LUCAMA, NC – Hunter Brown, Brody Rhodes, and Andrew Watson became the first Ultra Racing Alliance (URA) champions when they clinched their titles at Southern National Motorsports Park on Saturday night.
Brown secured the track championship in the KONI Shocks Charger division with a fifth-place finish. Entering the race, Brown only needed to finish 11th or better regardless of where his main championship rival, Davis Renfrow, finished.
“We’re super happy with the car and the team,” Brown said. “All the work everybody put into this, we’re super stoked. We had something figured out at the beginning of the year, and we just slowly lost it. I’m just glad we were able to hang on to what we had.”
Brown finished the season with three wins and nine top-five finishes in 11 starts.
The KONI Charger feature race, which was part of the Six Pack Charger Series with Carteret County Speedway, was won by Rusty Daniels.
Brody Rhodes had already been in position to clinch the Legend Car title heading into Saturday’s race, entering with a 56-point advantage over Scotty Benford. While he could simply cruise around, Rhodes fought for the win with Josh Lowe. It was Lowe who would win the race while Rhodes clinched the championship.
“Man, this is probably the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my entire motorsports career,” Rhodes stated. “We’ve worked so hard all seven years of my racing career. It’s been a journey with Willie Ridenhour and Three Sixteen Motorsports coaching me and helping me along the way. But, man, all my sponsors, my mom, my dad, my whole family, it’s just awesome.”
Oliver Missner leapfrogged Scotty Benford in the final standings to finish second in points.
While Sammy Pacitti dominated in the Any Car feature race, Andrew Watson’s second-place finish allowed him to retain the title as champion.
“That was awesome,” Watson commented. “This track, I think after the rain, got real loose. We were just trying to run [Sammy] down and didn’t have to but, when you’re racing like that, you kind of got to do it. I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. It’s just so fun. Hey, I’ll take home a second. We won the big check and we’ll be back for the Road to the Classic.”
Matt Cox dominates third round of I-95 Showdown
Matt Cox led wire-to-wire in Saturday night’s I-95 Showdown race at Southern National Motorsports Park, scoring the victory over Dylan Newsome and Bobby McCarty.
With threatening weather in the forecast throughout the week, six cars ultimately took the green flag for the race. However, despite a passing rain shower, the entire field was able to beat Mother Nature.
Cox’s victory was his second in the I-95 Showdown, with his other coming during the Icebreaker at Florence Motor Speedway back in February. It’s also a second consecutive URA win for Cox, who held on in a photofinish at Florence a week prior.
“We finished third, I think it was, here in March, but I didn’t have that good a car,” Cox said after the race. “We had a lot better car tonight. We’ve got to tweak on it a little bit better and make it. I think, when we do that, we’ll be really good. It was a hard race, you know. I wish it had a little more cars, but the cars they had here were good quality cars and everybody here could win, so it does kind of judge where you stack up with good quality cars.”
Cox was nothing short of dominant. He was fastest in practice and in qualifying. The only challenge he faced throughout the race was from Andrew Grady on the initial start of the race.
Dylan Newsome started in the fifth position and ultimately made his way up through the field to finish in the runner-up position over Bobby McCarty. Thomas Beane finished fourth, while Andrew Grady and Tyler Matthews rounded out the field.
The next round of the I-95 Showdown takes place on Saturday, July 19 at Florence Motor Speedway in South Carolina.
Shane Locklear took the overall and Vintage Modified win in the Southern Ground Pounders feature while Kevin Floars won in Vintage Sportsman.
With the spring season now complete, Southern National Motorsports Park will take its summer break and resume racing with the Road to the [Thanksgiving] Classic beginning on Saturday, September 6. The Road to the Classic will also take place on October 4 and October 25, leading into the 25th Thanksgiving Classic from Friday, November 28 through Sunday, November 30.
While oval racing will resume in September, the Premier Mega Truck Racing series will visit Southern National on Saturday, August 9.
Results
Late Model Stock Cars (75 Laps): 1. 51-Matt Cox[1]; 2. 44-Dylan Newsome[5]; 3. 6-Bobby McCarty[4]; 4. 01-Thomas Beane[6]; 5. 1-Andrew Grady[2]; 6. 63-Tyler Matthews[3]; 7. (DNS) 16R-Rusty Daniels
Chargers Presented by KONI (50 Laps): 1. 16-Rusty Daniels[1]; 2. J12-Wesley Johnson[4]; 3. 21-Gerald Benton[3]; 4. 41-Austin Ferrell[5]; 5. 11-Timothy Brown[8]; 6. 02-Jonathan Kluge[11]; 7. 06-Camryn Rice[7]; 8. 21S-Sarah Whitesell[10]; 9. 5-Haley Brown[13]; 10. 10-Justin Mitchell[6]; 11. 16H-Michael O’Brien[2]; 12. 14-Davis Renfrow[9]; 13. 22-PJ Flowers[12]
Legends (25 Laps): 1. 23-Josh Lowe[1]; 2. 19-Brody Rhodes[2]; 3. 28-Oliver Missner[3]; 4. 00-Aaron Crumpler[5]; 5. 2B-Aaron Linsky[6]; 6. 316-Kaedin Ridenhour[8]; 7. 006-Landon Barefoot[7]; 8. 63-Dustin Mitchell[11]; 9. 32-Dan Side[4]; 10. 35-Daniel Thompson[9]; 11. 22R-Anthony Richiusa[10]; 12. 22-Brody Shortino[12]
Any Cars (15 Laps): 1. 43P-Sam Pacitti[2]; 2. 08-Andrew Watson[4]; 3. 9-Bradley Morgan[1]; 4. 91-Timothy Medeiros[6]; 5. 45-Mike Sliger[3]; 6. 75-James Barbour[5]
Southern Ground Pounders (35 Laps): 1. 95-Shane Locklear[2]; 2. 2-Steve Mendenhall[4]; 3. 1-Kevin Floars[1]; 4. 0-Billy Ray Lucas[3]; 5. 21-Josh Roberts[6]; 6. 3VA-Lindsey Pond[5]; 7. 51-James Turner JR[7]; 8. (DNS) 5-Dennis Werner
