Photo by Kevin Freer Photography
Written by Cody Sealey
Dominion Raceway’s racing heroes assembled on track Saturday evening, August 12, for Late Models, Ucars, Dominion Stocks, Mini Cups, and Mini Stocks action on Dollar Hot Dog & Superhero Night at the Races.
The first battle of the night was the first of two 50-lap McCreary Racing Tires Late Model races. Current track championship points leader, Peyton Sellers, started fourth, and with a good start, he ascended to the lead six laps in.
Dustin Storm and Justin Martz started on the front row, and battled near the front for most of the race, while Michael Hardin scrapped with the #31 of Andrew Patterson.
Sellers would not look back, as the race stayed green to the checkers. While Sellers tried to be conservative in preparation for the second race, he was able to achieve victory nonetheless.
“Man this car is really good,” said Sellers from Alcova Mortgage Victory Lane. “I wanted to take care of it for the second race, but I had a lot of fun.”
The top-5 for race one included:
1.) #26 Peyton Sellers
2.) #22 Justin Martz
3.) #28 Dustin Storm
4.) #77 Michael Hardin
5.) #31 Andrew Patterson
Afterwards, the Dominion Stocks had their first of twin 35-lap dogfights. A lap into the race, cars were three-wide on the front stretch, but amidst the chaos, Cam Hensley got in the back of Dan Rogers and brought out the caution.
The yellow flag would fly again three laps into the restart when the #44 of Jacob Wood would get inside of the #57 of Richard Powers, who spun out in turn-4. The accident was made worse, when the #01 of Caleb Shiflett nailed the spinning Powers.
A few more spins happened in the race including those of Tommy Smith, and Wood. Throughout all the turmoil, the #07 of Todd Ruggles was able to stay out front despite some consistent pressure from Mike Lowe.
During his victory lane interview, he leaned into a villian role, and challenged his competitors to come back for race two.
“This has been an up-and-down year for us in this car: we started in January and missed the first three races this season, but here we are now,” said Ruggles. “I hope all you competitors can get your car fixed, so I can stomp your ass again.”
Next up, the M&N Upholstery Mini Stocks put the “super” in Super Clash! The 40-lap contest was also a battle of attrition, as multiple cars exited with mechanical issues. The #59 of KrisKurtz and #59 of Keith Riley were among the few who could endure.
Kurtz paced the field for the first half of the race, but he got loose in turn 1 which created an opening for Riley, who seized the lead. At one point, Riley had a three second lead over Kurtz, but in the closing stages, Kurtz got the lead back down to within a half second.
Unfortunately for Kurtz, he was unable to reel in Riley before the checkered flag, as the
Lightning McQueen branded car took home the P1 trophy.
“Considering I couldn’t be here for the last race due to recovering from a double hernia, this is sweet,” said Riley.
The Eagle Towing and Recovery Ucars were next up on the High-Banked Ring of Fire for back-to-back 20-lap battles.
An early crash took out the #51 of Josh Thomas and #31 of John Cosby, but the restart saw the red #09 of Ryan Pritt take the lead with James Garrett moving up to second.
Those two cars were cruising when calamity struck in the field. A multi-car accident featuring Tanner Griffith, Kason Howe, Stuart Walsh, Junior Cardwell brought out the yellow in turn-4 with three laps remaining.
After an extensive clean-up, Pritt and Garrett would survive the restart to finish 1-2. It was the first Ucar victory of the season for Pritt, in what has been a division with multiple winners. After a five-minute break, David Rhoades would take the green flag for the Ucars in race two. A lap into the contest “Flash” Michael Frayser would take the lead after starting third. Frayser assumed the lead through multiple single car cautions, but his lead was in jeopardy when with two laps remaining, he got loose and his car darted up a groove. Having to get off of the gas, this created an opening for the second place runner of Garrett. The #97 machine would capitalize on the opportunity, as he took the white flag with the lead before seeing his third checkered flag of the season.
“This was a great race of going from the back to the front,” said Garrett. “I’m glad I could race clean and he [Frayser] raced me clean,” said Garrett.
The Jabs Construction Mini Cups saw another dominant performance from “the Rocket Man” as Tyler Warriner led every lap to claim a victory.
In race two for the Late Models, GR Waldrop started the race in first ahead of Hardin. It did not take long for the #26 to clear Hardin and by lap eight, the Danville Toyota machine was passing for the lead. Martz was back-and-forth with Hardin for third, while Dustin Storm passed Patterson for fifth. Sellers checked out in a race that also stayed green to the finish. The checkered flag waved for Sellers, as “Mr. Big Time” ascended for his sixth and seventh wins of the season at Dominion Raceway.
“Tonight it was drive off; we were good getting in, and decent through the center, but drive off was just phenomenal,” said Sellers about his car's most heroic quality. “Even in the first race, we never lost drive all night, which made the motor look good.”
In the nights final act, Tommy Smith was starting race two for the Dominion Stocks without a front nose on his #69 “Batmobile.” Smith would lead a solid amount of the race, but Lowe’s #88 would apply pressure to the leader; some late breaking from Smith took the car a little too hard in turn 1 which saw Lowe hug the inside line to the lead.
Ruggles would claim second on the opportunity, but would pass for the lead with 12 to-go. A caution would come out for the #55, but Ruggles would lead the restart to the end of the race to sweep the night.
Heroes from the VA Racer Late Models, Modifieds, Legends, Bandos, and Ucars’ multiverses, return to DR on August 19th for “Back to School Night.”
