BRASELTON - Regarded as one of the nation's premier short track drivers, a Lanier National Speedway capacity crowd watched as Wayne Willard of Dacula started on the pole for the Budweiser Pro Late Model 100 Saturday night. That was bad news for the rest of the field.
Willard raced Pepsi Fast Qualifier Stacy Long (a fan rolled a two for him during the inversion process) door-to-door during the first lap before clearing Long's No. 00 Chevrolet on lap two to take the outright lead. It turned out to be Willard's only serious challenge for the balance of the evening.
Eight caution flags kept the field tightly bunched. But, on each restart Willard quickly pulled away in his No. 01 Chevrolet.
Long ran second until his car slowed on lap 26 with overheating problems. He would eventually finish 22nd and see his late model point lead evaporate on double-points night.
Veteran Jimmy Garmon moved into the runner-up slot, but his "blue oval" Ford proved no match for Willard's "bowtie" Chevy. Garmon's No. 97 suffered mechanical failure on lap 89 allowing Willard's temmate, Jeremy Rice, to slide into second.
Like his predecessors who had occupied second, Rice could only watch Willard sail away in the closing laps.
For Willard, he knew starting - and staying - up front was critical to winning a coveted 100-lap event at Lanier National Speedway.
"My car always works real good up front since I'm able to set my own pace. (Jimmy) Garmon was real good on short runs tonight and I think I was a little bit better on long runsm'" Willard said. "But, my car stayed real consistent all night long. It tightened up some around lap 70, but it was real good all night long."
Rice held on for second while Clay Dale, Shane Chastain, and Doug Cantrell rounded out the top five.
While Willard was untouchable in the late model event, the exact opposite occurred in the Team Ford of Marietta Truck division. Trent Townley of Dahlonega started on the pole, led early, but spun on lap seven. He would eventually finish 22nd.
Veteran Mike Davidson of Lula took over the point in his No. 27 Chevrolet and led a five-truck formation over the closing laps. Second place driver Ricky Bennett dropped to the inside of Davidson's truck entering turn three on the white flag lap. With the field bearing down on them, the two drivers got together and spun coming off turn four. Mark Caudell, who entered the last lap running third, slipped through the wreckage and narrowly beat Rodney Benefield back to the checkered flag.
"Well, it took a spin for us to win the race. But, I didn't have a part in it, so that was good," noted Caudell.
On his early race battle with Joey Love, which put him in position to capitalize on the last lap misfortune of Davidson and Bennett, Caudell said "I got into him (Love) a little bit over there, but he calls it racing so I will too."
Love wound up third and Butch Garrett was fourth as Jimmy Motes finished fifth. Davidson and Bennett finished 16th and 17th respectively despite spinning less than 30 yards from the start-finish line while battling for the lead on the final lap.
Three hotshoes in the Simpson's Trucking and Grading Sportsman division tried to run three-wide rolling into turn one during the opening lap of the 25-lap sportsman event. The end result was only one driver making it to turn two.
Mike Bruce and Terry Crump's attempt to take the lead left them with wrinkled race cars after the three-wide try. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and each driver was able to continue.
With his chief competition sent to the rear of the field, Daniel, of Cumming, cruised to victory over Norm Layton, Brian Pruett, Bruce, and J.L. Tullis.
Thomas Ross of Dahlonega held off Mickey Thomas to earn the right to go to victory lane as winner of the Longhorn Steakhouse Modified Ministock feature.
Marty Roberts was impressive as he outran the field in the Garrison Racing Pure Ministock division.
Brian Sosebee, son of former racing great Gober Sosebee, collected the trophy in the X-Karz division.
SATURDAY NIGHT'S RESULTS:
Budweiser Pro Late Model Race - 100 Laps
1. No. 01 Wayne Willard
2. No. 23 Jeremy Rice
3. No. 1 Clay Dale
4. No. 3 Shane Chastain
5. No. 98 Doug Cantrell
6. No. 49 Debbie Lunsford-Love
7. No. 10 Greg Simpson
8. No. 42 Tony Bennett
9. No. 11 Steve Rowe
10. No. 73 Korey Ruble
Pepsi Fast Qualifier Stacy Long (14.063 sec)
Team Ford of Marietta Trucks - 30 Laps
1. No. 17 Mark Caudell
2. No. 36 Rodney Benefield
3. No. 25 Joey Love
4. No. 55 Butch Garrett
5. No. 01 Jimmy Motes
6. No. 15 Rob Young
7. No. 56 George Williams, Jr
8. No. 22 Clifton Daniel
9. No. 20 Eric Wallace
10. No. 2 Clay Smith
Simpson's Trucking & Grading Sportsman - 25 Laps
1. No. 07 Jackie Daniel
2. No. 99 Norm Layton
3. No. 11 Brian Pruett
4. No. 47 Mike Bruce
5. No. 73 J.L. Tullis
6. No. 12 Kevin Little
7. No. 64 Randy Stoudemire
8. No. 24 Terry Crump
9. No. 85 Terry Dearing
10. No. 88 Stephen McGinty
Longhorn Steakhouse Modified Ministock - 20 Laps
1. No. 83 Thomas Ross
2. No. 11 Mickey Thomas
3. No. 16 Donny Duncan
4. No. 12 Steve Hill
5. No. 35 David Murphy
6. No. 45 Bill Hockman
7. No. 99 Brian Huff
8. No. 36 Brad Adams
9. No. 34 Gene Huff
10. No. 25 Scotty Beck
11. No. 22 Jason Bates
Garrison Racing Equipment Pure Ministock - 20 Laps
1. No. 3 Marty Roberts
2. No. 46 Greg Swink
3. No. 01 Marc Gallichotte
4. No. 45 Chad Hoopaugh
5. No. 37 Chuck Cooper
6. No. 44 James Gaines
7. No. 2 David Willoughby
8. No. 7 Bryan Jones
9. No. 50 Gary Jenkins
10. No. 06 Chuck Waldrop
Monday
January 6th, 2025
2:27AM
