 Andy
Seuss continued his hot streak and George
Brunnhoelzl III took a step toward his record fourth
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour championship
Saturday in the G-Oil 150 at Southern National
Motorsports Park.
Seuss won his third straight race.
He previously picked up wins at Caraway Speedway in
Asheboro, N.C., on Sept. 8 and Sept. 28. The first
victory broke a winless streak that extended almost
a year. He hasn't stopped winning since. Southern
National marked the 15th career win for the
26-year-old from Hampstead, N.H.
Brunnhoelzl finished second to extend his lead to 32
points over Kyle Ebersole, who finished fourth, with
one race remaining. The season finale is Thursday,
Oct. 10 on the quarter-mile on the frontstretch at
Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Burt Myers was third, followed by Ebersole and
rookie Luke Fleming.
The race was originally scheduled for Sept. 21, but
rain moved into the area after qualifying and caused
the race to be pushed to Saturday. Burt Myers had
won the Coors Light Pole Award prior to the
postponement. He has now finished in the top five in
each of the five all-time Whelen Southern Modified
Tour events at Southern National, including two
wins.
Jason Myers, JR Bertuccio, John Smith, Danny Bohn
and Thomas Stinson rounded out the top 10.
Bertuccio has recorded three top-10 finishes in a
row for just the second time in his Whelen Southern
Modified Tour career while Stinson has top 10s in
all three of his starts as a part-time competitor
this year.
It’s been a strong late-season push for Seuss, who
suffered three non-lead-lap finishes in a row in
August and sat fifth in points at the time.
“Our goal is to come and sit on the front row and
lead every lap ever since we had our bad luck, and
that’s what we’ve been doing,” Seuss said. “Eddie
Harvey (car owner) and the guys give me a car good
enough to do it, they don’t care if I burn the tires
off it – that’s their job – and we’ve gone the same
page.
“They did an awesome job at the halfway break – made
all the right adjustments – because the 28
[Brunnhoelzl] and 1 [Burt Myers] were so fast that I
wouldn’t have been able to run as hard as I did
without them making those key adjustments, so that
was big.”
For Seuss, Saturday was the third wire-to-wire win
of his Whelen Southern Modified Tour career. His 15
career triumphs rank second only to Brunnhoelzl’s
20, and he moved past L.W. Miller into second – also
behind Brunnhoelzl – on the career laps led list by
pacing the field for all 150 on Saturday.
Even though Seuss held off the field from start to
finish, he had a rearview full of Brunnhoelzl the
majority of the race. Brunnhoelzl could close in on
Seuss through the corners, but Seuss had a decided
advantage on the straightaways. When lap traffic
became a factor in the closing circuits, Brunnhoelzl
almost caught him, but Seuss was able to hold off
the challenger by barely half a car-length at the
finish line.
“We were just a tick off, off the corner, we could
get in and roll the center real good,” Brunnhoelzl
said. “If we had a couple more laps, I think we
could have done something there.”
As it was, Brunnhoelzl had to settle for his fourth
consecutive runner-up finish, but it was a finish
that all but clinched yet another Whelen Southern
Modified Tour title. When Brunnhoelzl takes the
green flag at Charlotte, the championship will be
his for the fourth time in the last five years. |
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NASCAR Whelen Southern
Modified Tour-G-Oil 150 - Unofficial Results
Saturday At Southern National Motorsports Park, Lucama, N.C.
Lap length: 0.4 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 150 laps,
81.448 mph.
2. (4) George Brunnhoelzl, III, West Babylon, N.Y.,
Chevrolet, 150.
3. (1) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 150.
4. (5) Kyle Ebersole, Hummelstown, Pa., Ford, 150.
5. (9) Luke Fleming, Mount Airy, N.C., Ford, 150.
6. (11) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 150.
7. (10) JR Bertuccio, Centereach, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
8. (7) John Smith, Mount Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 150.
9. (12) Danny Bohn, Freehold, N.J., Chevrolet, 149.
10. (14) Thomas Stinson, Chester, Va., Chevrolet, 149.
11. (8) David Calabrese, Toms River, N.J., Chevrolet, 148.
12. (13) Mike Norman, Lewisville, N.C., Chevrolet, 148.
13. (15) Jeremy Gerstner, Wesley Chapel, Fla,, Chevrolet, 147.
14. (6) Tim Brown, Rural Hall, N.C., Chevrolet, 116, suspension.
15. (3) AJ Winstead, Richmond, Va., Chevrolet, 113, mechanical.
16. (16) Daryl Lacks, Forest, Va., Chevrolet, 28, mechanical.
17. (17) Bryan Dauzat, Alexandria, La., Chevrolet, 0, dns.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 44 minutes 12 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.073 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: B. Myers (99.758 mph, 14.435 seconds)
Caution Flags: 2 for 7 laps.
Lead Changes: 0 among 1 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Seuss 1-150.
Standings: 1. G. Brunnhoelzl III, 465; 2. K. Ebersole, 433; 3. A.
Seuss, 432; 4. B. Myers, 418; 5. T. Brown, 398; 6. J. Smith, 398; 7. J.
Myers, 392; 8. L. Fleming, 367; 9. J. Bertuccio, 362; 10. D. Bohn, 356. |
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