Story & Photos by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com

South Boston, VA(March 16, 2010) -- South Boston Speedway opened its doors for the first time in 2010 on Saturday and although rain would ultimately lead to an early finish in the day's scheduled racing, those that came out were treated to some exciting racing.

The day started out with qualifying where Justin Snow would claim the first Limited Late Model pole of the season with a lap time of 15.849 edging out Tommy Peregory's time of 15.973. In Late Model Stock qualifying, Ronald Hill won the pole when he posted a time of 15.629 to edge out 2009 Langley Speedway champion CE Falk who posted a 15.675.
 

Snow would take great advantage of his first place starting position as he would lead flag to flag pretty much untouched. The same could not be said for the battle from second to sixth as Peregory, Danny Willis, Jr., Jeb Burton, Brian Pembleton and Taylor Doggett were locked in a dog fight for each position.

Doggett would fall out of the race on lap 25 as something would cause his right rear tire to part company with the car rim and all sending Doggett spinning into the outside wall and the tire bouncing down pit road before colliding with the No. 57 of Eddie Johnson.

The second half of the race would go caution free however not without plenty of contact between cars. The one primarily receiving the contact was Tommy Peregory as he would receive bumps and get passed by Willis, Burton and Pembleton. Snow cruised on to the win while Willis, Burton, Pembleton and Peregory would complete the top five.

The Late Model Stocks took to the track in what they thought at the time was their first of two 75 lap races being led to the green by Ronald Hill and CE Falk. Hill would lead lap one but his tenure up front was short lived as Falk would take the lead off turn 2 of the second lap.

The first caution would fly on lap 23 as the 85 of Bobby Griffin went for a spin right in front of the leaders off turn 2. Four laps later the caution would reappear as Jerame Donley would go for a spin off turn 2 and made it obvious under caution that he thought Doug Godsey was responsible for his spin.

At this point the race had been relatively calm with the race only being slowed by two single car spins until pole winner Hill went for a spin off turn 2 and received a hard hit from Leigh Caruthers on the backstretch followed by contact between David Latour and Josh Oakley sending Oakley rear end first into the barrels at the end of pit road. During this third caution some dark clouds began to roll into the area.

Back under green defending NASCAR national champ Philip Morris was hounding the rear bumper of leader Falk. The front two cars stayed nose to tail until Justin Johnson added himself to the mix and then he began to use his front bumper to open a hole underneath Morris. Johnson would make the pass for second on lap 52 sticking Morris to the high side.

Now in second Johnson turned his sights on Falk for the lead and began to make heavy challenges each of which were getting fought off by Falk. Johnson would get inside of Falk on lap 58 when the caution would appear for Jerame Donley spinning in turn 4 placing Falk back in the lead. The field would go back green for about half a lap when the caution would appear for the fifth time when Rodney Cook went for a spin in the middle of turns 1 and 2.

The field went back green with 17 laps to go but each driver knew it was only a matter of time before the rain came. The top two remained the same as Falk and Johnson were locked in an intense dog fight for the lead then on lap 62 contact from Johnson would send Falk up the track and Johnson would beat Falk to the line to complete lap 63 quickly followed by a caution flag for the rain that had been falling for about 5 laps.

Officials then deemed that there would be no upcoming opportunity to complete the scheduled distance and called the race official naming Justin Johnson the winner. CE Falk, Philip Morris, Nick Smith and Dustin Storm completed the top five. The second twin 75 lapper that was scheduled was also cancelled.

Limited Late Model Results

1. #7 Justin Snow
2. #23 Danny Willis Jr.
3. #27 Jeb Burton
4. #00 Brian Pembleton
5. #2 Tommy Peregory
6. #89 Jonathan Bailey
7. #39 Mike Jones
8. #83 Matt Bowling
9. #5 Darryl Carver
10. #45 Timothy Watkins -1 lap
11. #9 Matt Daley -2 laps
12. #24 Taylor Doggett -25 laps
13. #21 Joey Throckmorton -49 laps
14. #12 Austin Thaxton -49 laps

Late Model Stock Results
1. #44 Justin Johnson
2. #40 CE Falk
3. #26 Philip Morris
4. #88 Nick Smith
5. #16 Dustin Storm
6. #27 Tommy Lemons Jr.
7. #08 Deac McCaskill
8. #57 Eddie Johnson
9. #89 David Latour
10. #8 Josh Oakley
11. #5 Brandon Dean
12. #03 Kenny Forbes
13. #94 Natalie Sather
14. #14 Rodney Cook
15. #05 Doug Godsey
16. #4 Jerame Donley
17. #07 Richard Storm
18. #3 Lee Pulliam -1 lap
19. #85 Bobby Griffin -1 lap
20. #6 Dean Shiflett -3 laps
21. #77 Michael Hardin -9 laps
22. #17 Stacy Puryear -26 laps
23. #74 Ronald Hill -34 laps
24. #11 Leigh Caruthers -34 laps
25. #51 Cory Donley -51 laps
26. #41 Wes Falk -59 laps