Patrick Williams struggled at times but he and car owner Tom Sytsma shared the spotlight at the end of the night.
We could be wrong but we counted 19 cautions in the 1st Annual Veterans 100 at Charlotte County Motorsports Park Saturday night. That's one shy of one for each car that started the race. There was a caution on the first lap and bone charring smashup in front of the flag stand as the checkered flag waved at lap 100.
All the cautions but two were caused by a handful of cars fighting for 12th place.
Steve Dorer set fast time in his Cagle Auto/ Racecar Engineering #10 late model. The field was inverted by three and that set the elder statesman of the field, Dave Pletcher on the pole.
Pletcher sent the pace until eight cautions into the race. That would be lap 41, if you were measuring the race by laps. Dorer who had jumped into the second spot right out of the gate followed by ProCup star Billy Bigley, Jr., passed Pletcher on the outside. Pletcher slid all the way to sixth where he remained most of the race.
As Dorer passed Pletcher, Patrick Williams in the number 77 passed Bigley and with Wayne Anderson in fourth the stage looked set up for one of those classic battles of the titans. It never materialized as the top cars ran single file most of the race.
--Advertisement--
The one good long run lasted 20 laps and just as the leaders caught the back of the field at lap 84, chaos ensued in turns one and two when the 84k of Matt Bowers and the 36 of young Ross Chastain got together. Patrick Williams narrowly averted disaster as his machine spun around and stopped just shy of a wall slammer with the 14th yellow in the hands of the flagman.
Of course a good old fashioned short track race on Saturday night needs some drama and controversy, and it came two laps later. Williams decided at lap 85 it was time to go, but Dorer was not going to lose his position easily. As the two came through one and two it appeared that the cars made contact. Going down the back straight side by side, with Williams on the bottom, the two cars battled for the spot and Dorer ended up in the wall with a toasted race car.
Williams had a nice hole in the side of his car but was able to continue, was never seriously challenged and won the event.
Dorer was sure the officials made a mistake in not sending Williams to the rear but the turn three flagman saw it differently.
"Big Daddy" Dave Pletcher started to move to the front in the late stages of the race, making it into fourth but blew his motor going down the back straightaway. He said afterwards, as he sat in the infield waiting for the marathon to conclude, "It's my luck, I run good for 75 laps and then...." He was referring to similar luck this year at DeSoto Speedway.
As the cars came to the finish line, Tommy Styer driving his car hard after finally getting it to run decent, passed Richie Anderson for fifth place. Behind him several cars fought hard for the 7-10 spots, Chastain and Sean LeMaster in the #8 and another car were involved in what several officials described as a "silly accident".
Patrick Williams was one happy race car driver in the winners circle and shared the spotlight with his car owner Tom Sytsma.
Billy Bigley Jr was at Charlotte for two sons, Corey and Dillon, both racing in the four cylinder division. Bigley will miss the Governors Cup, which he won in 1998, due to scheduling conflicts with his boys.
Patrick Williams will be spotting for Wayne Anderson on this coming Saturday as Anderson goes for his third Governors Cup win.
Randy Anderson, son of Wayne Anderson, started the Veterans 100 at the rear of the field. He and Chuck Burkhalter both left the race very early.
Pletcher sent the pace until eight cautions into the race. That would be lap 41, if you were measuring the race by laps. Dorer who had jumped into the second spot right out of the gate followed by ProCup star Billy Bigley, Jr., passed Pletcher on the outside. Pletcher slid all the way to sixth where he remained most of the race.
Of course a good old fashioned short track race on Saturday night needs some drama and controversy, and it came two laps later. Williams decided at lap 85 it was time to go, but Dorer was not going to lose his position easily. As the two came through one and two it appeared that the cars made contact. Going down the back straight side by side, with Williams on the bottom, the two cars battled for the spot and Dorer ended up in the wall with a toasted race car. 