Josh Lowder Claims 602 Modified Trophy at Caraway Speedway
Allen Vance Stays Strong With Challenger Win; Steven Collins Tops UCAR Field; Jon Morton is Still the King of the Bootleggers; Brandon Collins Takes Any Car Enduro Win
(Sophia, NC): Josh Lowder returned the Lowder Construction #63 to Caraway Speedway’s Victory Lane Saturday night. Lowder set fast time in qualifying and moved quickly to a lead he would never give up. Lowder held off early challenges from Mitchell Wright and point leader, Justice Calabro. He had to hold off a fast closing Kevin Orlando after a late race caution gave the field one final shot. Orlando finished second with Calabro third ahead of Wright, Junior Harvill, and Gary Putnam who was making his first 602 Modified start. Putnam struggled with “new car gremlins” most of the day. Jeremy Gerstner exploded a transmission in practice and Billy Gregg had engine problems.
Twelve Drivers signed in for a chance to claim a $200.00 bounty placed on Allen Vance by track promoter, Darren Hackett but at the end of the night, Vance prevailed. Brody Duggins may have had the best shot at ending Vance’s dominance but those chances went up in smoke early in the race when the engine let go in the #08. That left Corey Rose, Josh Waldron, and Dante Curtis as the biggest roadblocks for Vance. At the end of the night, Vance proved too strong for the field. Rose settled for second ahead of Curtis, Waldron, and D J Dean. Blake Shupe finished sixth with Tommy Raino, Caleb Allred, J R Goode, Brian Melville, Evan Ingraham, Duggins, and Christian Henderson completing the “Bakers Dozen”. The Challenger results are “unofficial” pending results from dyno testing on the engine from the Vance car.
As always, the UCAR Division brought a strong field to the track with nineteen drivers taking the green flag. Steven Collins continued his strong season by holding off Josh Phillips and Ron Mock for the win. Daniel Hughes finished fourth with Jason Garwood rounding out the top five. Justin Smith brought it home in sixth ahead of Jason Richmond, Blair Patterson, Jason Beck, Tito Clapp, Jeremy Moose, Barry Hines, and Jeremy Kidd. Steven Hedrick, Jamie Vance, Reid Faulkner, Kevin Johnson, Kevin Johnson, and Justin Hill completed the rundown.
Jon Morton’s is the “King of the Bootleggers”. Morton again proved unbeatable in the division with another win. This time he held off Robbie Perkins and Brandon Collins to claim the top spot. Lowe Smith, John Turner, Jaclyn Morton, and Wade Turner rounded out the finishing order.
Brandon Collins outlasted a strong Any Car Enduro field. Collins watched as his closest challengers fell by the wayside with car trouble and outran Jason Garwood and Dave Jarrett at the finish.
The “336 MEETS” team returns on June 24th with the popular “Spectator Drags”. Come test your skill with one-on-one drag races around the speedway.
Racing returns on Wednesday, June 28 with the CARS Tour Late Model Stocks “Firecracker 265”. This marks the second year in a row the popular touring series has done the mid-week event that is a “throwback” to the “Firecracker” events that Russell Hackett made so popular. A strong field of over 25 cars is expected for the Late Model Stock Division and an equally strong field should be on hand to compete for the Pro Late Model win. A “National” points race for the US Legends Cars and the Bandoleros sets the stage for CARS Tour feature events.
And coming up on Saturday, July 1st is the annual “Rusty Harpe Memorial” presented by Daggett and Shuler Attorneys. The event honors the career of Rusty Harpe and the night features the SMART Modified Tour for 99 laps with all the regular Modified teams along with 50 lappers for the 602 Modifieds and Challengers. The Caraway Class Mini Stocks are set for 40 laps paying $600.00 to win. The Bootleggers and UCAR’s round out the night.
For more information on the 2023 Caraway Speedway schedule, check us out at www.carawayspeedway.com or on facebook at Caraway Speedway or call the speedway at 336-629-5803 and someone will return your call. If you can’t make it to the track, you can catch the action at carawayspeedway.tv.
Sources: Randy Myers/Caraway Speedway PR