Stout Wins YesterYear's First Ever Visit To Lanier National Speedway

Eric Stout's Tour Modified

The YesterYear Racing™ League took its first trip to Georgia on Tuesday night to race the Peach Tree 150. A state known for peaches, the Allman Brothers Band, R.E.M., Uga (the World's most famous Bull Dog), and the busiest airport in the world, would play host to Round #4 of YesterYear's Tour Modified Series. A full field of 24 drivers were set to tackle the 0.375-mile bull ring in the second night race of the season. Eric Stout set the tone early by capturing pole with a blistering qualifying lap of 12.916 seconds. Starting beside him on the front row was OBRL driver Roger Hurley, who is a rookie in YesterYear this season, but a long-time veteran of the OBRL racing league. Once the green flag flew, two immediate cautions flew in the first 8 laps as drivers had to deal with changing track conditions due to the track "rubbering up," and the sun going down. From there, the race settled and drivers dealt with two long green flag runs. The first, roughly 36 laps in length, saw the drivers gradually settle into a single-file parade around the tricky Lanier bull ring. The second, a 69-lap marathon, had drivers hanging on as tires began to degrade substantially on most cars. When the caution finally flew around lap 110, almost all drivers who did not pit around lap 45 came onto pit road to change right-side tires, with two exceptions. James Lowe and his teammate Chris Worrell. Lowe, for his part, was tied with Luke "The Kid" Allen in the standings coming into the race and he valued track position over fresh tires. The strategy was to hold onto track position knowing "The Kid" was well back in the pack and would have a rough time working his way to the front with only 38 laps remaining in the race. Worrell, who sat third in points coming onto the night, played a similar strategic card by staying out. When the green flag flew again, Worrell and Lowe battled it out for the lead and even touched at one point. This was uncharacteristic of the two teammates who had worked so well together in prior rounds of the Series. This battling by two cars on old tires allowed the lead pack to stay close, and more importantly, allowed Stout to work his way back close to the front. When a late caution flew with 12 laps remaining in the race, Worrell decided to pit for fresh rubber, but got caught by taking too much time to change his two right-side tires. The result was Worrell going a lap down and falling out of the hunt for the win or a decent result. On the next restart, Lowe was re-starting on the inside, while Stout was on the outside on fresh rubber. The outside had been the preferred re-start position while the inside was the preferred racing line position once drivers began to settle. With the fresh tires, Stout made quick work of Lowe and started to pull away. Soon, Kenny Allen, who also had fresh tires, had worked his way into second and was chasing Stout. It looked like a "two-horse" race until a late caution flew due to contact between Gavin Adams and Jeff LeMire in turn 2. The result created a one-time Green/White Checkered attempt to settle the race.

With Stout starting on the inside, and Kenny Allen starting on the preferred outside lane, the green flag flew. Unfortunately for Allen, he missed a gear shift and caused a stack-up on the high line that collected several cars and once again the caution flew. With the rule package only allowing for one Green/White Checkered attempt, the race was then destined to end under caution with Stout taking the victory and James Lowe getting second. Todd Liston brought his car home in third place to round out the podium. When asked about the inaugural visit to Lanier National Speedway, Allen Wannamaker, Founder and co-owner of the YesterYear Racing™ League said, "I think it was a great race and show for the fans. Any time you get those types of green flag runs on a tight bull ring like Lanier, it is exciting to watch. The track proved tricky as it changed over the course of the night, but given the talent of the field, I was not surprised at all of the quality racing on the track."

The Series moves on to Stafford Motor Speedway for Round #5 on Tuesday, April 28, to race the YesterYear Spring Sizzler.

YesterYear Icebreaker Won By The Iceman

It was only fitting that when the checkered flag flew on the third annual YesterYear Icebreaker race at Thompson Speedway, the Iceman would come away victorious. James Lowe isn't flashy, doesn't always start on pole or set the fastest lap of the race, and doesn't always lead a huge number of laps. But Lowe is the definition of consistent and you can count on him being there at the end of almost every race he runs. That is what happened Tuesday night at Thompson Speedway in Round #3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series. "We ran into some issues during the pit stops we did in the first two races. I saw Luke and a few others stay out at Concord and South Boston, so I thought we would give that a shot here. It paid off," Lowe said in his post-race interview. Lowe qualified fourth and ran near the front all night in the 150-lap event.

