Randy Weaver earned $20,000 for his Ultimate win at VMS.
*Story composed from DirtonDirt.com video.
To say that Randy Weaver has started the 2015 season off on a good note would be a major understatement. So far he has won all five Dirt Late Model races he has started in the young season. And best of all for the Crossville, Tenn driver, his win in the Ultimate Super Late Model Series event on Saturday night at the Virginia Motor Speedway was the most lucrative of his career.
Weaver set fast time in qualifying among the 47 cars that signed in for competition when he posted a lap of 16.518 seconds. The No. 116 Longhorn Chassis car went on to win the first heat race and earn the pole position for the feature event.
Weaver charged to the lead immediately at the start of the 60-lap feature once the green flag waved. Mason Zeigler, Jonathan Davenport, Scott Bloomquist and Chris Madden were left to battle for the remaining positions within the top-5 in the wake of the leader’s torrid pace during the early laps. Those drivers at times went two and three wide on a racing surface that allowed for multiple grooves to be employed.
At lap 22, the second running Davenport closed right onto the rear spoiler of Weaver’s car and began to apply heavy pressure. At the same time, Steve Francis made a charge from his 7th starting spot to briefly take the third position away from Bloomquist.
Each of the leading cars made daring moves as they darted through slower traffic as the race neared its halfway point.
After a lap 27 caution for the stalled car of Kyle Pierce, Weaver and the other top-5 cars got a reprieve from lapped traffic. On the restart, the No. 116 broke away to a lead of several car lengths while the battle continued to rage among Davenport, Francis and Bloomquist for the right to give chase to the leader.
A restart following a caution for the stalled car of Earl Pearson, Jr. with 14 lap remaining in the affair once again allowed Weaver to put distance between himself and the field as Davenport and Bloomquist fought for second just behind. Greg Satterlee and Casey Roberts began to move forward as they sought top-5 positions in the waning laps.
Over the final laps, Weaver proved to be too much for the rest of the field as he cruised to the $20,000 win.
“The Lord is being real good to me right now and I don’t know why,” Weaver declared in the VMS Victory Lane. “What a race car, what a crew. I’m telling you, anybody in the grandstands could drive this thing, it about drives itself. I had never seen this place but I’d heard great things about it. I can’t believe my name is in the history down here now.
“I’m finally getting all the pieces put together,” the winner, who lost his father to cancer last year, told Ultimate SLM announcer Tommy Tedder. “It’s taken me most of my life to do that. Everything happens for a reason. Like I’ve said before, every race this season is in memory of my dad. I know he’d be proud right now.”
Feature Finish: 1. Randy Weaver, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Gregg Satterlee, 5. Chris Madden, 6. Casey Roberts, 7. Steve Francis, 8. Mason Zeigler, 9. Chris Ferguson, 10. Don O’Neal, 11. Gary Stuhler, 12. Kenny Pettyjohn, 13. Dustin Mitchell, 14. Austin Hubbard, 15. Dennis Franklin, 16. Amanda Whaley, 17. Dan Stone, 18. Matt Cochran, 19. Earl Pearson, Jr., 20. Ricky Elliott, 21. Walker Arthur, 22. Kyle Pierce, 23. Steve Long, 24. Mike Marlar
