Ross Bailes won driving the Billy Hicks-owned Longhorn
The Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series rolled into Lake View Motor Speedway for the first of a two-race weekend on Saturday. The six-race mini-series crossed the halfway mark with this event held at the track located in Nichols, SC. At the end of the night, it was Ross Bailes from Clover, SC who left the facility $7,000 ricer as the result of his victory in a race shown live by DirtVision.com.
A total of 26 cars signed in for competition.
Matthew Nance turned the fastest lap in qualifying with a lap of 15.920 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval to outperform Kyle Strickler, Pearson Lee Williams, Dustin Mitchell, Daulton Wilson and Cla Knight.
Matthew Nance was the winner in the first heat race as he beat out Dustin Mitchell, Trent Ivey, Chris Madden, Michael Brown and Brian Nuttall, Jr.
Kyle Strickler took the second preliminary over Daulton Wilson, Stewart Friesen, Michael Rouse, Anthony Burroughs and Michael Marlowe.
It was Cla Knight who was victorious in the third and final heat ahead of Ross Bailes, Pearson Lee Williams, Willie Milliken, Chris Blackwell and Jimmy Sharpe, Jr.
Christian Thomas, Tim Vance, Bryson Harper and Kale Green transferred to the feature out of the Last Chance Showdown.
The Xtreme DIRTcar Series redraw set the first three rows for the main event as Ross Bailes, Matthew Nance, Dustin Mitchell, Cla Knight, Daulton Wilson and Kyle Strickler.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Nance who took the early lead with Bailes, Knight, Mitchell and Wilson trailing. Just behind, Friesen and Strickler fought over the sixth spot as the front runners got into single-file formation.
Nance began slipping away from his pursuers while Friesen got by Wilson for fifth on lap 5. Strickler began working on Wilson for sixth but the No. 18D held the position during the first half of the race.
Just after halfway, the lead duo of Nance and Bailes caught the tail of the field. Bailes began to harass the front runner until they closed inn on the slower car of Kale Green on lap 25. The No. 4 car slowed suddenly in front of the leaders causing both to pile into the ailing machine.
With the caution being called on the Green car, both Nance and Bailes were placed back at the front. Following a single-file restart, Nance and Bailes resumed their fight for the lead with Bailes working the top side of the track.
With six laps remaining, the high line began to work for Bailes and he was able to power by Nance with an outside maneuver in turn four. From that point, the No. 79 Billy Hicks-owned car drove away and ultimately claimed the checkered flag in the driver’s first visit to Lake View Motor Speedway.
“First off, it was luck getting the redraw and starting on the pole so that helped us out,” Bailes stated in victory lane. “It was all about the redraw. We got into lapped traffic and I would try to go high and that hole there would mess me up. If it wasn’t for that, I think I could have got by him earlier.”
Bailes believes his competitor might have had a problem.
“I think Matthew had a right rear going down or something broke on the car,” he explained. “He just couldn’t get off the corner as good as he was. I wasn’t going to pass him on the bottom so I had to go up top. But one I got out front, I couldn’t believe the difference the clean air made. I thought we were done when we got into that lapped car but luck was on our side.”
The Xtreme DIRTcar Series will head to the Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC to complete its weekend slate on Sunday.
Feature Finish: 1. Ross Bailes, 2. Matthew Nance, 3. Cla Knight, 4. Dustin Mitchell, 5. Stewart Friesen, 6. Daulton Wilson, 7. Kyle Strickler, 8. Chris Madden, 9. Trent Ivey, 10. Pearson Lee Williams, 11. Anthony Sanders, 12. Michael Brown, 13. Michael Marlowe, 14. Chris Blackwell, 15. Brian Nuttall, Jr., 16. Christian Thomas, 17. Jimmy Sharpe, Jr., 18. Bryson Harper, 19. Tim Vance, 20. Michael Rouse, 21. Willie Milliken, 22. Kale Green, 23. Adam Yarbrough
