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Brandon Overton Scores $20,000 Virginia Is For Racing Lovers King of the Commonwealth Victory; Carson Ferguson Scores $3000 FASTRAK Win

Jamaica, VA – Brandon Overton of Evans, GA, is making a habit of winning at Virginia Motor Speedway. With the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers King of the Commonwealth win, Overton has now won the last three marquee events in a row at the ½ mile speed plant. Overton would fall back to ninth before working his way back to the front, passing Jimmy Ownes of Newport, TN, on lap 40 for the lead. Overton would fend off Owens with ten laps to go to score his second career, King of the Commonwealth triumph, and $20,000 paycheck in front of a fantastic crowd.

The win did not come easily for Overton, however. Overton fell back in the field in the early stages, conserving his tires and equipment in the 60-lap feature for a late charge. However, even Overton believed he might have given up too much at the start of the race.

"I sure know how to make it hard on myself," said Overton in victory lane. I was sitting in a pretty good spot, and I had a game plan. I was just going to sit there and take it easy for a little bit. I got back to about eighth or ninth and said, 'Damn, I've really screwed this up.' My car was really good. I just kept the tires on it and made sure I didn't wad it up when I fell back a little bit."

Overton has now won $90,000 across Virginia Motor Speedway's last three marquee Dirt Late Model events with the win. While the track's 2020 season was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Overton won the $20,000 USA 100 and the $50,000 FASTRAK World Championship in 2019.

"I love this place, man. I love racing here. I always seem to do good. There was a lot of pressure going into this weekend; there were a lot of good cars here. I'm just really fortunate to drive good race cars for good people."

G.R. Smith of Cornelious, NC, started on the pole and led the first 34 laps before a mechanical issue (lost driveshaft) forced him to the infield for the night, handing the lead over to Owens.

Over the next six laps, Overton made several attempts to get by Owens for the lead, finally securing the top spot with a pass out of turn 2 to take over the top spot.

Owens would finish second to Overton, making the most of the last-minute decision to compete for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers King of the Commonwealth crown but falling short of the $20,000 prize.

"It was definitely last-minute," said Owens. "We didn't know what we were going to do. I actually forgot about this race here, then I was like, Maybe we can capitalize on $20,000-to-win.

Ownes added, "the car was really great tonight. We probably just went a little too hard, too early. We had a pretty good car at the end, but not as good as Brandon's. Hats off to him; he had a great weekend."

Josh Richards of Shinnston, WV, finished third after making the long haul to Virginia for the King of the Commonwealth. Richards held second twice, both times battling Smith for the lead but couldn't get by to take the top spot.

"I drove 985 miles to get here. I just can't thank these guys enough. I hadn't been here in 10 years. We had a pretty good car there. I was hoping to get by G.R. [Smith] earlier; we might have been able to ride it out a little bit. I think I got my tire hot and couldn't fire good enough on those restarts. I was next to Brandon and then Jimmy. I was able to hold on to third there."

Rounding out the top five were Tim McCreadie and Gregg Satterlee. Heats race winners were G.R. Smith, Tim McCreadie, Brandon Overton, and Josh Richards. B Main winners were Dustin Mitchell and Ross Bailes.

The competitors of the FASTRAK Racing Series powered by Chevrolet Performance put on what could be considered the race of the night as Carson Ferguson, Jeremey Pilkerton, Ray Love, Matt Quade, and Justin Williams battled in three and four-wide at times for the top spot.

Carson Ferguson of Charlotte, NC, the 2018 FASTRAK national touring champion, held off an emotionally charged drive by Jeremy Pilkerton, who was racing with a lot of emotions after his father Jeff suffered a heart attack last weekend.

For Ferguson, the opening laps were stressful as he swapped the lead with Ray Love Jr multiple times over the first ten laps. Once out front, Ferguson had to work through heavy traffic to maintain his lead over the battle for second place.

The second and final caution came out with a hand full of laps giving Pilkerton another shot at the top spot. On the final restart, Ferguson would survive several challenges from Pilkerton and a hard-charging Justin Williams to secure the $3000 Virginia Is For Racing Lover King of the Commonwealth victory.

