South Boston race notes 2004-11-13

Peters rallies from flat tire, restart at rear of the field to claim win in Bailey's 300 Saturday evening at SoBo

SOUTH BOSTON, VA. -- With 32 laps gone by in the Bailey's 300 Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, few people were paying much attention to Timothy Peters.

A couple of hours and 268 circuits later, however, Peters, who resides in Providence, N.C., sat in victory lane as the winner of the season-ending Bailey's 300 event and the recipient of the $15,000 winner's share of the purse.

Peters had to pit under caution during the first of eight caution periods on lap 32 to change a tire, which was going flat. Peters came back on the track moments later, still on the lead lap, but with over 30 cars in front of him.

Peters, the 2004 South Boston Speedway NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division champion, slowly went to work picking off cars and entered the top five on lap 203 when he drove past pole winner Dean Ward of Winston-Salem, N.C.

On the 204th lap, Peters secured the fourth-place position. He then set his sights on 2003 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series national champion Mark McFarland of Mooresville, N.C. Peters took third from McFarland on lap 252 and then grabbed second place from Brandon Butler of Petersburg, Va. on the 265th circuit.

After a side-by-side battle with Woody Howard of Chesapeake, Va. for a couple of circuits, Peters snagged the lead on the track with 23 laps remaining when he slipped past Howard in turn four.

Howard wound up second in the 36-car field and was followed by Butler in third place. McFarland grabbed a fourth-place finish at the close of the night, while Drew Herring of Benson, N.C. rounded out the top five competitors.

Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, Va. placed sixth in the field, while Jason Dickerson of Ruckersville, Va. finished seventh. Eighth place in the star-studded field was grabbed by Jamey Caudill of Four Oaks, N.C., while Philip Morris of Ruckersville, Va., with a ninth-place run, and Peyton Sellers of Danville, Va. rounded out the top 10 drivers in the field.

The top 15 drivers in the race earned starting slots based on time trials.

Ward was the leading qualifier in the afternoon with a time trial run of 15.911 seconds. Ward led throughout the opening half of the race and stayed in front in the closing portion before Howard swiped the advantage away on lap 179. Ward wound up finishing 11th.

David Triplett, Jr. of Durham, N.C. started outside on the front row, encountered problems early on, and wound up 34th overall.

Others among the top 15 qualifiers included Gilbert King, Morris, Howard, McFarland, Richard Landreth, Herring, Sellers, Dickerson, Caudill, Peters, Deac McCaskill, Michael Ritch and Owen Miller.

Nine cars earned spots in the field through 30-lap heat races, while an additional five drivers gained spots in the event in a last-chance 50-lap shootout.

Butler, Ray Young and Barry Beggarly garnered the top three spots in the opening heat race. Eric Sartin, Scott Worley and Ryan Rhodes finished in the top three of the second heat race, while Tony McGuire, Jimmy Mullins and Stacy Puryear secured top three positions in the final heat race.

The top five finishers in the last chance 50-lap event included Aric Almirola, Matt Jester, Jay Fogleman, Matt Southard and Dennis Holdren.

Provisional starters for the race included Johnson, Wayne Ramsey, Ronald Hill, Rodney Cook, Ernest Winslow, Frank Deiny and Todd Massey.

For more information, visit the speedway's website at www.southbostonspeedway.com or phone the track at (434) 572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540.

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