Oakley captures Late Model victory

Finally, Jeff Oakley cleared the hurdle that he couldn't get over the past several years at Southside Speedway.

The Prince George resident doubled his pleasure last night. He won his first Late Model Sportsman pole, then clutched his hands around his first checkered flag.

Oakley, piloting a Chevrolet Impala, dominated the 100-lap feature over the last 72 laps. After a roll of the dice (in which the top five qualifiers flipped positions) left Oakley in the fifth starting position, Oakley maneuvered his way into the lead on the 28th lap.

Oakley, who qualified with a time of 14.902 seconds, tucked in behind Billy Morris on Lap 21 before setting him up for a pass in Turn 3 on Lap 28. He took the low line, and Morris was too slow to respond.

"The [crew] gave me an awesome car," Oakley said. "It was easy to drive."

Oakley enjoyed as much as a 4-second lead over Morris. Admittedly, he was tempted to peep into his rearview mirror. But he couldn't see Morris even it he had, considering the two were often separated by lapped traffic.

"I was a little nervous about it, but the guys kept telling me we had a little distance on him," Oakley said. "I believe in my crew. I didn't even look in my mirror. I just looked at my line, and I was steadily pulling away."

That was until the yellow flag came out on Lap 81, giving Morris one more shot at overtaking Oakley on the restart.

Morris, though, didn't have a chance on the restart. Oakley pulled away to a three-car length lead, and Morris couldn't get closer.

Brandon Hendrick, second in points, was third. Points-leader Chris Dodson was fourth, followed by Greg Fernandez, Brad Davis and Shannon Marano.

In the first of two 30-lap Grand Stock features, Tommy Tatum held off Keith Mackta and Donnie Newman. Newman held off Tatum to win the second 30-lap event. Frank Silva won the 25-lap U-Car feature.

The first Grand Stock race was only two laps in before three drivers -- Troy Carter, Justin Brown and B.K. Wilson -- came together in Turn 3. Davis escaped unscathed while Brown and Wilson both pitted to repair minor damage.

The lapped traffic enabled Tatum to pull away from Newman and Macta over the last 15 laps. Macta and Newman battled for the second spot, exchanging the lead as Mark Simpson steadily closed in.

Shawn Hopkins spun out in the front straight and nearly clipped Tatum only two car lengths shy of the finish line.

"I knew I would have to deal with a couple of lapped cars, so I was ready for whatever happened," Tatum said