His second special event victory at the pristine Virginia Motor Speedway came a little different than his first, this time having the dominant car. His first came in May of 2019 when coming to the checkers, then-leader Layton Sullivan blew his right rear tire coming to the checkers, handing the lead, and win to Ferguson.

The Speedway will return to weekly racing action this coming Saturday, May 22, and host week 3 of Dirt Series Championship weekly racing action featuring the Victory Lap Pro Late Model, Truckin Thunder Sportsman, Budweiser Modified, and Collision One Limited Stock Car divisions.

Admission price for adults is only $12, seniors (60+) $10; military (active/retired w/ proper I.D.) $8, students 11 – 17 years old $6 and children 10 and under admitted free. Pit passes will be $25. Advance tickets can now be purchased on the speedway's website.

Competitor gates for Saturday, May 22nd will open at 3 pm with spectator gates opening at 5 pm. On-track activities will begin at 6:30 pm with hot laps.

Before heading to the track make plans to be at Bella Pizza in the Essex Square Shopping Center in Tappahannock, VA

Bill Sawyer's Virginia Motor Speedway is a ½ mile dirt oval track located on U.S. Route 17, eight miles north of Saluda, VA, and 25 miles south of Tappahannock, VA in Jamaica, VA. The speedway is just a short drive from Richmond, Fredericksburg, Southern Maryland and the Hampton Roads area.

Race fans can go to www.vamotorspeedway.com to view the complete schedule of Virginia Motor Speedway's 2021 season, find detailed event information, get the latest news, and get complete ticket and camping information. Also, fans can get social with Virginia Motor Speedway by following @vamotorspeedway on Twitter, clicking "Like" at www.facebook.com/VaMotorSpeedway, and on www.youtube.com/VaMotorSpeedway.

MEDIA CONTACT: DAVE SEAY (804) 758-1867 OR (804) 357-7223

RACE RESULTS FOR VIRGINIA IS FOR RACING LOVERS KING OF THE COMMONWEALTH – MAY 15, 2021:

ULTIMATE SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE (60 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[7]; 3. 14-Josh Richards[4]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 5. 22G-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 6. 57-Zack Mitchell[12]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 8. 43A-Tyler Bare[20]; 9. 18E-Ethan Wilson[19]; 10. 42K-Cla Knight[14]; 11. 70-Jeff Smith[16]; 12. 2-Dennis Franklin[15]; 13. 421-Anthony Sanders[21]; 14. 87-Walker Arthur[13]; 15. 07-Brian Ledbetter[23]; 16. 72-Jason Covert[9]; 17. 89-GR Smith[1]; 18. 20F-Trever Feathers[10]; 19. 16-Ben Watkins[5]; 20. 6-Jamie Lathroum[11]; 21. D8-Dustin Mitchell[18]; 22. 5-Corey Gordon[24]; 23. 79-Ross Bailes[17]; 24. 45-Derick Quade[22]

B Feature 1 (10 laps): 1. D8-Dustin Mitchell; 2. 43A-Tyler Bare; 3. 45-Derick Quade; 4. 44-Brent Robinson; 5. 17-Tim Vance; 6. 07-Brian Ledbetter; 7. 20H-Bryson Harper
B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 79-Ross Bailes; 2. 18E-Ethan Wilson; 3. 421-Anthony Sanders; 4. 88-Trent Ivey; 5. 48-Kenny Collins; 6. 5-Corey Gordon
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 89-GR Smith[1]; 2. 16-Ben Watkins[4]; 3. 72-Jason Covert[5]; 4. 87-Walker Arthur[9]; 5. 0-Dale Hollidge[6]; 6. 421-Anthony Sanders[7]; 7. 24-Kenny Moreland[8]; 8. 94-Jason Miller[2]; 9. 18E-Ethan Wilson[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 22G-Gregg Satterlee[5]; 3. 20F-Trever Feathers[3]; 4. 42K-Cla Knight[2]; 5. 79-Ross Bailes[4]; 6. 5-Corey Gordon[7]; 7. 88-Trent Ivey[6]; 8. 48-Kenny Collins[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 3. 6-Jamie Lathroum[3]; 4. 2-Dennis Franklin[5]; 5. D8-Dustin Mitchell[4]; 6. 43A-Tyler Bare[6]; 7. 25-Andy Anderson[9]; 8. 20H-Bryson Harper[7]; 9. 17-Tim Vance[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[2]; 3. 57-Zack Mitchell[3]; 4. 70-Jeff Smith[4]; 5. 44-Brent Robinson[8]; 6. 45-Derick Quade[6]; 7. 07-Brian Ledbetter[9]; 8. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[5]; 9. 22-Chris Ferguson[7]
Overall Fast Qualifier: G.R. Smith – 17.486 seconds.

