The RB Performance Super Late Model Series rolled into South Boston tonight, having to follow up the impressive performances that the other divisions had over the course of the week. And they wouldn’t disappoint. Things got started with time trials, and Jarrid Boiros would set the fast time of 14.789 seconds. But his fast time wouldn’t earn him the pole, as drivers would have to work their way through heat races to determine the starting lineup for the race. The top 21 times would be locked into the race and split up into 3 heat races, while drivers 22nd on back would be forced to go into a LCQ race.
Heat #1 would see Kevin Myers on the pole, and he would have no trouble and pulled out to nearly a 2 second lead to take the win, and earn the pole starting position for the feature event. Heat #2 would have Fred Moreau starting up front, and he would also pull out to the lead en route to his heat win, putting him on the front row for the feature. Heat #3 would be run in similar fashion as Cameron Hobbs took the win and would start 3rd for the main event. 6 cars would be forced to run the LCQ and Ken Belanger would take the lead for the first couple of laps before Kyle Holzhausen moved into the lead, and then as laps wound down Stan Bragg was able to move up into the 2nd spot to take the final transfer position. Two provisionals went to Belanger and Brandon Wilkinson to make up the 25 car starting field for the feature event.
As the race got under way, Myers would lead them to the green, with Dale Owen starting in the 2nd spot due to Moreau missing the grid. Owen would look to take full advantage as he would hold pace on the outside on the opening lap and would power on the outside to lead lap number 1. But Myers would battle right back on the inside and took back the spot on lap 2 and pulled ahead, while Justin Brooks took advantage and moved into the 2nd spot on the inside. Hobbs would have a tough start as he would get shuffled back on the outside from his 3rd starting spot, which moved Jacob Linkiewicz and Derek Robinson up into the top 5 in the early laps.
Myers would hold off Brooks on a couple of quick restarts, but Brooks would get the jump on the outside on the lap 29 restart to lead that lap on the high side. But again Myers would battle right back to lead the next lap on the bottom, and would look to clear Brooks for the lead the next lap around. Just as Myers was cleared for the lead however, his car would have mechanical issues exiting turn 2 and he would end up in the outside wall as the field would shuffle by him on the bottom, handing the lead over to Brooks.
A lap 44 restart would set the field up for a 20+ lap run, and Brooks would pull out to the lead up front. Over the course of the run, Ty Spearman made his presence know as he would work his way up into 2nd, moving Robinson back to 3rd, with Owen and Linkiewicz in the top 5. By lap 63, Brooks had caught the back of the field and began putting a couple of cars a lap down before the next caution on lap 67. The following restart would set up the longest run of the night as the field would set sail for the next 36 laps. Brooks jumped right back out to the lead, but Spearman would follow right behind him keeping him close for the first 10 laps of the run before Brooks started to pull away. By lap 90, Brooks was right back into lapped traffic putting more cars a lap down as the run went on.
A lap 109 caution would see a few of the leaders come down pit road, as Spearman, Robinson and Boiros all went in for tires. This would move Linkiewicz up into the 2nd spot as 6 drivers would stay out, putting Robinson and Spearman back in 7th and 8th on the restart. Brooks would jump into the lead with Linkiewicz getting to the bottom behind him, as Holzhausen had made his way up into the top 5 and powered into the 3rd spot on the outside. Robinson had worked his way up into 5th pretty quickly as the new tires seemed to pay off, but he would roll the center of the corner on lap 117 and he would get into the back of Owen getting him sideways. Owen would save it, but Spearman would get clipped by another car sending him into the outside wall, and ending his chance at the win.
After the next restart, Robinson was able to work up into 2nd with his new tires and caught up to the back of Brooks in the lead. Robinson would attempt to look low a number of times, before Brooks would get loose on lap 133 allowing Robinson to power up next to him on the outside. But as they went into the corner, Brooks was still chasing his car and the two drivers would make contact in the corner sending Robinson up high, with Brooks coming out of the corner hanging onto the lead.
A couple of restarts later, the field would be set up with a green-white-checker finish, putting Brooks on the bottom and Robinson to his outside on the restart. Brooks would get the jump and the lead down into turn 1, but Robinson would get the run back to his outside off the corner, forcing Brooks to get loose once again. Drivers in the back of the pack were getting together and as the caution came out, Brooks and Robinson were banging doors with Brooks ending up in the outside wall, Robinson sliding by as he too would hit the wall, and Holzhausen taking advantage down low. Holzhausen looked to have taken over the top spot as the caution had come out, but because the yellow was for a separate incident, Brooks was scored back as the leader, just ahead of Robinson as the caution came out.
Brooks would pace the field back around to the checkers on his birthday and would take his 3rd SLM win of the season. With the win, Brooks now moves into sole possession of the SARA career wins lead with 20 wins, just ahead of the driver he had to hold off, Derek Robinson, as well as Chris Roberts who both have 19. Robinson would be scored in the 2nd spot, which moved Holzhausen back into 3rd after he thought he had the win. Boiros worked his way up into the top 5 for a 4th place finish, with Linkiewicz rounding out the top 5 in 5th. With his 5th place finish, Linkiewicz holds on to the top spot in the points standings with a 170 point lead with just two races remaining.
- Justin Brooks
- Derek Robinson
- Kyle Holzhausen
- Jarrid Boiros
- Jacob Linkiewicz
- Stan Bragg
- Dale Owen
- Matt Eddy
- Joshua Gayman
- Anthony Celentano
- Robert Matthews
- Brandon Wilkinson
- Ken Belanger
- R Trent Brown
- Matt Rolfe
- Ty Spearman
- Jonathan Mawhinney
- Mike Whited
- Cameron Hobbs
- Cody Leland
- Kevin Myers
- Derek Holzhausen
- Josh Hart
- James Babb
- Fred Moreau
Next week the series makes their first trip to Lucas Oil Raceway, for their second-to-last race of the season.
For the full results and points, click HERE.