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SOUTH BOSTON, VA – Twin races at South Boston Speedway had very different results for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship leader Matt Bowling.

Bowling scored the victory in dominant fashion in the first race in the Late Model Stock Car doubleheader.  In the second race, Bowling was the highest profile victim of a crash on the opening lap.  The victory, however, was enough to keep a smile on the points leader’s face.

“That was a good win,” Bowling said.  “We need that one bad.  We had a full car count win.  That’s a good way to bounce back after the other week.  That will help us out in the nation.  We needed that one bad so we’ll see what it looks like on Tuesday.”

The victory was redemption of sorts for Bowling after being spun out while leading in the South Boston 200 just two weeks ago.  Bowling felt he would have won the race if not for the contact from Bobby McCarty that sent him around – setting in place the series of events that allowed Lee Pulliam to score his sixth straight South Boston 200 win.

“We had a really good car that night,” Bowling stated.  “We were definitely in line to win it.  That’s part of it.  You’ve got to take the good with the bad though.”

The second race was “the bad” for Bowling.  After the top six cars were inverted, Bowling started the race in sixth, on the outside line.  Brandon Pierce, who started on the outside of the front row, had transmission problems and couldn’t get going on the start, triggering a wreck that claimed Bowling and several other cars.

“Second race was definitely bad.  Guy on the outside missed a gear or had a transmission problem.  I’m not sure what happened.  It was a bad deal.  Unfortunate deal.  I couldn’t do anything different.  Couldn’t miss it.”

Bowling rebounded to finish the second race in the sixth spot.

The wreck that claimed Bowling was the second straight South Boston race where a dominant car was taken out of the race after an invert.

“I don’t know why they invert them,” Bowling remarked.  “I think it’s good to some extent, maybe the top three or four.  When you get out of the top five, there’s no need for it.  We’d have far better racing, I promise you, if they leave it alone or only invert the top three.  It would be better racing if we didn’t have to worry about stuff like that happening.

“I think, where you earn your position the first race, you should start close to it.  Maybe they’ll change their position someday.”

The victory in the first race should allow Bowling to add to his points lead, despite the sixth place result in the second race.

Results (Race #1)

  1. Matt Bowling
  2. Austin Thaxton
  3. Bobby McCarty
  4. Peyton Sellers
  5. Brandon Pierce
  6. Danny Willis, Jr.
  7. Mark Wertz
  8. Justin Carroll
  9. Alex Brock
  10. Stuart Crews
  11. Raymond Pittman
  12. Jason Barnes
  13. Maddy Ryan Mulligan
  14. Eric Winslow
  15. Nathan Crews
  16. Jason Pittman
  17. Jimmy Rice
  18. Josh Oakley

Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.

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