Southern Pro Challenge PR
With Mother Nature eliminating the March 28th opening event at Lanier National Speedway, she tried again with vengeance to do the same this past Saturday. With torrential rains and tornadoes pounding the Atlanta area Friday night, all wondered would we race on Saturday. Early morning skies looked doubtful, but the afternoon brought sunny and breezy conditions to the area. And that’s all 11 year old Kyle Benjamin needed to take his number 71 Benjamin Motorsports Monte Carlo to the front.
After starting 5th in the main event, he followed the number 2 car of Brady Boswell and the leader Kyle Wilson in his number 05 car until the timing was right to make his pass for the lead. The drop of the green saw the 05 of Wilson on the pole with the 32 truck of Jacob Wallace on the outside. Hard racing coming off turn 2 kept Wallace from dropping to the bottom, which enabled the number 2 car of Boswell and the 71 of Benjamin to pull behind the 05 of Wilson. The first lap had Wilson leading with Boswell 2nd, Benjamin 3rd, Wallace 4th and Hunter Kent in the number 7 car running 5th. Lap 3 saw Benjamin moving around Boswell to take over the 2nd spot, however, on lap 5 Anderson Bowen spun coming off turn 2 bringing out the caution. When the green flag fell, Wilson was able to hold off the hard charging Benjamin with Boswell and Kent in pursuit. However on lap 11, one small slip going into turn one by Wilson enabled Benjamin and Boswell to get by. Thus giving the lead to Benjamin with Boswell running a close 2nd and Wilson and Kent making it a tight 4 for the lead. With good clean racing throughout the remainder of the event, Benjamin was able to bring home the win with Boswell 2nd, Wilson 3rd and Kent 4th.
Newcomers Jacob Wallace, Anderson Bowen, John Morgan Tullis, Austin Raines and Trevor Hoek show there is up and coming talent in this series of racing. With Anderson Bowen spinning on lap 5, he maintained his composure to finish 6th and on the same lap as the leaders with John Morgan Tullis following closely behind.
Pro Challenge racing resumes on Saturday April 25th for South Region points at Lanier National Speedway with the first National Points event in this region being held on Saturday May 9th.
Special thanks go out to Sam Nelson, the new engine builder in this region, for his presence on our opening day event. His involvement within our series will enhance our continued growth.
