Story by: Chris Romano/Contributor to RACE22.com

South Boston, VA(July 27, 2010) -- Lee Pulliam and Justin Johnson split the Twin 75-lap Late Model Features Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, overcoming some stiff competition and blistering weather.

The one hundred degree heat resulted in qualifying being cancelled due to a seam in the lower groove in turn one breaking up. Track officials gamely tried to patch the cracking pavement but elected to run the first race of the evening, a Pure Stock feature, with the lower groove marked off with traffic cones.

The cones were removed for the first Late Model feature, which lined up according to driver points. That put Johnson on the pole which was good enough for him to take the early lead. Stacy Puryear and Lee Pulliam were hounding him early, and Puryear eventually took the top spot. The yellow flew early when Deac McCaskill was punted and Michael Hardin also received damage in the exchange while both were in the top ten, and that set the stage for Puryear to take the lead. A long green run followed with Johnson eventually dropping to third. Shortly after the halfway point Pulliam took the lead from Puryear, and that was the way they finished, with McCaskill coming back for fourth and perennial South Boston favorite Philip Morris in fifth.

Johnson was on the pole again for race number two, but it was Puryear who pulled out the lead for the first five laps. Johnson got around Puryear on lap six, while Pulliam and McCaskill battled for third.

On lap eight McCaskill got into Pulliam in turn one sending the night's first feature winner into the wall. Pulliam was not happy with the move and expressed that sentiment to McCaskill as the field came around under yellow.

Johnson lead easily at the restart and the race stayed green for the next sixty laps with Johnson putting a straightaway between him and everyone else. Puryear and McCaskill settled into the next two spots, with Morris and Leigh Caruthers rounding out the top five. Caruthers got around Morris on lap forty-seven for the only pass among the top five until six laps to go.

And then the bologna burgers hit the fan. McCaskill had been trying to get by Puryear all race and it finally came to tears on lap sixty-nine when the pass went wrong in turn two, sending both around. That moved Leigh Caruthers and Morris into the second and third spot. The green lasted for one lap on the restart when Julia Landauer pounded the inside frontstretch wall.

With two laps to go Morris tried for the second spot, Caruthers was having none of it and hit Morris on the way by and then the turn two wall. This moved David Latour and Michael Hardin into the second and third spots and that's the way the race finally finished. Eddie Johnson was fourth followed by Bruce Anderson who nipped Peyton Sellars for fifth.

The Limited Late Models ran twin fifth lap features with Justin Snow winning both features and unofficially taking the point lead from Tommy Peregoy, who crashed in the first feature with Danny Willis. Peregoy was furious but rejoined the slim field to finish fifth. He returned to the second feature without much of the car's front bodywork, led early by virtue of the feature starting by points and finished sixth out of the ten car field.
 
Race #1
1 - Lee Pulliam #3
2 - Stacy Puryear #17
3 - Justin Johnson #44
4 - Deac McCaskill #08
5 - Peyton Sellers #83
6 - David Latour #89
7 - Philip Morris #26
8 - Leigh Caruthers #11
9 - Eddie Johnson #57
10 - Michael Hardin #77
11 - Ronald Hill #74
12 - Jeb Burton #27
13 - Natalie Sather #94
14 - Julia Landauer #70
15 - Bugs Hairfiled #04
16 - Sam Hunt #20
17 - Bruce Anderson #90
18 - Lawrence Boan #50
19 - Brad Cox #06
20 - Doug Godsey #05
21 - Richard Storm #07
 
Race #2
1 - Justin Johnson #44
2 - David Latour #89
3 - Michael Hardin #77
4 - Eddie Johnson #57
5 - Bruce Anderson #90
6 - Peyton Sellers #83
7 - Deac McCaskill #08
8 - Stacy Puryear #17
9 - Philip Morris #26
10 - Ronald Hill #74
11 - Natalie Sather #94
12 - Jeb Burton #27
13 - Sam Hunt #20
14 - Leigh Caruthers #11
15 - Julia Landauer #70
16 - Richard Storm #07
17 - Bugs Hairfiled #04
18 - Lee Pulliam #2
19 - Doug Godsey #05