Photo Credit: Any Marquis
SWANSBORO, NC – Rusty Daniels secured the Eastern Carolina Late Model Mania championship in Sunday night’s Solid Rock Carriers Labor Day Classic at Carteret County Speedway.
Taking the average from each competitor’s best two results in Late Model Mania races at Southern National Motorsports Park and Carteret County Speedway, Daniels finished the four race series with the best average. With his triumph in the series, Daniels nets a $1,000 bonus and is guaranteed a starting spot in the Thanksgiving Classic, which will be run at Southern National on November 26th.
“We hope we don’t have to use it at all,” Daniels said about the guaranteed starting spot. “We hope we’re at least in the top-10 anyway. We’re going to go and do some more testing to see if we can get that car better. See how things work out.”
The 44-year-old from Alliance, North Carolina has been a mainstay on the racing scene in Eastern North Carolina, with victories at Southern National Motorsports Park and East Carolina Motor Speedway throughout his career. It was his experience and success at Southern National that paid off in the Late Model Mania series.
Daniels picked up two top-five finishes in the Late Model Mania races held at the 4/10-mile track in Lucama, North Carolina, while fourth place finisher Ryan Haddock only had one top-five finish. Neither series runner-up Eric Winslow or third place finisher Chris Burns notched a top-five at Southern National, even though both scored victories at Carteret County Speedway – with Winslow’s Late Model Mania win coming on Sunday night in the second of two races.
“We didn’t have the best car,” Winslow said. “We’ve got to get our stuff together. Right place, right time, enough laps to hold off Michael Tilley. We really swung for the fences, just glad we could get it done.”
Tyler Matthews, who won the track championship at Southern National Motorsports Park in 2016 and appears destined to win the Carteret County Speedway track championship this year, won in the first of two races.
Brandon Clements won the Mini Stock feature on Sunday night, his third consecutive Labor Day Classic Mini Stock win while Jonathon Belfiore won in Street Stocks, Brenton Irving won in Legends.
Travis Miller was first to the checkered flag in the U-CAR race but Adam Resnick picked up the victory after Miller failed postrace technical inspection for being too light across the scales. With his victory, Resnick took home $800 after collecting a $500 bounty on Travis Miller which was put up by Mallard Propane.
