Staff report

Southampton Motor Speed-way held its second week of racing of the season last weekend at the Capron track. In Late Model racing, Phil Warren and Denny Hamlin played tag for the first 25 laps before both pitted on lap 26, giving Bob Shreeves the lead and allowing Timothy Peters to get to second. Shreeves pitted on lap 81, handing Warren back the lead.

As Hamlin and Peters caught up, Warren maintained a five car-length advantage for the next 12 laps, one that grew to six lengths when Hamlin and Peters bumped on lap 107. Peters made one late charge, but Warren held him off for a 1.524 second lead. The top five finishers were:

1. PHIL WARREN

2. TIMOTHY PETERS

3. DENNY HAMLIN

4. MIKE SHEARIN

5. BOB SHREEVES

Todd Van Guilder started on the pole and led 48 of the 50 laps for his first SMS victory in Limited Late Model competition. Racing door-to-door, Van Guilder led on the opening lap, but Anthony Warren nosed ahead on laps two and three. Van Guilder came back on lap four and cleared Warren out on lap seven. Warren smashed into the wall on lap 18, knocking him out of contention.

The race was restarted, and Gary Weeks moved into second place before Ken Rountree overtook him. Shawn Balluzzo parked himself on Rountree’s bumper, and took second on lap 34, charging toward Van Guilder, who had nabbed a four car-length lead. But Van Guilder held on for the last 16 laps for the victory.

1. TODD VanGUILDER

2. SHAWN BALLUZZO

3. KEN ROUNTREE

4. GARY WEEKS

5. JEFF SAMPSON

Bill Mullis took the lead on lap 7 and paced the field to his second straight U-CAR victory. Evan VanLeeuwen started on the pole and led the first three laps before Robert Rusinyak grabbed the next three. Mullis quickly took command.

Bill Wallace moved to second, and moved to within a car length until he skittered up the banking on lap 20, giving Mullis a four-length lead. Wallace charged back, but ran out of track, and Mullis snared a one-length win in the caution-free race.

1. BILL MULLIS

2. BILL WALLACE

3. CRAIG FIRMAN

4. ROBERT RUSINYAK

5. JON MOORE

Adam Murray

started on the pole and led all the way to win the Mini Stock portion of the Super Fours’ season opener.

1. ADAM MURRAY

2. BRUCE KIMMEL

3. BRIAN BRADLEY

4. RICKIE WATERS

5. J.R. SMITH

Michael Fisher and Pete Fones brawled it out for nearly the entire Mid-Atlantic Champ Kart race, but Fisher grabbed a one-length victory at the finale.

1. MICHAEL FISHER

2. PETE FONES

3. STANLEY HOLMES

4. STAN HOLMES

5. DANNY WYATT

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A reconfigured race night itinerary goes into full effect this Friday as Southampton Motor Speedway hosts the third event on its 2004 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series schedule. Friday’s feature lineup includes: Budweiser Late Model Stock Cars (75 laps); Mike Duman Auto Sales Limited Late Models (75 laps); Racecom of Virginia Super Streets (50 laps); and, INEX Little Race Cars Legends (25 laps). Tickets are $12 for adults and $4 for youths, 6-12. Children under 6 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Active-duty military (with ID), senior citizens (65+) and teens (13-19) receive a $2 discount off the adult admission price.

According to track officials, drivers (primarily in the support divisions) reported that they were having difficulty leaving work on Friday afternoons and getting to the track in time for practice and time trials. To help alleviate that problem, activities for support divisions have been pushed back in the evening’s lineup of events. As of Friday, support divisions won’t be hitting the track until 7:00 p.m. at the earliest.

The late afternoon practice session – from 4:30-5:45 – will now become the exclusive domain of the Late Model Stock Car division. Late Model time trials will begin at 6:15, followed by a drivers meeting at 6:50.

Practice for support divisions – this Friday, it’ll be Limited Late Models, Super Streets and Legends – will run from 7-7:45. Time trials for Legends will begin at 7:45, followed by Limited Late Model qualifying.

The evening’s first feature race, a Legends 25-lapper, will get the green flag shortly after 8. Super Street qualifying will take place after the Legends race and feature events for the Late Models, Limited Late Models and Super Streets will round out the evening.

Beginning Friday, SMS’s Limited Late Model class will be sporting a different Goodyear tire – switching from 10-inch 2403 slicks to 8-inch D1882 slicks. According to Competition Director Butch Lassister, the move to the D1882s offers teams a savings of about $50 on their weekly tire expenses. It also puts SMS’s Limited Late Model division in line, tire-wise, with similar divisions at neighboring tracks and will, hopefully, spur an increase in the car count.

Friday’s tire switch will result in a one-week suspension of the division’s &uot;two-tire rule.&uot; After this week’s event, Limited Late Models teams will have to leave two or four of their race tires at the track for use in the April 30 feature. Prior to that race, teams will be allowed to purchase no more than two new tires.

The 2004 regional alignment for the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series was announced by the sanctioning body on Wednesday, April 14. For this season, SMS has been placed in the newly named East Coast Region, which includes eight tracks from New York all the way to Florida.

Here are the results for last weekend’s races at Hampton’s Langley Speedway

Super 8 Motels Grand Stock (First Twin 25)

1. Ryan Nester

2. David Gray

3. Brandon Hinson

4. Donnie Brown

5. Chris Roberts

Super 8 Motels Grand Stock (Second Twin 25)

1. Ryan Nester

2. Donnie Brown

3. David Gray

4. Chris Roberts

5. Marc LaDoucer

Late Model Sportsman 50

1. Doug Warren

2. Mark Wertz

3. Shawn Balluzzo

4. Jimmy Adkins III

5. Danny Harrell

Legends 25

1. Nick Smith

2. Chris Lemons

3. Cameron Patrick

4. Dale Lemonds

5. Kerry Gilbert

Super Street 50

1. Steve Dill

2. Richie German

3. Scott Finch

4. Andrew Wroten

5. Kenny Wood