By Gary Daughtrey

Special to the News-Herald

Kyle Ebersole of Hummelstown, Pa., snagged the lead on lap 136 and held on for his first win of the season in the 150-lap headline event for NASCAR’s Whelen Southern Modified Tour on Saturday at Langley Speedway.

Andy Seuss paced the qualifying session, nabbing the pole with a new track record, 96.270 mph. The top seven qualifiers were in the 14-second range, while the top 15 bettered the previous qualifying mark for the race.

With series points leader George Brunnhoelzl III in tow, Seuss led the first 74 circuits.  On a restart at lap 75, though, Seuss failed to come up to speed and handed the lead to Brunnhoelzl, already a three-time winner this year.

Brunnhoelzl showed the way until lap 125, when he went to the outside of a slower car in Turn 1 and slid up toward the wall. Brunnhoelzl’s miscue allowed 2010 race-winner Tim Brown to take the lead. Ebersole moved up to second, and John Smith took over third, while Brunnhoelzl slipped to fourth. The last of the race’s six caution flags flew on lap 127.

On the restart, Brown briefly gained the clear-cut edge, while Ebersole went door-to-door with Smith for second. Dispensing with Smith, Ebersole went after Brown for the top spot. He drew alongside Brown on lap 136 and nosed ahead at the stripe, eventually clearing Brown at the start of lap 138.

Meanwhile, Brunnhoelzl was on the comeback trail, swiping second from Brown on lap 139. Within a couple laps, he was all over the leader. During the final 10 circuits, Brunnhoelzl poked and prodded at Ebersole, hunting for an opening, but Ebersole maintained a firm grip on the lead, fighting off Brunnhoelzl on the white-flag lap to win by a car-length.

The victory was his first on the Southern Mod Tour and came in his 19th series start. Brown was third to the line, followed by Smith and Danny Bohn.

From Langley, the series moves on to Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C., for the next event on Sunday.