CRANDALL, Texas – Three different competitors in three divisions used three different paths to victory Friday as RPM Speedway hosted the second night of the third annual Summit Southern Nationals.
Walter Hamilton came into this weekend’s event as the national points leader in the Sunoco USRA Factory Stocks, but after a late exit in Thursday’s feature he saw his advantage over defending champ Tommy Davis Jr. shrink.
Friday was a different story as the 41-year-old Dallas driver led all 20 laps from the pole position while holding off the challenges from Cody Myers to earn the $1,250 winner’s share of the prize money and his best-in-class 17th USRA Limited Mod win of 2020.
Chris Davis took third, Dalton Faulkner finished fourth and Sonny Schoffen rounded out the top five.
Kyle Blanton, Tommy Davis Jr., Nate Dixon, Thursday’s winner Bobby Ruffin and Brian Holland took sixth through tenth, respectively.
With $1,700 to win on the line courtesy of Blackwell Construction, Kaden Honeycutt came out on top of a thrilling USRA Limited Mod main event.
Polesitter Jimmy Day jumped out to the early lead and held serve for five laps before Cody Smith powered his way to the front.
Smith, who led the early stages of Thursday’s 20-lapper, had a short-lived reign as Oklahoma ace Kale Westover clawed his way into the lead at the halfway mark and led the rest of the way — except for the final few feet.
Westover, Smith and Honeycutt ran nose-to-tail around the bottom of the quarter-mile bullring for the last 10 laps while two-time USRA Limited Mod national champion and 2020 track champ Tommy Davis Jr. churned the clay around the high side of the racetrack and made it a four-way fight for the lead.
With three laps remaining, Honeycutt snuck underneath Smith, and then on the final lap Davis drove around the outside of Smith and pulled even with the leaders entering the third turn.
Running three-wide through the final corner, Westover and Honeycutt bounced through a rough patch while Davis skirted the outside guardrail.
Out of the final corner, Honeycutt drove under Westover and beat him to the finish line by a bumper — fifty-five one thousandths of a second (.055), to be exact.
Even with a hard smack in the tail from Davis, Westover had to settle for the runner-up paycheck behind the 17-year-old winner while Davis held off Smith for the third position.
Eleventh-starting Bailey Dosser finished fifth Day, Shane Hebert, Bobby Ruffin, Thomas Blackwell and Ryan Harris completing the top 10.
The USRA Tuners joined the program Friday night. After 15 laps of racing, Steven Bevills crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for an unapproved exhaust.
The win and $200 top prize was awarded to Chris Lynn.
Daniel Thompson of Mesquite wound up second, Bondy Cannon of Mineral Wells was third, Burleson’s Mark Earl claimed the fourth spot and Colton Mooney of Rhome ran fifth.