Last night the Sportsman Street Stock Series made the trip to South Boston, VA for their 75 lap in the small bullring. The race was #11 in the 12 week schedule, which means drop weeks would go into effect after the conclusion of the race, which will be sure to shake things up in the standings.
Matt Rolfe kicked things off by picking up the pole, his 4th of the season. He would jump into the lead off the green flag, while Ronald Williams quickly moved into the second spot from his third starting position. Williams would close to the back bumper of Rolfe and keep pressure on him in the early laps.
The first of 4 cautions would come out on lap 18, saving anyone in the back of the field from going a lap down. After the restart, Rolfe would jump back out in front, while Williams stayed in hot pursuit.
This time as the leaders caught the back of the field, Rolfe was forced to check up as he caught a lapped car, resulting in contact between the two leaders, ultimately sending Rolfe into the inside wall. Williams would inherit the lead, while Scott Dunlap, Mike Belanger, and Clay Snider would all move up.
From here on out, Williams would have control of the lead, while the rest of the field got dicey on the last two restarts of the race. Snider would work his way up into the 2nd spot, while Rolfe was able to recover to finish 3rd. Dunlap would have a strong run, but would get shuffled to 4th, while Vincent Margheim would round out the top 5.
But it would be Williams that took the checkered flag, his 3rd victory of the season.
With Snider’s 2nd place finish, and the first drop week being taken out of the points, Snider’s lead currently sits at 90 points heading into the final week of the season. At this point, unofficially, Snider has now clinched the Sportsman Street Stock Series Championship. However Snider says he’s “not calling it official until the NHMS race is over.”
Next week the series finishes things off with the final race of the season coming at the NHMS Road Course. For full results and standings from last night’s race, click HERE.