Ben Simmons beats Dave Porter back to the line for the win at South Boston

Friday, June 4th - South Boston Speedway The engines of the N4NItes Grand National cars fired up at a track that the N4Nites Series have never been to, but it wasn’t long before N4Nites Cup Champion Dave Porter would to assume the top of the speed charts.  Bobby Rafuse joined Porter as one of the fastest cars on the track during practice.

N4Nites Grand National Rookie Rick Porter, (brother of Dave) joined the fun for his first N4Nites ever, and was fast all night in his first N4Nites ride.  Dave Porter again took the pole alongside his brother qualifying second, Boneske taking third gave the Speedpro Team a 1, 2, 3 start.  Ben Simmons started 4th followed by teamate Jeff Prutzman and Bobby Rafuse.

The Battle was furious up front for the lead as all the drivers up front battled for the lead swapping it back and forth between drivers before Rick Porter pulled away to a nice lead.  As the first laps of the race ticked off with Rick Porter leading the way.  The rest of the field sorted itself out.  Simmons drove his car hard into second, “I just wanted to get some distance around me and run a consistent line and get used to the track, I really didn’t have any time on this track until late in practice.  My team worked feverishly to get me a setup I can work with during the race.”  Simmons told reporters after the race.

It wasn’t long before Simmons caught and passed Porter and pulled to a nice lead.   “Once I got around Rick I just tried to run consistent laps and not over drive the car, and I was really putting some distance on the field.  I was really hoping it would go green, but it wasn’t the night for a green flag race to the end.”

The cautions fell that there would be one green flag stop for a dash to the end and bring the field back to the bumper of the 94 Chevy.  “I had a good lead, and with about 18 to go I saw that 47 car get bigger and bigger in my mirror, I gave it a little more to pull the gap again, then got to the throttle a little too soon out of four and hit that bump or transition and spun the car.”

“I thought I was done, with Dave and Bobby in front of me I thought I blew my shot at the win.  So I came in and got some tires and tape."  At the restart Simmons had to get around the 18 of Rick Porter to give him a shot at the win.  “I got into him trying to get a shot at Bobby and Dave, once I got around him I was just going to have to drive my heart out to get to them.”

Rafuse and Porter battling for the win, the 24 drove into turn one and into the back of the 47 car of Rafuse turning him.  Porter slowed from the contact with Rafuse allowed the 94 to drive to the outside of the 24, the rest of was one of the closest races to the yellow for the win in N4Nites history.  Simmons powered his car on the outside of the 24 and edge Porter to the caution flag for the win.

“Once I saw Bobby get dumped, I just floored it and Dave gave me the outside and I had to take it.  I drove it in so hard I was afraid to hammer the gas, but that’s what I did, the car got a ton of grip with the new tires and I drove past him on the outside.”

After some scoring glitches almost cost the 94 the win, N4Nites officials made it right before the checkered flag awarding the win to the 94 team.

“It’s been some rough weeks for my race team, and I am so proud of my Star Wars “The Clone Wars” Team for getting me a car that had a shot at the win.  I am thrilled I was able to come through for them.  Thanks to my teammate Jeff Prutzman for giving me some tips he learned in a testing session that I could not make it to.  I have not been able to practice much at all the last two months and it shows in my driving but everything fell where I needed it to get a win.”

Race Notables

Rick Porters first start at N4Nites scored him a 6th place finish, and he shows promise of being just as good as his brother Dave.  If that’s the case, lookout we may have a Houdini Jr. on our hands!

Bobby Rafuse’s strong performance, after Simmons spin, was in perfect position to grab his first Nationwide Series win since last summer’s win at “THE ROCK” Rockingham North Carolina.  It was great to see him running for the win, before getting turned, and if it would have stayed green he would have gotten to Simmons and it would have been a fun finish.  He finished in the 3rd position.

John Boneske had another solid top 5 finish grabbing 4th, but wasn’t able to close the gap on Dave Porter the N4Nites Nationwide Series points leader.

Jeff Prutzman also scored another top 5 finish keeping himself within reach of the series championship.  Although winless to this point in the season, Jeff leads the Nationwide Series with 6 top 5 finishes.