FASTRAK RACING SERIES FEATURE (40 laps): 1. 00F-Carson Ferguson[1]; 2. 8-Jeremy Pilkerton[3]; 3. 2W-Justin Williams[9]; 4. 14C-Chuck Bowie[6]; 5. 47-Matt Quade[5]; 6. 08-Ray Love Jr[2]; 7. 01-Matt Glanden[7]; 8. 72-Trevor Collins[8]; 9. 75-Chris Buescher[11]; 10. 7-Dan Brewer[20]; 11. 6-Justin Fulton[14]; 12. 23-Josh Canipe[23]; 13. 20B-Samuel Bryant[13]; 14. 92-Nick Davis[10]; 15. 7A-Corey Almond[4]; 16. 0-Chase Burrow[22]; 17. 96-Matt Hildeband[12]; 18. 12C-Cody Cubbage[19]; 19. 38-Nick Love[17]; 20. 55-David Keith[16]; 21. 09-Brad Rigdon[21]; 22. 5-colby quick[15]; 23. 12A-Ryan Adams[24]; 24. 71T-Tyler Hoy[18]

B Feature 1 (10 laps): 1. 38-Nick Love[2]; 2. 12C-Cody Cubbage[4]; 3. 09-Brad Rigdon[1]; 4. 23-Josh Canipe[5]; 5. 77S-Ronnie Sissney[6]; 6. 29H-Vaughan Haywood[3]; 7. (DNS) 29-Jason Gilliland

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 71T-Tyler Hoy[1]; 2. 7-Dan Brewer[6]; 3. 0-Chase Burrow[2]; 4. 12A-Ryan Adams[4]; 5. (DNS) 18B-Joe Bounds; 6. (DNS) X-Geoffery Cary; 7. (DNS) 59-Chip Kyper; 8. (DNS) 40-Brent Bordeaux

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 00F-Carson Ferguson[1]; 2. 47-Matt Quade[2]; 3. 2W-Justin Williams[3]; 4. 20B-Samuel Bryant[4]; 5. 09-Brad Rigdon[5]; 6. 29H-Vaughan Haywood[6]; 7. 77S-Ronnie Sissney[7]; 8. 29-Jason Gilliland[8]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 8-Jeremy Pilkerton; 2. 01-Matt Glanden; 3. 75-Chris Buescher; 4. 5-colby quick; 5. 38-Nick Love; 6. 12C-Cody Cubbage; 7. 23-Josh Canipe; 8. 40-Brent Bordeaux[8]

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 08-Ray Love Jr; 2. 14C-Chuck Bowie; 3. 92-Nick Davis; 4. 6-Justin Fulton; 5. 71T-Tyler Hoy; 6. 18B-Joe Bounds; 7. X-Geoffery Cary; 8. 59-Chip Kyper[8]

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 7A-Corey Almond[1]; 2. 72-Trevor Collins[3]; 3. 96-Matt Hildeband[4]; 4. 55-David Keith[7]; 5. 0-Chase Burrow[6]; 6. 12A-Ryan Adams[5]; 7. 7-Dan Brewer[2]

Overall Fast Qualifier: Carson Ferguson – 19.003 seconds.

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