Around lap 100, a caution came out where a major decision had to be made by the drivers to pit or not. Lowe and his teammate Chris "Whirlwind" Worrell both chose to stay out, as did point leader Luke Allen and a handful of other cars. Eric Stout, who started on pole and was fast all night, chose to pit as did some of the drivers from the mid-pack on back. "Restarting on the outside was a huge advantage all night. I was not in a position to do that on the next restart even though I was running up front, so I chose to pit and get fresh rubber to hopefully work my way back to the front," said Stout after the race. Stout came back out and restarted ninth, but weaving through the field proved tricky, which allowed Lowe, Worrell, and a hard charging Eric "Double E" Essary to stretch things out a bit. Essary, who had pitted on lap 46 for tires, looked to be faster than both Lowe and Worrell as the laps began to wind down. But on the back stretch Essary and Lowe touched tires which sent Essary back a few positions, but which Worrell was able to recover from. When the checkered flag flew, it was Lowe, Worrell, and a hard-charging Eric Stout on the podium. Stout was able to pick off Todd Liston, Essary, and Luke Allen in the waning laps.

Points leader Luke "The Kid" Allen, for his part, led 83 of the 150 lap race and looked to be in a position to continue his marvelous run of late. But he got loose coming off of turn four late in the race and took a trip through the infield grass. This set him back from the leaders, but he still managed to come home in fifth place after coming out on top of a very physical battle with Essary for the position. Liston drove his "Toad Design" Tour Modified to fourth place in another solid finish. Liston has been the model of consistency with a 7th, 5th, and 4th place finish in the first three round of the Series.

Twenty-one drivers took the green flag Tuesday night at Thompson. The race saw five cautions for twenty laps and took 53 minutes to complete. The Series takes next week off before returning to Lanier National Speedway on Tuesday, April 21 for Round #4. James Lowe and Luke Allen are tied for the points lead with 530 points each, while Chris Worrell sits in third with 490 points followed by Todd Liston at 462 points.

Luke Allen Crowned King of the Modifieds at SoBo

King of the Modifieds crown.

It was a family affair last night at South Boston Speedway as Luke Allen, known simply as "The Kid," led 115 laps to capture victory at the tight, 0.40-mile bull ring oval. Allen dominated most of the night and seemed to be able to run any racing line the track had to offer. The win was even more impressive due to the fact that the entire 27-car field pitted at least once, except for "The Kid." "It looked to me like he Iron-maned it out for the second race in a row and still seemed to be able to put his car anywhere he wanted to at SoBo. That is not easy to do, especially because the track started getting really greasy late in the race," said League Founder and driver Allen Wannamaker after the race.

Coming in second place was Luke's Father, Kenny Allen. Kenny led 35 laps of the race and was up front most of the night battling his Son. An early wreck caused Kenny some minor car damage, but he was able to work his 600-horsepower Tour Modified stock car back up the field and steer it home into second spot on the podium. Rounding out the podium was James Lowe who was strong all night, but had trouble working his way through the field. "I made a driver error during that pit stop run. I pitted on the back stretch by accident and had to come all the way around since my pit box was on the front stretch. That set us back a bit, but we were able to work our way back up to third. We'll take it and move on to Thompson," said Lowe in his post-race interview.

The race saw nine cautions waive as the famed short track began to take its toll on the field. Pole sitter Eric Stout was battling "The Kid" during the first few laps of the race and got loose down on the low line causing a huge "parking lot" to form behind. A few laps later his teammate A.J. Hamel also spun with more carnage in his wake. "It was a bit of a tough night again for the drivers. We had nine cautions tonight which is a lot, but this track will do that to you. The real-life King of the Modifieds race took place here at SoBo just over a week ago and they had eight cautions and only ran 125 laps. We ran 150 laps and got nine cautions, so I guess that is about par for the course here," said Wannamaker. Torrance Childs, Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing League added, "If you finished the night on the lead lap, you were a survivor. There weren't many cars that drove out of here tonight without a scratch." When the Speedy Dry™ settled at the end of the night, Luke Logan Allen drove away from South Boston with a 25-point lead over James Lowe in the overall point standings and in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings. Chris "Whirlwind" Worrell is another 25 points behind Lowe and currently sits third in the point standings.

The drivers will make the long trip from South Boston, Virginia to Thompson, Connecticut and will tackle Thompson Speedway next Tuesday, April 7 for Round 3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified season. When asked about the upcoming race at Thompson Speedway, driver Kenny Allen said he had a "score" to settle at Thompson since he feels like he was in a position to win the race last year, but spun in the closing laps.

Round 3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified series from Thompson Speedway will be broadcast on the Virtual Grip Network.