Josh Rice fought his way to the front to claim the win
The Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals kicked off its 2021 campaign on Friday night at Beckley Motorsports Park. It was the 17th time the Ray Cook-promoted mini-series set off on a two-week adventure to contest races across five southeastern states but the first time the tour had competed at the Mount Hope, West Virginia track. After a night of intense battling it was Josh Rice who claimed victory. The Verona, Kentucky driver was awarded $10,053 for his efforts in a race shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 24 cars were signed in for competition.
Devin Moran was fastest in Group A qualifying when he turned a lap of 13.135 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to beat out Ross Bailes, Jensen Ford, Henry Hornsby and Josh Rice.
It was Jacob Hawkins who posted the fastest mark in Group B time-trials with a time of 13.173 seconds to outperform Dale McDowell, Rick Williams, Mike Benedum and Michael Brown.
Devin Moran won the first heat race of the night ahead of Josh Rice, Jensen Ford and Cody Overton while it was Ross Bailes who emerged as the victor from the second preliminary race besting Henry Hornsby, Stacy Boles and Aaron Barley.
Jacob Hawkins earned the win in the third heat over Michael Brown, Rick Williams and Donald McIntosh then Dale McDowell defeated Mike Benedum, Garrett Smith and Zack Dohm in the fourth and final heat.
Benjamin Cranford won the lone B-main over Jordy Nipper, Ahnna Parkhurst, Jeff Neubert, Aaron Carter and Andy Standridge.
At the start of the 53-lap feature it was Hawkins who took the early lead with Moran, McDowell, Bailes and Rice trailing. But a lap 2 caution flag would slow the pace when McDowell slowed on track. When the racing action resumed, Bailes began to make his move as he took second away from Moran and set off after Hawkins.
Soon after, the top-3 of Hawkins, Bailes and Moran were engaged in a tight battle at the front of the field with Bailes taking the lead on lap 7. In the meantime, Rice worked his way to fourth and looked to also join the fight for the top of the leaderboard.
On lap 13, the top-3 briefly went three-wide and then began exchanging slide jobs for position until a lap 15 caution for Brown provided a break from the intense action. Bailes maintained the lead on the restart with Moran and Hawkins waging war for second until another yellow flag waved on lap 20.
Moran assumed second on that restart leaving Hawkins to fight with Rice for third. On lap 23, Rice made a bold move going into turn one and took third but made contact with the Hawkins machine at the same time. Damage to the left front of the No. 37 was the result but both continued on.
Further ahead, Moran swept by Bailes to claim the lead on lap 24 while Rice and Hawkins continued the scuffle just behind. Rice ultimately separated himself from Hawkins and then moved in to challenge Bailes as Moran continued to show the way.
Rice was able to take second on lap 32 and set off after Moran.
A lap 38 caution for debris proved disastrous for Bailes as he had to come to the pit area to change a flat tire. On the ensuing restart, the No. 79 then spun to bring out another yellow.
During that second lap 38 caution, Moran suffered the same fate as Bailes when he was forced to go pit side with a flat right rear tire. That lifted Rice to the race lead. At the same time, Dohm cracked the top-5 after having to start well back in the field after a fuel pump issue kept him from qualifying. The frequent Beckley winner moved all the way to second following the troubles of those drivers ahead of him.
Over the closing stages, Rice continued to show the way by running a high line right out against the wall while the likes of McIntosh, Ford and Hawkins looked to claim other positions within the top-5. Bailes and Moran also made moves as the laps clicked away in hopes of recovering some of what had been lost as a result of flat tires.
But in the end, it was Josh Rice who emerged as the winner as he sailed under the checkered flag in the first Southern Nationals race contested at Beckley.
Feature Finish: 1. Josh Rice, 2. Zack Dohm, 3. Jacob Hawkins, 4. Donald McIntosh, 5. Jensen Ford, 6. Devin Moran, 7. Cody Overton, 8. Mike Benedum, 9. Ross Bailes, 10. Henry Hornsby, 11. Ahnna Parkhurst, 12. Stacy Boles, 13. Benjamin Cranford, 14. Andy Standridge, 15. Jeff Neubert, 16. Michael Brown, 17. Aaron Barley, 18. Aaron Carter, 19. Rick Williams, 20. Garrett Smith, 21. Jordy Nipper, 22. Dale McDowell
