JAMAICA, Va. — Jeremy Pilkerton held off Ray Love Jr. to take home the victory in the Victory Lap Pro Late Models at Virginia Motor Speedway on opening night of the season.
“I’m not sure I could have caught Bud Stinson, my car was a little free,” Pilkerton said. “I hate what happened on the last lap but we were going for the win.”Â
Stinson took the lead on the drop of the green flag and pulled out to a considerable lead. Pilkerton would work to close the gap on the leader. On lap 16, Pilkerton began to close in as the two leaders worked through lapped traffic.
On lap 18 Stinson broke coming out of turn four, ending his night. Over the last 16 laps of the 30-lap feature, Pilkerton paced the field with eleventh starting Love Jr. trying to get by for the lead.
On the last lap heading into turn three, they touched sending Love around, with Pilkerton going on to score the win. Rounding out the top five were Curtis Hughes, Tyler Dettor, Davis Lipscombe, and Love Jr.
In the Budweiser Modified 25 lap feature two-time defending Champion Chase Butler took the lead on lap two from Rick Hulson and never looked back taking the win.
In the Truckin Thunder Sportsman 25 lap feature, Tim Shelton stole the win in the latter stages of the race.
The Collision One Limited Stock Car 20-lap feature saw Johnny Brooks start off where he left in 2022, taking the victory. Brooks took the lead on lap two and never looked back cruising to the win.Â
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 8-Jeremy Pilkerton[4]; 2. 7H-Curtis Hughes[7]; 3. 28-Tyler Dettor[9]; 4. 71-Davis Lipscombe[5]; 5. 08-Ray Love Jr[11]; 6. 14C-Chuck Bowie[2]; 7. 51S-Garrett Donnell[10]; 8. 29H-Billy Hubbard[3]; 9. 10-Matt Ashworth[8]; 10. 37-Bud Stinson[1]; 11. 38-Nicolas Love[6]