Billy Ogle, Jr. drove a new Longhorn Chassis to victory at Wythe
The 2015 version of the Ray Cook promoted Southern Nationals kicked off its two week campaign on Monday night at the Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia. At the end of the night, it was Billy Ogle, Jr. who claimed the $3500 first prize and set himself up as an early contender for the championship to be determined after the running of ten races.
Ogle’s Stacy Boles-owned team debuted a brand new Longhorn Chassis for the Knoxville, Tenn. driver on Monday night. Boles had already been using a Longhorn while Ogle had been piloting a Rocket Chassis.
The night began with Vic Hill leading the way in qualifying as he turned a lap in 16.984 seconds around the half-mile clay oval. NASCAR star Ty Dillon, Austin Smith, Billy Ogle, Jr. and Donald McIntosh rounded out the top-5 in the session.
With rain closing in on the track, Southern Nationals officials opted to set the 15 car field entirely from qualifying times so no dash race or B-mains were contested.
At the start of the 35-lap feature, Hill took the early lead followed closely by Smith, Dillon and Ogle going three-wide for second. After two laps were completed, it was Smith who emerged from the battle with the runner-up spot followed by Ogle, McIntosh and Dillon.
Hill stretched his lead over the course of the early laps. Meanwhile, Ogle became the first driver to work the top groove around the high-banked facility and that maneuver quickly paid dividends.
With Hill continuing to lead by a healthy margin, Ogle moved around Smith for second on lap 9. At the same time, Dillon followed Ogle to the high side and he too began to roll forward, passing McIntosh for fourth on lap 11.
With Hill and Ogle working their way through traffic on lap 15, a caution flag waved for a mishap involving the third running Smith. Shortly afterwards, the cars were sent to the pit area as rain drops began to fall.
Southern Nationals and Wythe Raceway officials opted to wait out the light rainfall in hopes of concluding the event at its full distance. The delay would ultimately last for just over 90 minutes but the race did in fact resume.
Once the green flag waved again, Hill surged back out to a relatively comfortable lead with Ogle maintaining second. The real battle was just behind the top-2 as Dillon, McIntosh, Tim Allen and Casey Roberts fought for top-5 positions.
Meanwhile, Smith came charging through the field after being relegated to the rear following his earlier spin. By lap 29, the young Georgia driver was in position to challenge Dillon for fourth but dove into turns 3 & 4 a bit too hard and spun to bring out another yellow.
That final restart seemed to give Ogle the break he needed as he stalked Hill for the top spot when the green waved. Finally on lap 31, the No. 201 machine moved the high side of the track in turn 4 and swept around the early leader. From that point, Ogle cruised to the checkered flag.
Feature Finish: 1. Billy Ogle, Jr., 2. Vic Hill, 3. Donald McIntosh, 4. Ty Dillon, 5. Casey Roberts, 6. Stacy Boles, 7. Tim Allen, 8. Kevin Wilson, 9. Craig Vosbergen, 10. Mark Dotson, 11. Mack McCarter, 12. Jason Johnson, 13. Travis Greer, 14. Austin Smith, 15. Kenneth Howell
