By Gary Daughtrey

HAMPTON, Va. (Aug. 16) — Thomas Stinson motored into the lead on lap 55 and drove on to his second victory of the season in the DUCTWORX 75 for the B&C Seafood Modifieds, the featured event of Saturday evening’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program at Langley Speedway.

Championship contenders Rusty Wood and Joe Scarbrough qualified on the front row. Wood nabbed the pole, at 85.885 mph, while Scarbrough clocked in at 85.544 mph. Stinson was third on the starting grid, followed by Buster Horne Jr. and Michael Leech. Shawn Balluzzo, the points leader coming into the race, was seventh-quickest among the 19 drivers who made qualifying attempts.

As the race got under way, Scarbrough maintained his position on Wood’s flank and shot into the lead as the field rumbled onto the back straightaway for the first time. Wood settled into second, while Stinson emerged in third place. By lap 5, the front three had pulled away from fourth-place Horne by nearly half a straightaway.
The first 30 laps were interrupted by three caution flags — at laps 6, 17 and 30 — as Scarbrough, Wood and Stinson continued to show the way. Horne ran fourth, followed by Leech. During the third caution period, however, Leech made the turn onto the pit lane, handing fifth to Balluzzo.

As the race resumed, Scarbrough bolted to a three-length advantage as Stinson moved up to challenge Wood for second place. Behind them, Balluzzo went after Horne for fourth, grabbing the spot on lap 33.
Passing the halfway mark, Stinson offered a glimpse of things to come when he began sneaking peeks to the outside of Wood. On lap 43, he finally worked his way alongside the second-place runner and took the position in Turn 2 on lap 44. Before that circuit was officially in the books, though, the fourth yellow flag appeared and Wood was returned to second place for the restart.

Back under green, Stinson renewed his high-side attack on Wood. He pulled to the outside of Wood on the backstretch on lap 47 and cleared Wood’s machine on lap 49. The exchange allowed Scarbrough to extend his lead to five lengths. In the meantime, Chris Johnson slipped past Horne on lap 48 to crack the top five.
Caution #5 was unfurled on lap 51 when debris was spotted in Turn 3. Setting the lineup, Scarbrough, Stinson, Wood, Balluzzo and Johnson made up the top five.

Returning to green, Scarbrough hauled the field into Turn 1 with Stinson hot on his heels. Within a couple laps, it became obvious that Stinson was looking to repeat his high-side maneuver on the leader.

The move came on lap 54 as Stinson powered to the outside of Scarbrough through Turns 1 and 2. The two went side-by-side for a lap with Stinson gaining the upper hand off the second corner on lap 55.
On lap 57, Johnson slipped around Balluzzo for fourth place. It quickly became apparent that Balluzzo was in trouble as he slowed and began to tumble down the running order. He finally pulled into the pits on lap 62, retiring to a 17th-place finish.

With caution flags flying at frequent intervals, the leaders didn’t have to deal with packs of lapped cars for much of the event. That wasn’t the case on lap 68, though, as Stinson ran up on slower machines. Working patiently, he freed himself on lap 70 and drove away, extending his lead to almost half a straightaway over Scarbrough.

The sixth, and final, caution flag waved on lap 74, setting up a two-lap sprint to the checkers. It also negated A.J. Winstead’s pass of Horne for the fifth spot.

Under green for the last time, Stinson leaped out to a two-length edge over Scarbrough. By the finish, that margin had grown to three lengths as Stinson rolled to the victory. Wood tailed the lead duo to the line, in third, while Johnson and Horne completed the top five.
Winstead was sixth in the rundown, followed by Bubba Farmer, Todd VanGuilder, Kyle Wood and Hunter Slayton. Positions 11-14 went to Darrell Bryson, Danny Baker, Donnie Medlin and Leech, who all finished on the lead lap.

In Victory Lane after the race, Stinson offered a salute to Scarbrough and Wood for allowing him room to race up top: “My hat’s off to them two guys in front of me. They’re really fast. I tell ya’, the top three cars were really fast. I tried Rusty on the inside and I knew he won’t gonna give me nothing, but he knew that, if I won’t there, I was gonna back off and I did. So, I made up my mind, early in the race, I gotta go to the outside. Didn’t want to, and I don’t want to, but I had to go, so I really said a couple prayers and I tried it on the outside. And, Rusty, the sportsman that he is, and Scarbrough, they gave me the outside. My hat’s off to them two guys. They’re running for championships and I really don’t want to mess ‘em up.” Speaking of the ‘08 Mod title,

Scarbrough’s second-place finish, combined with Balluzzo’s 17th-place outing, has vaulted Scarbrough atop the division standings. Rusty Wood also moved ahead of Balluzzo, who dropped to third. Scarbrough holds an eight-point lead over Wood, 460-452. Balluzzo is now 28 points back, at 432. Johnson, with 424 points, is fourth in the rankings.

In the evening’s other feature events:

In a rousing finish, Ritchie German took the lead for good off the final corner and posted his first victory of the season in a 50-lapper for the Bass Pro Shops Super Streets.

Ryan Nester started on the pole, at 74.306 mph, and set the pace for the first 23 laps. Randy Sample shared the front row with Nester, but gave way to Larry Venable on the opening circuit.

