Chris Hicks prevailed on a steamy Saturday night at Langley Speedway in Hampton as the Southern Ground Pounders raced vintage cars in a feature.
Steven Otey was second in the field of 13, followed by Modified Division leader Matt Carter, Rodney Dye and Mack Tatum.
Langley was the seventh track on this year’s schedule for a series conducted at various venues in Virginia and North Carolina. The series is scheduled to close its season Oct. 28 during Langley’s Shawn Balluzzo Memorial program.
In other divisions Saturday:
Virginia Racers: Jacob Derrick and points leader Cody Bryant gained twin 35-lap victories.
In the opener, Derrick prevailed in less than 14 1/2 minutes, beating Ayden Millette by 1.278 seconds and third-place Matt Morgan by 1.819.
Fourteen drivers began, including fourth-place Bryant and all but two finished on the lead lap.
In the encore, Bryant replied to edge Millette by 304-thousandths of a second and third-place Garret Byrd by 465-thousandths. Derrick, who began the evening four points behind Bryant in essentially a two-driver standings competition, faded to 11th in the second race.
Modified: Matt Carter showed why he has been one of Langley’s most dominant drivers in any division this year, registering his eighth victory in 10 attempts.
Carter, the runaway standings leader, won a 50-lap race by 707-hundredths of a second over Chase Burrows. Ryley Music was third in the field of 14, 2.011 seconds behind Carter in a race that took more than 26 1/2 minutes.
Super Truck: Points leader Hunter Waltrip took less than 12 minutes to capture a 25-lap victory, outrunning Chris Bechtel by 703-thousandths of a second. It was Waltrip’s fourth victory in the division’s seven races.
Donald Brown earned third, 2.108 seconds off the lead, in a field of 12.
Pro Six: Atley Wiese cruised to a 25-lap triumph, beating Travis Wall by 1.431 seconds. Wall, who had won the division’s previous four races, began the night four points ahead of Wiese for the season.
Trey New placed third, 4.504 seconds off the lead. Eight drivers, a season-high for the group, competed for about 18 1/2 minutes.
Enduro: Charlie Bryant earned a 30-lap victory among the night’s largest grid, 18 drivers. Stephen Flinn was second and Alex Floroff third.
Cody Bryant, Charlie’s son, was eighth in his third top-eight finish of the program.
Bandolero: Brian Rundstrom Jr. extended his points lead in a close three-way finish to a 15-lap race that included 11 drivers.
Rundstrom edged Addison Schumann by 226-thousandths of a second and third-place Tristan Burnelli by 0.613 of a second in an event that lasted just less than 16 minutes. That gave Rundstrom five victories in the division’s six races of 2023.
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Saturday’s top finishers from Hampton (car numbers in parentheses):
Southern Ground Pounders: (13 starters); 1. (90) Chris Hicks; 2. (33) Steven Otey; 3. (7) Matt Carter; 4. (9) Rodney Dye; 5. (2) Mack Tatum.
Modified 50: (14 starters); 1. (78) Matt Carter; 2. (0) Chase Burrows; 3. (47) Ryley Music; 4. (11) Chris Roberts; 5. (24) Randy Sample.
Pro Six 25: (8 starters); 1. (78) Atley Wiese; 2. (44) Travis Wall; 3. (55) Trey New; 4. (67) Chris Bechtel; 5. (48) Nick Lamarche.
Super Truck 25: (13 starters): 1. (33) Hunter Waltrip; 2. (8) Chris Roberts; 3. (05) Donald Brown; 4. (19) Bill Wallace; 5. (57) Chris Bechtel.
Virginia Racers 35 #1: (14 starters); 1. (88) Jacob Derrick; 2. (9) Ayden Millette; 3. (98) Matt Morgan; 4. (08) Cody Bryant; 5. (26) Donovan Edwards.
Virginia Racers 35 #2: (14 starters); 1. (08) Cody Bryant; 2. (9) Ayden Millette; 3. (8) Garret Byrd; 4. (38) Andrew Condrey; 5. (98) Matt Morgan.
Enduro 30: (18 starters); 1. (88) Charlie Bryant; 2. (05) Stephen Flinn; 3. (17) Alex Floroff; 4. (3) Mikey Chinn; 5. (25) Ryan Vinson.
Bandolero 15: (11 starters); 1. (88) Brian Rundstrom Jr.; 2. (21a) Addison Schumann; 3. (18) Tristan Burnelli; 4. (02) Nevaeh Edwards; 5. (99) Ryleigh Rondeau.
