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SOS Release

WHEELERSBURG — It was an incredible night of racing Friday at the Southern Ohio Speedway.

It was the first “Full Racing Program” of the season, featuring Late Models, the Jordan Heating & Cooling UMP Modifieds, GCP Engines Sport Mods, and Street Stocks. Another large crowd was on hand on a night that witnessed the fastest speeds in the new era of SOS.

In the night’s 25-lap Late Model A-Main, last week’s winner Eddie Carrier Jr. took the lead at the start with Rod Conley in second and Josh McGuire in third. The top three stayed close together in the early stages of the race.

As the field approached lapped traffic, Conley began to catch up to Carrier and had just got underneath him when the race’s first caution flew. On the restart, Carrier went out to a six- to eight-car length lead as the battle for second was fierce between Conley and McGuire.

In addition to the great racing for the second position, the action was hot and heavy for fourth, fifth, and sixth betwen Kenny Howell, Delmas Conley, and R.J. Conley. On lap 15, Howell, Delmas and R. J. Conley went three wide down the backstretch and into turn three.

Heavy contact was made in the middle of the turn that resulted in Delmas nearly getting put in the guardrail. One lap later, a caution flag flew and under the caution Delmas drove up to Howell to express his displeasure with the contact a lap earlier.

Delmas then made contact multiple times with Howell’s car and both cars were sent off the track. When things settled down and the on-track action resumed, McGuire put his number 41 machine on the high side and made it stick.

McGuire drove by Rod Conley on lap 18 and then set his sights on race leader Eddie Carrier Jr. McGuire got alongside of Carrier as the two battled side by side for the lead.

The two battled side by side for the next several laps with Carrier down low and McGuire up high. McGuire finally cleared Carrier on lap 22 and held off a last corner charge to take the $2,000 feature win by one car length.

Carrier finished second with Rod Conley third, R. J. Conley fourth and Billy Gullion edging out Dustin Linville for fifth. Carrier won the dash race while McGuire and Gullion won heat races.

The night’s 20-lap Jordan Heating & Cooling UMP Modified A-Main started with a three-way battle for the lead between Jake Keaton, Eric Hatfield, and Jeremy Rayburn. Keaton, the race leader, ran the middle of the track with Hatfield up high and Rayburn down low.

Rayburn would make the pass on Hatfield on lap four for second and set his sights on Keaton. Rayburn caught up to Keaton a lap later as the two battled side by side for the lead.

The two battled side-by-side for several laps until Rayburn made the pass on lap eight. From there, Rayburn would extend his lead to come to the checkers and claim his second-straight feature win.

Keaton finished second with Hatfield third, Adam Colley fourth, and Luke Jordan fifth. Keaton won the dash race while David McWilliams and Brian Skaggs won heat races.

Eric Dennison and Wes Harmon had a close battle for the lead at the start of the night’s GCP Engines Sport Mod feature. Dennison would eventually pull away in the late stages of the race to come across the checkers and claim his first career win.

Harmon finished second with Colten Wright third and Kenny Neal fourth. Dennison also won the heat race.

Conard Newman and Tim Cutler battled for the lead at the start of the night’s Street Stock A-Main. Cutler made several peeks under Newman in turns one and two but just wouldn’t have enough to make the pass as Newman came across the checkers to take the feature win.

Cutler finished second with Joseph McClain third, Keith Anderon fourth, and Chris Hunt fifth. Newman also won the heat race.

The Southern Ohio Speedway will be in action this Friday for one of the largest races of the season with the “2nd Annual Southern 50.” On the card will be Late Models paying $6,000 to win and Jordan Heating & Cooling UMP Modifieds paying $1,000 to win.

The Late Models will also have a 15-lap non-qualifiers race paying $500 to win and $130 to start.