Following Corey Heim’s upset victory in Race 1 of the Twin 75s on Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, the top-eight finishers were inverted to spice up the competition.
In the end, it didn’t change the results as Heim went back-to-back, winning both ends of his first night in a Late Model Stock against a field that also contained four-time NASCAR national champion Philip Morris and defending track champion Peyton Sellers.
It’s easily one of the most impressive debuts in recent memory.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Heim said. “I never would’ve came here with the expectation that I would win, racing against the [Philip and Peyton,] some of the best in the business.”
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The invert between the races placed Austin Thaxton on the pole, just one week after his own first victory of the season. Sellers elected to start from the rear for the second race in a row in the efforts to maximize passing points for the track and national standings.
Mike Jones took the lead on the initial start, but the caution came out on lap 2 when Phillip Morris spun out in Turn 2. Morris changed a flat tire and continued on.
Thaxton took the lead back on the restart, and Tyler Hughes went around both Thaxton and Jones on the outside to grab the top spot. The caution flew again on lap seven when Mike Looney spun from the third position.
Thomas Scott restarted on the inside of Hughes on the restart and got into the No. 11 in Turn 3, spinning Hughes in front of the entire field. Hughes kept it off the wall, and all the other drivers managed to slow down and miss the wreck. Scott was sent to the back for bringing out the caution, giving the lead back to Thaxton.
Heim took the lead from Thaxton on Turn 3 after the restart, and Ryan Repko followed him by. Heim and Repko made contact and it peeled the right front fender away from Heim’s car, but it didn’t slow the car down. Heim quickly pulled away from Repko and the rest of the field.
Thaxton sunk like a rock outside of the top five within five laps of the restart.
The story of the 2018 South Boston season has been Morris versus Sellers, and by lap 15, the pair had already driven through the field up to the top five. The pair stalled out at Bruce Anderson, who defended third place for over 40 laps.
Morris and Seller finally got around Anderson on lap 65, but the top two were long gone.
“It wasn’t a real good night for us overall,” Sellers said. “We wanted to come back up in that second race and give them a run for their money, but a little contact there and just didn’t have enough tires.”
Heim won again, sweeping both ends of a doubleheader.
Repko finished runner up again, while Morris, Sellers and Anderson rounded out the top-5.
In a season where Morris and Sellers have been trading the points lead all season, Sellers was the big winner, extending his 13-point lead. There are three more races across two dates remaining on the schedule.
“Still three races to go, and I’m not counting anything yet,” Sellers said. “At the end of the day, we had a good night tonight, and we have to capitalize when he has a bad night. For him to come down here and not win either race, that’s a bad night for Phillip Morris.”
The results can be found below.
- Corey Heim
- Ryan Repko
- Phillip Morris
- Peyton Sellers
- Bruce Anderson
- Mike Looney
- Austin Thaxton
- Sam Mayer
- Thomas Scott
- Tyler Hughes
- Camden Gullie
- Mike Jones
- Eric Winslow
- Danny Willis Jr
- Dusty Ellington
- Charles Barnes
- Raymond Pittman III
- Quincy Adkins
- Nathan Crews
- Bruce Mayo
- Colin Garrett
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