Hopkinson Wins Impressively at South Boston

Derek Hopkinson drove from a thirteenth place starting position to take the win at South Boston in the OSR Late Model race tonight.

Nineteen cars took the green flag for the 100-lap race, with Chase Robertson on the pole in the number three car. The early portion of the race saw quite a few caution periods, mostly due to the seventeen car of Ryan Farbo. On lap two, Farbo wrecked the number twenty-three car of David Williams, putting Williams out of the race. The number twenty-six of Robert Rose and the number twenty-two of Chad Pontius were also caught up in the incident.

Green flag racing resumed momentarily with Hopkinson pulling away in first, leaving Jeff Kendrick in number forty-one and Jose Olivas in number eighty-seven to battle for second. The caution flew again on lap eight as the number five car of Stephen Raughton got together with Chad Arnold in car number twelve. Raughton hit the inside wall going into turn three, bounced off, and then hit the outside wall, then proceeded to go for a wild ride. Several other cars were involved.

The green flag fell again briefly on lap fourteen, followed by another caution on lap sixteen when the number ninety-one car of Eric Lambert tapped the number ten car of John Houston. Houston decided to park it after the incident.

After the green flag waved again on lap twenty-two, Ryan Farbo apparently decided to door another car. This time it was the number ninety-nine car of Jacob Young. Young parked his car as a result of that incident.

Meanwhile, Derek Hopkinson had quietly moved into the fifth position by the time the green flag waved again on lap twenty-nine. Kendrick and Olivas were still battling for second on the restart. Olivas managed to take the spot on the outside line, relegating Kendrick to third place for the moment.

The final caution of the race came out on lap thirty-two as Eric Lambert and Chad Pontius got together coming out of turn four. It was during this caution that Derek Hopkinson wisely pitted to take on fresh tires.

Chase Robertson resumed his comfortable lead after the restart on lap thirty-eight. Hopkinson restarted the race in eighth position after his pit stop. By lap fifty, Hopkinson was already up to fourth, but several second back from the third place car of Jeff Kendrick. Robertson still led the race with Jose Olivas in second. Kendrick got under Olivas on lap fifty-three to take second spot. By lap fifty-six, Hopkinson was up to third and running down the second place car.

On lap sixty, Robertson suddenly fell off the pace. It was not clear what happened, but speculation was that he was short on fuel for the 100-lap race. Kendrick took over the lead at that point, closely followed by Derek Hopkinson.

The final lead change took place on lap sixty-six when Hopkinson got under Kendrick. Hopkinson went on to lead for the rest of the race.

Here are the full results.

1. Derek Hopkinson
2. Jeff Kendrick
3. Jose Olivas
4. Stephen Raughton
5. Philip Hayden
6. Chad Pontius
7. Chase Robertson
8. Eric Lambert
9. Corey Stockert
10. Robert Rose
11. Ryan Farbo
12. Jacob Young
13. John Houston
14. Chad Arnold
15. Dustin Phillips
16. Alex Bisson
17. Robert Underwood
18. Connor McDougal
19. David Williams