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Daulton Wilson learned on the first restart where not to accelerate. After that, the driver from Fayetteville had the field covered in leading all 30 laps of the eighth annual Oren Taylor Memorial Late Model race Saturday at Dublin Motor Speedway.
The race is held in memory of Taylor, who developed and owned the track in the late 1970s and 1980s. Taylor died in 2007. Prior to the feature race, Oren’s daughters — Denise Bridgers, Beverly Parks and Angie Mendell — and granddaughters were recognized.
In other races Saturday, Benji Thompson won in Super Street, Ryan Gilbert in Pure Stock, Eric Bentley in Open-Wheel Modified and James Gardner in U-Cars. There were 44 cars racing at Dublin on Saturday.
“We’ve had a fast car the last couple of weeks,” said Wilson, who won for the third straight week at Dublin and earned $3,500 for the victory. “It was just fast tonight. We had a lot of stiff competition come to town for the big money. I’m glad we could keep it home and represent Dublin real good.”
Wilson almost was passed on the first restart after a caution on lap 12 by two-time defending Taylor Memorial race champion Russell Erwin, but the two made contact going into turn one and Erwin spun.
“I got on the gas on the (first) restart and the car kind of spun the tires a little bit,” Wilson said. “I knew somebody might be coming, but I just went into turn one like I normally do. I never seen him so I didn’t give him extra room. He got into me a little bit. I hate that happened, but I never saw him.”
Erwin had to go the back of the 16-car field for the restart. He managed to work his way through the field to finish seventh.
Meanwhile, Wilson was never challenged on any of the three remaining restarts.
“I learned from that first (restart),” Wilson said. “After that, I kind of restarted in a different spot. It didn’t spin the tires as bad and we were good to go.”
Brian Strickland finished second, nearly four seconds behind Wilson. Shaun Sewell was third.
“He pretty much had the jump on us,” Strickland said. “We went with a soft compound. I’m not sure what Daulton was running. I think his power plant might be a little bit better than what we have right now. So, we’ll do a little bit more homework and try to get the set-up down to compensate for the difference and see what we can do next week.
“All in all, it was a very good race. We did a bunch of changes over the last two weeks to the car trying to get it a little bit tighter during the race. It was just a little too free from the center off this week. Maybe we can go back and do some homework and get it tightened up a little more for us.”
For Wilson, who also earned bonus money for winning the pole and leading on lap 13, Saturday’s race is about as good it gets.
“We got three in a row (at Dublin), so that’s good.” Wilson said. “This win, if not the top, really close to the top. We won a big Super Street race down here a couple years back. That was in our own car. I’m glad I got this one from Corky (Williams). This is definitely our biggest win together, so that’s real good.”
SUPER STREET
“I’d rather be lucky than good,” Benji Thompson shouted as he learned he had won the 15-lap Super Street race when the car driven by Cameron Norris IV was found to be underweight by just a few pounds during post-race inspection.
“We’ll take it like we can get it,” Thompson said. “This is our sixth win of the year. We can get outrun. That’s a fact. We’re just happy to be home in Victory Lane.”
Thompson grabbed the lead from pole-winner Norris on the start and maintained the lead after several restarts. However, on lap 10, Norris was able to draw even with Thompson on the backstretch and take the lead coming out of turn four. Thompson was able to draw even with Norris on another restart with three laps to go, but Norris maintained the lead at the line and went on to take the checkered flag. However, Norris was disqualified after the race.
“The car got real tight,” Thompson said about Norris being able to take the lead with five laps remaining. “That’s the first time we’ve lost the front end on the car all year. I think we got a little stagger problem.”
Michael Freeman finished second and Johnny Moore was third in the 10-car field.
PURE STOCK
Ryan Gilbert was the fastest in qualifying and led all 15 laps, but a half-dozen restarts still had him concerned until the end.
“That was part of the reason I jumped that restart a little bit because there had been so many that I was starting to get nervous,” Gilbert said. “It was good night. We were glad to put the car back in Victory Lane.
“The car was better than it’s been in the last couple of weeks. We made a few changes. I think we had a problem with the right rear tire. It felt like it was going flat toward the end. I was having trouble keeping it straight. It was definitely pretty good the first part of the race. We’re definitely hooked back up where we need to be.”
Elvin Matthews was second followed by Spencer Euler in the 10-car field.
OPEN-WHEEL MODIFIED
Eric Bentley breezed to a 4.6-second win over Robbie Turner in the 15-lap race. There were only four cars in the field. Bentley led all the way.
U-CAR
James Gardner beat Chris Bron in a sprint to the finish line to take the checkered flag in the 15-lap event. Bron had led from the start with Gardner close behind. Coming out of the fourth turn on the final lap, Garnder went high and beat Bron by less than 2/10ths of a second.
Here are the final results from races held Saturday, June 18.
LATE MODEL: 1. Daulton Wilson; 2. Brian Strickland; 3. Shaun Sewell; 4. Chris Blackwell; 5. Zack Blackwell; 6. Ethan Wilson; 7. Russell Erwin; 8. Travis Hair; 9. Buck Carsey; 10. Woodie Cromartie; 11. Jeremy Cumbee; 12. Brad Fowler; 13. Dean Bowen; 14. Johnny Pridgen; 15. Colleen Hammonds; 16. Lance Brasington.
SUPER STREET: 1. Benji Thompson; 2. Michael Freeman; 3. Johnny Moore; 4. Hugh Ray; 5. Jerry Dove; 6. Dustin Perritt; 7. Greg Bass; 8. Kyle Foster; 9. John Dyson; 10. Cameron Norris IV.
PURE STOCK: 1. Ryan Gilbert; 2. Elvin Matthews; 3. Spencer Euler; 4. Robbie Williams; 5. Kenny Locklear; 6. Cameron Norris III; 7. Ed Mason; 8. Chandler Fowler; 9. Kevin Williamson; 10. Michael Butler.
OPEN-WHEEL MODIFIED: 1. Eric Bentley; 2. Robbie Turner; 3. John Marshall; 4. Gary Long.
U-CARS: 1. James Gardner; 2. Chris Bron; 3. Larry Eldridge; 4. Sarah Benson.
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