Eric Riggins Jr., a 16-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., won Saturday’s race after starting second. After winning the Southern Thunder Tour Rookie of the Year award last year, Riggins earned his first race win on the USCS Outlaw Thunder series.
Riggins outpaced series regulars like Johnny Bridges, who started first, and last year’s series champion, Terry Gray, who finished fourth. Morgan Turpen, the series’ lone female driver, finished fifth. Matt Linder finished third, and the Hoschton resident was the lone driver from Georgia to finish in the top five.
In the USCS 600 Sprint Car series Terry Peters of Concord, N.C., won from the pole, while Jeremy Anderson, Bobby Zaiontz, Justin Lineman and Rick Goss rounded out the top five. Anderson and Goss had the most movement from the beginning of the race, as Anderson started eighth, while Goss started ninth.
As for Dixie’s regular racing program, the track suffered some adverse effects from the wear and tear of extra races due to the out-of-town series making its visit to Dixie. That coupled with the normal impact of dry, hot conditions.
“Any time sprint cars come, they usually get the whole race track where you can’t race on it much,” Limited Late Model driver Oliver Gentry said. “They get it real slick, and the rubber it puts down makes it hard to race on. It’s pretty much what you can ride around there. I know I race everybody. How everyone started is how they finished.”
In Gentry’s race, he started fourth and finished fourth, while Spence Mosely, who won the Limited Late Model heat race, earned the win in the main event.
In the Econo Bombers, John Binger also earned the win after starting from the front by virtue of the draw.
“I started on the pole, which was my first time starting up there,” he said. “It definitely helps when you can start up front. At the beginning of the race, that was really where I needed to make my move. I didn’t want anyone to get in front of me because the track was dry and it wasn’t going to be easy to pass. I got the lead in Turn 1 on the first lap and never looked back the whole race.”
Through six restarts for cautions, Binger was able to hold off his closest competitor, Cody Richards, who finished second.
Binger added that the dry track conditions were less conducive to passing.
“I usually don’t like it,” he said. “Usually, nobody likes it, so where you start is where you finish. I was making sure the outside (driver) didn’t get in front of me at the beginning of the race.”
In Dixie’s other series, Dale Thurman won the Super Late Models race over Michael Page and Frank Ingram. Tim Ford won in the Super Bombers over Andy Morris and Tate Nicholson, with the Crate Late Models being claimed by Jeremy Ledford over Scott Knowles and Ricky Brady.
In the Pony Stocks, Matt Smith won over Matt Black and Cody Sisson, while Joe Trantham won the Cruiser race over Tim Pittman and James Gagnon.
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