.J.R.
Bertuccio earned his first trip to Victory Lane the
hard way.
The 32-year-old from Centereach, N.Y., had to hold
off four-time NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour
champion George Brunnhoelzl III on a
green-white-checkered finish to win Saturday's
Southern National 150. The win came in Bertuccio's
28th career start. He had three previous top fives
with his best finish coming at Caraway Speedway with
a third-place run in the 2014 season opener.
“This is a new car to us,” Bertuccio said, “we’ve
always run a different kind of chassis, but we’ve
just got a good combination going. My guys are
paying attention and they’re working hard. I just
can’t wait to see what the season brings.”
Bertuccio took the lead from Brunnhoelzl III, who
started from the pole, on lap 11 and held on for the
remainder of the evening. He survived five restarts,
including the final one which set up the
green-white-checkered finish.
Saturday night’s victory moves Bertuccio one point
ahead of Andy Seuss, 89 to 88, in the championship
standings. The tour heads back to Caraway (N.C.) in
two weeks, with Bertuccio confident that he can
improve on his third-place finish from a week ago.
“We were great at Caraway,” Bertuccio said. “Believe
it or not, we actually found some things wrong with
the car. We can’t believe we finished third [there]
and I think we’ll be even better than the last time
we were at Caraway. I can’t wait for two weeks.”
While Bertuccio held on to the top spot for the
better part of the evening, the second through
fifth-place spots remained an open game for a
handful of drivers.
On the final restart, Kyle Ebersole managed to slip
past Brunnhoelzl to take second, forcing the
defending tour champion to settle for a third-place
finish. An unfortunate turn of events for
Brunnhoelzl III, who seemed on his way to seriously
challenge Bertuccio for the lead.
“The third place finish is really tough,” said
Brunnhoelzl III. “The guys worked really hard and,
we had the lead right there if that last caution
hadn’t come out. That’s tough, but I’m glad to see
JR in Victory Lane. I wish it were me, but I’m glad
it’s him.”
The green-white-checkered finish extended the race
to 155 laps. Overall, there were five cautions for a
total of 20 laps.
Andy Seuss and Jason Myers crossed the line fourth
and fifth respectively. They were followed by Luke
Fleming, Gary Putnam, rookies Joe Ryan Osborne and
Spencer Davis, and Bryan Dauzat to round out the top
10.
The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour will be off
next weekend before running at Caraway (N.C.)
Speedway on Saturday, March 29.
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NASCAR Whelen Southern
Modified Tour-Southern National 150 Results
Saturday At Southern National Motorsports Park, Lucama, N.C.
Lap length: 0.4 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (3) JR Bertuccio, Centereach, N.Y., Chevrolet, 155 laps,
68.173 mph.
2. (2) Kyle Ebersole, Hummelstown, PA, Ford, 155.
3. (1) George Brunnhoelzl, III, West Babylon, N.Y.,
Chevrolet, 155.
4. (7) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 155.
5. (10) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, NC, Ford, 155.
6. (14) Luke Fleming, Mount Airy, N.C., Ford, 155.
7. (13) Gary Putnam, Vernon, Conn., Chevrolet, 155.
8. (11) Joe Ryan Osborne, Holland, Pa., Chevrolet, 155.
9. (9) Spencer Davis, Dawsonville, Ga., Pontiac, 155.
10. (12) Bryan Dauzat, Alexandria, La., Chevrolet, 155.
11. (6) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 155.
12. (4) Danny Bohn, Freehold, NJ, Chevrolet, 155.
13. (18) Mike Norman, Lewisville, NC, Chevrolet, 154.
14. (5) Brian Loftin, Lexington, NC, Chevrolet, 153.
15. (17) Thomas Stinson, Chester, VA, Chevrolet, 152.
16. (16) Bobby Measmer, Jr., Concord, N.C., Chevrolet, 150.
17. (8) A.J. Winstead, Bon Air, Va., Chevrolet, 123.
18. (15) David Calabrese, Toms River, N.J., Chevrolet, 103, mechanical.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 54 minutes 34 seconds
Margin of Victory: .346 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: G. Brunnhoelzl III (99.194 mph, 14.517 seconds)
Caution Flags: 5 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: G. Brunnhoelzl III 1-10; J. Bertuccio 11-155.
Standings: 1. J. Bertuccio, 89; 2. A. Seuss, 88; 3. G. Brunnhoelzl,
III, 84; 4. B. Myers, 79; 5. L. Fleming, 74; 6. J. Myers, 72; 7. K.
Ebersole, 72; 8. D. Bohn, 70; 9. J. Osborne, 70; 10. G. Putnam, 69. |
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