The Sportsman Street Stock Series rolled into South Boston for night #2 of SoBo Week, as the series took on the short 4/10 of a mile track for 75 laps. And what it race it turned out to be. All 23 drivers that started the race were battling door-to-door and side-by-side all race long and the drivers weren’t afraid to use their bumper and doors to bounce off each other while battling for positions throughout the race.
Justin Brooks picked up his 3rd straight pole in the series and quickly jumped into the lead on the initial green flag. Kevin Berg and Brian Tedeschi settled in behind Brooks while JayJay Day, Ryan Lutz, Dale Owen and Matt Rolfe all followed behind them. The field would settle in nicely to start off a long green flag run to begin the race, as Brooks was catching lapped traffic just 10 laps into the race, and by lap 15 he was in heavy lapped traffic as 8 cars were all battling for position directly in front of him. Brooks starting picking off cars while it took Tedeschi and Berg a few more laps to get there and they would have to be patient as cars were side-by-side in front of them. But they would slowly start picking off cars as well, with every lapped car giving each other room while letting the leaders navigate through.
The first caution of the night came out on lap 21 as two lapped cars got together, which bunched the field back up. Another quick yellow would set the field up for a lap 34 restart. Brooks would jump out ahead but Berg wouldn’t give it up too easy as he would battle back on the inside as Brooks slid up the track, and Berg would lead lap 35. The two of them would touch as well as Tedeschi who was in 3rd, which moved Brooks back a couple of spots while Tedeschi was able to get under Berg to lead lap 36 as the two would slam doors battling for the lead. Brooks would battle back on the outside though as he would be able to get by Day for the 3rd spot as they too would touch doors as they battled hard for the spot.
As the field got to the halfway point in the race, the action was kicked up a notch as there were side-by-side battles for multiple positions. Berg battled into the inside of Tedeschi for the lead, but Tedeschi would hang tough on the outside holding onto the spot. A little further back in 7th, Kyle Wood was making a run on Rolfe for the spot, and the two drivers would run door-to-door for 10 laps before Rolfe was able to hold him off for the spot. On lap 48, Berg once again tried his hand as he drove under Tedeschi for the lead, with Brooks lurking right behind them in 3rd. As they came around on lap 50, the two leaders would touch, which got both of them loose and as they tried to regain control of their cars, Brooks was powering by on the high side, three wide to take over the lead on lap 51.
As Brooks led the field, Berg was finally able to get by Tedeschi for the 2nd spot, while behind them Owen had worked into the 5th spot after battling with Day for a number of laps, behind Lutz in 4th. A restart on lap 59 would see Brooks get the jump but Berg would battle back on the outside. The two drivers would touch but once again Berg powered to the outside and was able to make the move back into the lead. But Brooks would get into the back of him a couple of times and as Berg slid up, Brooks looked to take the spot right back but the caution would come out again, giving Berg the lead back.
On the lap 68 restart, Brooks would try his hand at powering by on the outside, and drove around Berg to take the lead, but Berg would give Brooks the bumper right back. Brooks would slide up the track and Berg would take over the top spot as Brooks got loose. As he looked to recover, Brooks would go into the next corner trying to hold onto the 3rd spot, but contact between him and Day would send Brooks around and would end his chance for the win as he would ultimately end up on his roof. Tedeschi would also get involved but was allowed to keep his 5th place spot.
This would set up a 1 lap shootout, and Berg would lead them to the green, but Lutz who had moved up into 2nd would battle back on the outside. The two would go into turn 3 and Lutz would pinch berg down on the bottom and two would make contact. Berg got loose and Lutz slid up the track, and as they came out of turn four, they would touch once again as Owen was making a hard charge at them in 3rd.
But as the came to the line, Berg was able to hold them off, taking home his first career SARA victory in one of the leagues most exciting races. Lutz was able to just beat out Owen by .027 seconds for the 2nd spot. Tedeschi would hang onto 4th on the last restart, while Rolfe was able to move up into 5th at the end. With Rolfe’s 5th place finish, and Brooks ending up finishing in 9th, Rolfe’s points lead extends to 40 points with just two races remaining in the season.
- Kevin Berg
- Ryan Lutz
- Dale Owen
- Brian Tedeschi
- Matt Rolfe
- Brandon Wilkinson
- JayJay Day
- Stan Bragg
- Justin Brooks
- Mike Whited
- Huston Hamer
- Scott Dunlap
- Ken Belanger
- Kyle Wood
- Todd Sipe
- Adam Jordan
- Joesph Yakes
- Matthew Eddy
- Andrew Leigh
- Todd Collins
- TJ Graves
- Ronald Kirk
- Matt Mitchell
Next week the series visits IRP (ORP, Lucas Oil, whatever…) for the first time as the season enters the final two weeks of the season.
For full results and standings, click HERE.