Southern Raceway
Brantley wins Southern Raceway's 2012 opener
By Jonathan Joiner
DirtonDirt.com correspondent
Stephen Brantley claimed Southern Raceway's season opener. (Jonathan Joiner)
MILTON, Fla. (Feb. 25) — Stephen Brantley of Monroeville, Ala., debuted a new race car and started off the 2012 season in style Saturday night at Southern Raceway, picking up a $1,000 Super Late Model victory in the 3/8-mile track’s season-opening Winter Nationals event. | Slideshow
In a race that was pushed back a week because of rain, Brantley inherited the lead when fast qualifier Joseph Joiner lost power under a lap-18 caution and led the final seven laps of the 25-lap main event.
Joiner, the 18-year-old hometown driver who won 11 races and the Late Model championship at Southern Raceway in 2011, picked up where he left off last year by jumping out to the early lead and dominating the majority of the race. Joiner’s night was cut short, however, when a torn fan belt forced him to hand over the lead and retire early.
Brantley fell from the second starting spot to the third on the start of the race, allowing Frank Wilson of Harold, Fla., to move up to second. He regained the position from Wilson on lap eight. Wilson battled back and looked under Brantley but spun after the two made contact on lap 10.
The move past Wilson put Brantley in position to take the lead when Joiner fell out, and he held the spot through a number of late restarts. Brantley, who bought the car from local standout Shep Lucas of McKenzie, Ala., earlier in the week, was thrilled with the win after working hard just to make it to the event.
“It was awesome to win this race. We worked our tails off the last two days just to get here,” said Brantley. “We bought the car on Wednesday, put the motor in last night, and didn’t even have time to scale the car before coming to the track.”
Joiner, who has now suffered mechanical trouble and failed to finish each of the five Winter National events he has entered in his career, was unhappy about the end result but optimistic after running so good for most of the race.
“It’s disappointing the way it went. We had a super-fast racecar, but it’s not the way we wanted to start the 2012 season,” said Joiner.
Jared Watson of Andalusia, Ala., finished second for his career-best finish at Southern Raceway while Tracy Sutton of Flomaton, Ala., finish third. Martin Lilland of Crestview, Fla., and Josh Huss of Flomaton, Ala., rounded out the top five in a race that was plagued by cautions and cut short by five laps because of a time limit.
Southern Raceway takes a week off before starting weekly action on March 10.
Southern Raceway: (1) Stephen Brantley, (2) Jared Watson, (3) Tracy Sutton, (4) Martin Lilland, (5) Josh Huss, (6) Tyler Allen, (7) Roger Pack, (8) Joseph Joiner, (9) John Wright, (10) Jason Phillips, (11) Chris Hoomes, (12) Todd Jones, (13) Frank Wilson, (14) Craig Turner, (15) Randy Polk, (16) Kevin Maher. Fast qualifier: Joiner, 15.397 seconds.
Correction: Fixes spelling of Stephen Brantley's first name
