Carteret County Speedway.
Dalton passed 2017 track champion Tyler Matthews to take the lead on lap three and held off multiple challenges from 2018 champion Brandon Clements and Tyler Horne. The race, shortened in distance due to time constraints, came down to a seven-lap shootout between Dalton, Clements and Horne – with Dalton holding off the challenge.
“This is a big weekend,” Dalton said. “Bobby built an awesome, awesome racetrack here and he’s got great people that run it. You can’t ask for a better show than right here. There was a bunch of race cars. I’m so thankful to just come out on top and get a red star over my name. We get to come back and be a more than one-time winner now. I just got to thank my guys who worked their butts off to get this thing as good as it is everywhere we go. I also want to thank the racetrack. If looking at it doesn’t say anything, just imagine winning here. It’s big.”
Horne settled for a runner-up finish while Brandon Clements, who won the first feature race in speedway history in 2015, finished third.
“All in all, we gave it our all today man, that’s what we came here to do,” Clements said. “We had a third-place car really. We whacked the wall in the morning practice. My team worked really hard to get it back together. I think we had a spring give up on us but we’re going to work hard on it this week and see if we can’t get us a win next week.”
Clements will compete in Saturday night’s Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour 125-lap Late Model Stock Car feature event against the region’s best Late Model competition.
On the fifth anniversary of his win in the inaugural late model race at Carteret County Speedway, Clay Jones returned to victory lane – this time driving a Super Truck and handing Jody Measamer his first loss at the track.
“We’ve got a lot of history at this place, even before it was ever paved,” Jones said. “Back when it was a go-kart track, we used to come down and support him then. It’s an honor to come down here and run this stuff. These guys at Measamer-Usry Motorsports put a heck of a truck together and I can’t thank them enough. It’s been pretty special down here and to get a win in another class is pretty special too.”
Jones’ victory in the Super Truck feature was the third different division he has won in at the track. Measamer finished second and Jacob Lewis finished third.
Gary Ledbetter Jr. outlasted Chris Smith and Tyler Smith to win in Street Stocks. In Mini-Stocks, A.J. Sanders held off son Stephen for the victory in a wild feature race. Caleb Braswell, with a last turn move, picked up his second consecutive Jr. Mini Cup win on the eve of his 12th birthday, while Morgan Odum held off younger sister Carmen in the Mini Cup feature just days after her 16th birthday. Tyler Foster won in Bombers and finished second to Sean Wales in Champ Karts.
Other winners include Jonny Szeuczuk (Charger), Steve Sullivan (U-CAR), and Brenton Irving (Legends). The Legends race is under review.