Marchbanks Takes South Carolina 250 Thriller at Florence
TIMMONSVILLE, SC (November 14) – Anderson, SC’s Janson Marchbanks outdueled veteran Michael Faulk in a dash to the checkered flag to win Saturday night’s 100-lap Limited Late Model race at Florence Motor Speedway presented by Renegade Race Fuels. It capped an exciting first half of the Charlie Powell Memorial weekends at the newly refurbished 4/10-mile oval.
“That was some intense racing, hopefully, Michael [Faulk] is not too mad at me, it was just good door-to-door racing on the last lap,” said Marchbanks afterwards. “I knew those last restarts were going to be very, very wild, but I just can’t think of anything better than to be in victory lane.”
Ryan Glenski started on the pole after setting the quick time with a speed of 80.976 miles per hour. Outside polesitter Braden Rogers would take the lead on the initial start, but Glenski would power back around on the second lap.
The first major contact of the night occurred on lap 20 when Christian Rose spun in turn one and was slammed hard by Avery Moore. Glenski continued to lead through several restarts, before two hard accidents occurred in the second half of the race. The first happened on lap 63 when Eric Wallace got sideways exiting turn four and was hit hard by Toni Breidinger. Four laps later, several cars got taken out in an accident on the backstretch, including Kade Brown, Zack Miracle, and Nate Tretow.
All the while, multi-time Florence winner Averitt Lucas was making his way up the leaderboard. Following a caution on lap 86 for a spin by Amber Slagle, Lucas was able to get the advantage over Glenski on the restart to take the lead. The two continued to battle until lap 90 when they made contact entering turn one, causing both leaders to spin.
With Lucas and Glenski out of contention for the win, Faulk became the leader, while Marchbanks was making his way up through the top five. Another spin by Lucas on lap 98 set up a two-lap run for the checkers. Marchbanks and Faulk touched entering turn one on the final lap giving Marchbanks the advantage he needed to take the win over Faulk, Chris Chapman, Boo Boo Dalton, and Rogers. Rounding out the top 10 were Matt Gould, Ethan Johnson, William Cox, III, Anthony Miller, and Wallace.
The Supertrucks also competed in a 100-lapper with Cody Kelley holding off veteran Strom Altman for the win. Clint King took the lead on lap nine from polesitter Jody Measamer and set the pace through much of the first 50 laps. King, running the high line, and Kelley would go back and forth through the middle portions of the race. The wildest ride of the night was for Measamer, who spun off the backstretch with 36 laps to go while battling for 5th against Adam McCumbee. King started to fade, allowing Kelley to move into the lead for good with 26 laps to go. Kelley led the rest of the way for the Supertruck win over Altman, Robert Tyler, King, and Dusty Garrus. Rounding out the top 10 were Lucas Williams, McCumbee, Measamer, Matt Cox, and Cliff Fields.
Ricky Locklair, Jr. led flag-to-flag to take the win after 50 laps of Street Stock competition. New Hampshire’s Alby Ovitt finished a strong second, over Robert Fillipiak, Ricky Locklair, and Todd Amerson.
The next event at Florence Motor Speedway will be the second half of the Charlie Powell Memorial weekends presented by Solid Rock Carriers. A star-studded field of drivers led by NASCAR National Champion, Josh Berry, will compete for $10,000 to win in Saturday, November 21st 225 lap race. Also in action will be the Carolina Pro Late Model Series, SMART Tour-Type Modifieds, and Allison Legacy cars. Gates open to fans at 2 PM next Saturday afternoon, with qualifying at 2:15 PM, and features set to begin at 4 PM. Be sure to “Like” Florence Motor Speedway on Facebook, follow @FlorenceMSpdwy on Twitter to keep up on all that’s going on in 2020 or visit fmspeedway.com.
Sources: Alan Dietz/Florence Motor Speedway PR