Vic Hill had to hold off two determined rivals to get the win
The Southern Nationals made its seventh stop of 2018 at the Boyd’s Speedway on Tuesday night and it proved to be a thrilling one indeed as the driver known as “The Thrill” fought off two fellow veteran drivers to earn the win. Vic Hill beat back multiple late race challenges from Dale McDowell and Randy Weaver to come away from the Ringgold, Georgia track with a $3,500 payday.
Hill earned the pole for the feature by being the fastest in Group A qualifying when he toured the third-mile clay oval in 14.140 seconds to better the efforts of Jadon Frame, David Payne, David Doherty and Kenny Collins.
Weaver led the way in Group B time-trials and overall when he turned a lap of 14.098 seconds to beat out McDowell, Brandon Overton, John Ownbey and Clay Harris.
The two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event were won by J.T. Seawright and Casey Roberts.
When the green flag waved over the 35-lap feature it was Hill taking the early lead followed by Weaver, Frame, McDowell and Payne. A lap 2 caution slowed the action as Overton, who had been within the top-5 of the series standings, came to a stop on the track and ultimately retired from the race.
On the ensuing restart Frame grabbed second place. However, Weaver immediately began hounding the No. J8 machine as he sought to regain the spot. But Frame proved to be stubborn and held on to the position.
Payne had taken fourth on the lap 2 restart but McDowell would fight back, and by lap 7, had retaken the position. Shortly after that, the top-5 of Hill, Frame, Weaver, McDowell and Payne would separate themselves from the pack until a lap 13 caution would again bunch the field.
That yellow flag roved to be a pivotal one in that it was brought by the second running car of Frame tangled with a slower car and spun. That essentially eliminated Frame from competition for the win.
Just after the green flag waved to restart the action on lap 13 McDowell went after Weaver in hope of wresting the runner-up position away from the No. 116. Weaver held in that instance and then moved forward to threaten Hill’s lead by lap 18. Hill, however, would hold on despite the pressure being applied.
As the race progressed, it became clear that the three veteran drivers were determined to settle the issue among themselves. Weaver pulled his car right to the rear spoiler of Hill’s lead car and on multiple occasions attempted to move around on the high side. Then on lap 28 Hill, Weaver and McDowell even drew close enough to go three-wide briefly at the exit of turn two
On lap 31, McDowell was able to wrest the second spot away from Weaver and take up the challenge of trying to dethrone the front runner. On the final circuit, McDowell went high through turns one and two as Hill attempted to make his car as wide as possible. Down the backstretch and through turns three and four the two remained side-by-side.
As the cars roared onto the front straightaway they touched as they hurtled toward the checkered flag. In the end, it was Hill just beating McDowell to the finish line to get the victory.
Feature Finish” 1. Vic Hill, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Randy Weaver, 4. John Ownbey, 5. Donald McIntosh, 6. David Payne, 7. Cory Hedgecock, 8. Casey Roberts, 9. J.T. Seawright, 10. Aaron Ridley, 11. Joey Coulter, 12. David Doherty, 13. Cla Knight, 14. Kenny Collins, 15. Casey Turman, 16. Tyler Millwood, 17. Forrest Tent, 18. Clay Harris, 19. Craig Greer, 20. Bobby Giffin, 21. Jadon Frame, 22. Brandon Overton