On lap 24, the Nester/Venable duel reached its boiling point as the two made contact at the end of the backstretch and Nester skated sideways in the middle of Turns 3 and 4. In the ensuing logjam, which prompted the race’s only caution flag, several cars sustained damage, including Venable, Sample and Jeff Shannon.

Gathering for a restart, Sample — body damage and all — assumed the lead, followed by German, Jessica Wood, Dale Parro and Shannon. Venable was relegated to the sidelines, while Nester was deployed to the back of the pack.

Back under green, German stalked Sample for a couple laps, then ducked underneath the leader off Turn 4. He cleared Sample off Turn 2 on lap 26 to take over the top spot. Hung on the outside, Sample was bypassed by Wood, Parro, Shannon and Jonathan Mullett before finding a place in line.

On lap 33, Parro took a run at Wood for the runner-up spot, nabbing the position at the end of the backstretch. Only two laps later, he had closed on German and was pounding on his rear bumper.

German and Parro’s joust extended to lap 49 when the two made contact in Turns 3 and 4 and German skittered sideways. Parro pounced on the opening and drove into the lead as they exited Turn 4 to receive the white flag.

Parro held the edge for a lap. In Turn 4 for the final time, however, he drifted wide and opened up the inside lane for German, who pulled alongside.

German won the drag race back to the stripe by just half a car-length to take the win. The official margin of victory was 32-thousandths of a second. Parro was the runner-up, followed by Wood, Shannon and Jamie Sample.

Nick Smith led all the way from the pole to claim his third victory of the year in the 25-lap Peninsula Hardwood Mulch INEX Legends feature.

Smith qualified on the pole with a lap at 78.507 mph — less than a tenth of a second quicker than Brad Hancock, who lined up to his outside.

On the start, Smith pulled into the lead, leaving Hancock to battle with Ryan Crites for the runner-up spot. Crites gained command of the second spot on lap 2 and left the door open for Don McLaughlin, who powered ahead of Hancock on lap 3.

With his pursuers shuffling positions behind him, Smith bolted to a five-length lead in the early going. That margin was erased, however, when the first caution flag flew on lap 7.

Back under green, Crites latched onto Smith’s rear bumper and tailed him into Turn 1. Off the second corner, though, Smith eased away by two lengths.

The only other yellow flag appeared on lap 11 when Woody Howard spun off Turn 4. Steve Keesee and Rette Causey were collected in the mishap. Keesee and Causey were sidelined, while Howard returned to log a few more laps before retiring for the evening.

As the race resumed, Smith manufactured a slim margin over Crites, who quickly closed the gap. Behind them, Hancock was working on McLaughlin for third, taking the position on lap 13.

Crites continued to pressure Smith over the second half of the event, never falling more than a couple car-lengths back.

Heading for the checkers, Crites remained on Smith’s bumper until they reached Turn 4. Exiting the corner, Crites bobbled a bit, allowing Smith all the breathing room he would need.

At the finish, Smith was the winner by almost two lengths over Crites. Hancock was third, while McLaughlin and Jamie Price rounded out the top five.

Starting eighth, Casey Sipe worked his way into the lead on lap 25 and sped on to his third straight win, and fourth overall, in the 30-lap Standard Welding Pro 6 race.

James Williams started on the pole, at 82.559 mph, and led the first 24 circuits. Sipe, meanwhile, had to start eighth, by track rules, since he’d won the previous two races.

On lap 6, Sipe slipped past Wesley Harris to move into the top five. He took over fourth on lap 7 as D.J. Watson fell back in the pack and cleared Warren Smigo for third on lap 10.

David Phelps was next in line for Sipe and he gave way on lap 12 as Sipe rolled into the runner-up position. Nearing the halfway mark, Williams was up by half a straightaway.

Working quickly, Sipe closed in on the leader. By lap 20, the two were running in nose-to-tail formation and Sipe was hunting for an opening.

Coming around to complete lap 24, Sipe poked a fender to the inside of Williams. The two rubbed at the start/finish line as Sipe drew alongside. Sipe pulled ahead through Turns 1 and 2 on lap 25 and, within a couple laps, he had opened a two-length edge.

Williams tried to rally in the waning circuits, halving Sipe’s margin. That was as close as he would get, though, as Sipe held on to win the caution-free event by a car-length. Phelps was third to the line, followed by Smigo and Watson.

Jeff Sampson started on the pole, at 87.309 mph, and breezed to his sixth victory in the 25-lap Wolf Contractors Wolf Truck feature.
The event got off to a rough start with three caution flags in the first three laps, sidelining Randy Bradsher, Chuck Britt and Eric Schaffer.

Lining up for a restart at lap 3, Sampson was out front, followed by Mark Claar, Troy Hutcheson and George VanGuilder.

Returning to green, Sampson bolted from the pack. By lap 8, his lead had grown to half a straightaway. He had nearly doubled that margin as the field received the crossed flags at the end of lap 13.

Comfortable with his full-straightaway edge, Sampson maintained that gap over the second half of the event and cruised to the checkers. Claar held off a late charge from Hutcheson to take second.

VanGuilder was fourth, while Michael Farmer was fifth. The top five finishers were all Pro Division entries.

Michael Johnson was the top-finishing Semi-Pro driver for the second time this season. His “best-in-class” status was assured when Schaffer dropped out the early going.



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