JACKSONVILLE, NC – Brandon Clements dominated Saturday’s Ronnie Hetu Memorial, scoring the win in the $1,000-to-win Mini Stock race at New River All-American Speedway.
Clements led all but one lap in the headline feature and drove away from reigning division champion Travis Miller in the closing laps. After the race, Clements said he would donate half his winnings from the race to the family of Ryley Wysinger, a four-year-old who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma of the neck.
“I think we’re going to donate half of it back to the cause for that little girl,” Clements said in victory lane. “That’s what it’s all about. Sometimes, people just have a little rougher time than you do. I think that’s the best thing to do. I want to thank Travis [Miller] for racing me clean. We’ve had a rough couple of weeks so it’s nice to be able to park one in victory lane.”
Travis Miller ended up settling for a runner-up position.
“I don’t mind coming second place to Brandon,” Miller stated. “He’s the dominant car in this area in Mini Stock. To even be able to contend with him is an honor. It’s a privilege to honor Ronnie Hetu out here. He’s had a hand in all these cars and showed up all the ropes throughout the years. They’re definitely part of our racing family and dearly missed.”
Curtis Lanier, Zac Reimer, and Randy Hewett rounded out the top five.
The victory in the Mini Stock race wasn’t the only win Clements celebrated.
Earlier in the evening, he spotted for Tyler Chapman in a pair of Charger features. Tyler Chapman led wire-to-wire in the first of the two 20-lap races but had to race his way up through the field in the second race. After being involved in an early skirmish, Chapman was able to reel in Mike Jones and David Barnes in the closing laps, making the pass for the lead and the win with just five laps remaining in the race.
“All in all, great night,” Chapman said. “Everybody on this crew helped us get this thing fixed. It was a rocket ship, even with the damage. It feels pretty good. First full year running Charger and this is pretty fun. Winning the championship is the goal. We just have to make sure everything goes right in the races to come.”
With the sweep, Chapman has all but clinched a spot in the Race for the Championship.
Kevin Wrenn picked up his first career Bomber win in a thriller over Hunter Brown and Eddie Humphrey.
“It’s been a blast out here,” Wrenn commented. “It is unreal. It’s unreal right now. I cannot believe that I actually got first place.”
Aaron Layden picked up the victory in Champ Karts while Joseph Bryant won in Mini Cup.
Results
BOMBER | RACE 25 Laps | 00:22:06.574
1. 41-Kevin Wrenn[2]; 2. 11-Hunter Brown[3]; 3. 14-Eddie Humphrey[15]; 4. 3X-Andrew Jackson[14]; 5. 17-Brian Gooden[4]; 6. 13-Tom Bonner[7]; 7. 33-Nathan Hall[9]; 8. 3-Johnny Floyd[1]; 9. 28-Bubba Parker[8]; 10. 4-Chad Cunningham[11]; 11. 77-Richard Smith[5]; 12. 66-Ronnie Kropp[10]; 13. 35-Paul Speight[13]; 14. 83-Robert Drum[6]; 15. 34-Michael Withrow[12]
CHAMP KART | RACE 20 Laps | 00:11:38.700
1. 5-Aaron Layden[4]; 2. 211-Jacob Tingen[1]; 3. 28E-Josh Eubanks[3]; 4. 55-Corey Lucas[2]; 5. 27-Todd Grinolds[6]; 6. 7X-Tripp Dail[10]; 7. 20-Martin Grasso[8]; 8. 11-Hunter Gonia[7]; 9. 127-Jimmie Whitehurst[11]; 10. (DQ) 28-Jonah Lind[5]
MINI STOCK | RACE 50 Laps | 00:19:01.868
1. 7-Brandon Clements[1]; 2. 99-Travis Miller[2]; 3. 2-Curtis Lanier[6]; 4. 99Z-Zac Reimer[3]; 5. 55-Randy Hewett[5]; 6. 38B-Joseph Bryant[8]; 7. 03-Cornell Williams[7]; 8. 32-Andrew Deal[9]; 9. 08-Joseph Pittman[4]; 10. 13-Ricky Houser[11]; 11. 14-Joey Vereen[10]
CHARGER | RACE 1 20 Laps | 00:09:06.203
1. 51-Tyler Chapman[1]; 2. 6-Mike Jones[2]; 3. 21-David Barnes[3]; 4. 71-Gator Williams[4]; 5. 77-Hugh Ray[6]; 6. 88-Billy Slater[5]
CHARGER | RACE 2 20 Laps | 00:16:16.000
1. 51-Tyler Chapman[5]; 2. 6-Mike Jones[2]; 3. 21-David Barnes[3]; 4. 77-Hugh Ray[4]; 5. 71-Gator Williams[6]
MINI CUP | RACE 20 Laps | 00:12:26.662
1. 38-Joseph Bryant[1]; 2. 25-Matthew Brewer[8]; 3. 24-Chris Brewer[2]; 4. 73-Matt Grainger[6]; 5. 40-Bobby Memory Jr[4]; 6. 10-Landon Strickland[5]
New River All-American Speedway returns to action on Saturday, April 1 with the Spring Duel, headlined by the Grand National Super Series. Super Trucks, Chargers, Legends, Bandoleros, Bombers and Champ Karts will all be in action as well.
New River All-American Speedway is Jacksonville’s Action Attraction featuring racing and other events. For more information about New River All-American Speedway, check out the speedway’s website, like/follow “New River Speedway” on Facebook, follow @newriverswy on Twitter, or follow the track on Instagram.
