Chris Fleming and Lee Jeffreys split a pair of 25 lap features on Saturday night in week two of the Bowman Gray Tour Type Modified season.
TWIN 25 NO. 1
Turning 60 years old in July, Chris Fleming is out to prove this isn’t quite the end of the road for his Tour Type Modified career at Bowman Gray Stadium.
‘The Show Stopper’ led all 25 laps of the first twin feature from the pole while also making a statement about what he still might be capable of during the 2023 season. It was the 15th time Fleming has won a Madhouse Modified feature.
“I don’t take the wins for granted,” Fleming said in Victory Lane. “I’m just so fortunate to be doing this and be out here racing at Bowman Gray Stadium. These drivers are the best on the country, and they were all chasing me tonight.”
Fleming enjoyed a comfortable enough lead, as much as you can at the Stadium, because he had Tim Brown and Burt Myers battling for second behind him.
“You know, they’re all special,” Fleming said. “So, just glad. You know, we’ve worked really hard. (We) finished fourth last week. … We went home, I got up at dark every morning, and I got home at 8:45 or 9 o’clock every night. So, I went home, I went to work, and worked on getting my car better so we could win.”
At this stage of his career, Fleming isn’t points racing so his season is a success and can only be more successful with more checkered flags.
“I’m not racing for points, I’m racing to win,” Fleming said. “Points don’t mean anything to me. If they come to me, they come to me. I’m not here to race for points. I’m here to win races.
“You know, if I go trying to be conservative, I’m not doing right with my guys in the shop, you know, they come to win. They want to win. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Fleming would draw an invert of eight, which leads us to …
TWIN 25 NO. 2
The invert would allow Lee Jeffreys to start the second race from third on the inside, fifth overall, and to the win but only with a little help from New Day Motorsports.
The decisive moment of the race came on Lap 9 when Daniel Beeson got spun due to contact from the inside from teammate Brandon Ward. Just like last week, the third-place driver capitalized by driving under both, and this week that was Jeffreys.
https://twitter.com/FloRacing/status/1652483120694738946
“In the second race, I set there and watched those boys race together,” Jeffreys said. “And I saw that, it looked like Daniel was having a little trouble around the corner, and Brandon was able to get under him a time or two.
“Once I saw them make contact a couple times, I thought I better back off a little bit and give them a little bit of room. Then, when they got together down there, I was able to shoot under them.”
Ward had been pressing the issue since the start of the race having lined up 1-2 from the inside row. Beeson lost control as they came together once Ward got to his door.
Having finished third in the first feature, Ward was content to finish second beyond giving Jeffreys some obligatory shots to let him know he was there. But it was nothing too gratuitous by Stadium standards.
“There were about 11 laps to go, and the 1 car (Myers) was behind you,” Jeffreys said. “So, you know you’ve got a hard 10 laps ahead of you. So, Burt, he gave me a couple shots. But he probably had a better car than us. But, hey, he was trying to maintain. He knew he was going to have a good points night, and it was good to finish it off like that.”
Jeffreys, through three races this season, has finished 12th, fourth, and first.
“Not a bad night at all,” Jeffreys said. “Any time you can come out over here and roll it on the truck and get two top 5s you’ve had a pretty good night.”
TWIN 25 NO. 1
- Chris Fleming
- Tim Brown
- Burt Myers
- Lee Jeffreys
- Jason Myers
- Brandon Ward
- Randy Butner
- Daniel Beeson
- Jordan Fleming
- John Holleman IV
- Dan Speeney
- Danny Probst
- Dylan Ward
- Junior Snow
- Gerald Robinson
- William Smith
- Lee Stimpson
- Greg Butcher
- Cory Lovette
- Eddie Collins
- Drew Moffitt
TWIN 25 NO. 2
- Lee Jeffreys
- Burt Myers
- Randy Butner
- Brandon Ward
- Tim Brown
- Chris Fleming
- Jordan Fleming
- Drew Moffitt
- Danny Probst
- Daniel Beeson
- Dan Speeney
- John Holleman
- Jason Myers
- Gerald Robinson
- William Smith
- Dylan Ward
- Junior Snow
- Lee Stimpson
- Eddie Collins
- Cory Lovette
- Greg Butcher
OTHER DIVISIONS, PRESS RELEASE REPORT
In the first 20-lap McDowell Heating & Air Sportsman Division race, Nate Gregg was initially awarded the win, but he failed a post-race inspection, meaning he was disqualified.
Therefore, Gregg, who was just in his second Sportsman race after winning five races in the Law Offices of John Barrow Street Series last year, was stripped of the win. The victory was credited to Chase Robertson. Robertson, who won the 40-lap Sportsman race in the season opener last week, won Saturday, followed by Riley Neal, Zack Ore, Amber Lynn, and Michael Adams.
In the second 20-lap Sportsman Series race, Michael Adams took the lead from Sterling Plemmons on lap 5, and won Saturday’s race.
Adams finished ahead of Justin Taylor, Ore, and Robertson. Adams was cruising, but there was a caution on lap 18 and Wesley Thompson’s car was towed off the track. Adams took the green-white checkered flag and continued to the win.
“I knew all the guys here. I had the car on-point,” Adams said. “I knew with Justin behind me he’d run me clean.”
In winning Saturday’s race, Adams has surpassed the win total of his father, David Adams.
“This is for my dad,” Michael Adams said. “I wanted to say this last time, I tied Dad’s win record in the Sportsman in the last race. This one right here puts me ahead of him. I never thought I’d be here. If it weren’t for him and my mom I wouldn’t be here.”
In the 20-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Street Stock Series, Bryan Sykes Jr. won, defeating Billy Gregg.
Christian Joyce was third, Austin Jones was fourth, and Zack Staley was fifth.
In the first 15-lap race in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series race, Brandon Brendle turned around his fortunes from being in last place last week in the season opener to winning Saturday night in dominating fashion.
Justin Owens sat on the pole, but Brendle went from third to first around turns 3 and 4 on the first lap. After that, he cruised to the win, defeating runner-up A.J. Sanders, Blaine Curry, and Isaac Harris.
“We had the first-race blues or something,” Brendle said. “We’ve had DNFs on the first race, but we tend to pick it from there.”
Chuck Wall was the beneficiary of some inexperience by Brandon Clements on the final lap as Wall took the win.
Wall was just behind Clements, who was racing in his debut appearance at Bowman Gray. However, Clements went high around turn 4 of the final lap, and Wall slipped underneath and rolled to the finish line.
Clements was second, Stephen Sanders was third, and Brandon Crotts was fourth.
“We weren’t any better than Brandon,” Wall said. “Hats off to him, to come down here the first time on the track, take off like that. I saw the oil come out of (turn) 2, and I said, ‘He better back it down into 3,’ And he ran right into it.”
Next week’s racing is highlighted by the Kevin Powell Motorsports 100, which is the first 100-lap Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series race of the season. Like all 100-lap Modified races this season, there will be a a full-field draw for position and a double-file restart with the cone. In addition, all 100-lap Modified races this season will incorporate the Fans’ Challenge, where the fastest four qualifiers will have the option of either drawing with the rest of the field or opting to go to the back of the field. If the drivers accept the Challenge and then finish in the top four, they will win all or parts of $3,000. If nobody wins the money, it will roll over into a pool for the next 100-lap Modified race, scheduled for June 3, where it will double to $6,000.
In addition to next week’s Kevin Powell Motorsports 100, there will be a “Madhouse Scramble” double feature in the McDowell Heating & Air Sportsman Series, a 20-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Street Stock Series, and either one or two 15-lap races in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series.
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