Cameron Takes Win in April Johnson Memorial At Cochran Motor Speedway
By: Todd Shearin
Brandon Cameron took the win in the late model feature Saturday night as the National Late
Model Series made its first visit of the year to Cochran Speedway. Cameron came all the way from the 12th starting
spot to claim the much contested win by taking the lead for good on lap 45.As the green fell, pole sitter Stevie Jones jumped
out to the early lead only to see his night end on lap 6 with mechanical failure. Number 2 starter Mark Whitener also had
an unscheduled pit stop that took him out of contention. As the race settled into green flag action JR Moseley took the point
for a short time, but the wrong tire selection on the 99 car allowed Moseley to be overtaken and fade to mid pack. Meanwhile
the battle for the lead was shaping up between the 6 car of Clay Bedenbaugh, and the 22b of Cameron. These two drivers put
on a rousing display of driving as they battled for the lead, passing each other at least 5 times, not to mention multiple
laps of side by side racing. Local driver Billy Lyles stayed in the top 4 all night and made a charge late in the race as
the laps were winding down, but was unable to close the gap. As the field got the 5 to go sign, Cameron got a good run on
Bedenbaugh and made the final pass of the night and held on to take the win. The race was slowed by 9 cautions, the most dramatic
coming on the final yellow that caught up 5 cars in turns 3 and 4,thankfully no one was hurt. Last week’s winner Eric
Baggett, made it 2 in a row by taking the win in the sportsman feature. Polesitter Johnny Treble raced Baggett hard into turn
1 but came up short allowing Baggett to lead out of turn 2.The race was very quick with only 1 caution to slow the action.
Tribble was able to close in on Baggett after the leader had a slight bobble in turn 4,but Treble drove too hard into turn
2 while trying to capitalize on the error and found himself fighting to maintain control of his 66 car. That’s as close
as it would get as Baggett crossed the stripe just ahead of Chaz Haskins and Tribble who fell to the 3rd spot.
Eric Register took the pure stock feature by starting on the pole and leading every lap to notch his second win of the year
in the Fat baby Racing entry. The race had 5 cautions, the 1st of which came on lap 1 when last week’s winner
Josh Odom, got into the backstretch wall ending his night. Chris Pittman put heavy pressure on Register the whole race coming
up short after several attempts at the lead. Scott Smith continued his strong start of the year by coming home third. It was
all Dustin Miller in the cadet feature. Miller led the15 car field to the green and never relinquished the top spot. Miller
was challenged by Randall Barwick, and Darryl Dunn, but stayed cool until the end to take his second win in a row. Jason Howell
was the winner of the road warrior feature. Howell, a likable young driver started on the pole by virtue of his heat race
win and paced the field for the whole 10 laps with very little time to breathe easy as the race saw only 1 caution. Howell
is 1 of many up and coming drivers who are making their mark. Congrats to all of our winners! Also we would like to thank
all of those contributed money to longtime flagman Tracey Jackson who is still recovering from his injuries from a car wreck
a few months back. It is a true testament to the closeness of the racing community as friends showed their love by giving
over $2000.00 dollars for Bro.Tracey!!! GET WELL SOON!!! I would like to also thank Melissa church friend of driver Ricky
Burgamy for an excellent rendition of our National Anthem, nice job! Join us next week for more racing action at CMS, God
Bless All Of You.
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