JACKSONVILLE, NC – Ryan Newman picked up the victory in the SMART Modified Tour’s 99-lap race on Saturday morning at New River All American Speedway, his first at the Jacksonville track.
Newman took the lead from Danny Bohn in the closing laps of the race, which was pushed to Saturday morning after lightning and rain prompted a postponement on Friday night. After passing Bohn, Newman drove away from the field to score his second SMART Modified Tour victory.
“I really thought [Bohn] was going to put up more of a fight because I was only using 98 percent of what I had,” Newman said in victory lane. “This was a lot of fun. I’ve got to thank everybody here at New River All American Speedway because of what we went through last night, to come back here this morning and force every driver in the garage to get up early. Obviously, I’m enjoying it the most but thanks to everybody for putting in the work.”
As lightning holds followed by heavy rain forced New River All American Speedway and officials from the SMART Modified Tour to pull the plug, a decision was made by the track, series and drivers to come back on Saturday morning and race before heading to Carteret County Speedway on Saturday night. The decision leads to a historic first in pavement racing, the first time a touring series has run two races at two different tracks on the same day.
For Newman, who competed in NASCAR for two decades, the challenge is welcome.
“I’m used to 500 miles, so 99 laps and another 99 laps won’t be too terrible for me,” Newman added.
Danny Bohn finished in the second position while Luke Baldwin, Carson Loftin and Jack Baldwin rounded out the top-five.
Dale Ogburn was victorious in a Carolina Crate Modified Series feature that saw two other drivers suffer mechanical failures while leading.
First, Sean McElearney lost the lead, faded and eventually retired from competition, handing the lead to Dylan Ward on lap 11. Then, on lap 37, Ward’s car lost power while leading over Ogburn, forcing Ward to retire and handing the lead to the eventual winner.
“We just stuck it out and appreciate everybody racing me clean,” Ogburn said in victory lane. “We couldn’t be more excited about this. We weren’t feeling too good this morning, I guess we had some bad food, but we almost didn’t show up to race. I’m glad we did.”
Aaron Layden picked up the victory in the Champ Kart feature with a last lap pass on Corey Lucas.
“Me and Corey, we raced each other clean,” Layden said. “I just wanted to pull out, drag race him back and however it worked out, it worked out. I want to thank everyone for their help.”
New River All American Speedway will resume its racing season on Saturday, September 7, 2024 with Late Models headlining the first NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series race since late-July.
Unofficial Results
SMART Modified Tour
1.) #2 – Ryan Newman; 2.) #24 – Danny Bohn; 3.) #7VA – Luke Baldwin; 4.) #23 – Carson Loftin; 5.) #7NY – Jack Baldwin; 6.) #15 – Brian Loftin; 7.) #63 – Josh Lowder; 8.) #12NC – Jake Crum; 9.) #1 – Burt Myers; 10.) #16VA – Jonathan Cash; 11.) #25 – Tom Buzze; 12.) #27 – Blake Barney; 13.) #02 – Joey Coulter; 14.) #45 – Gary Young, Jr.; 15.) #18 – Daniel Yates; 16.) #21W – Jimmy Wallace; 17.) #22 – Jason Tutterow; 18.) #99 – Jimmy Blewett; 19.) #8 – John-Michael Shenette; 20.) #4 – Jason Myers; 21.) #21 – Dwight Sauls; 22.) #24X – Carsten DiGiantomasso; 23.) #79 – Anthony Bello; 24.) #48 – Jonny Kay
Carolina Crate Modified Series
1.) #1 – Dale Ogburn; 2.) #76 – James Blewett; 3.) #63 – Dean Lowder; 4.) #36 – Rich Cooper; 5.) #12 – Cody Norman; 6.) #7NY – Tristin Bruce; 7.) #82 – Mason Lawson; 8.) #9 – Gabriel Saavedra; 10.) #40 – Andy Avery; 11.) #39 – Greg Newman; 12.) #5 – Dylan Ward; 13.) #98 – Sean McElearney
Champ Kart
1.) #2 – Aaron Layden; 2.) #28 – Corey Lucas; 3.) #08 – Curtis Lanier; 4.) #72 – Harry Artemisio; 5.) #13 – Miles Rochelle
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 and/or follow @newriverswy on X (formerly known as Twitter).
