Seconds after Spencer Hughes exited his No. 11 car following his Street Stocks feature win Saturday, he was greeted by the first of many admirers in the pits.
Hughes, 15, probably should still be driving go-karts. That is what most of his counterparts were doing when they were his age, which might explain the adulation expressed toward Hughes at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
“I’m proud of (Hughes),” said Jay Burchfield, who finished second. “He’s done a heck of a job. At that age, I was racing go-karts. You don’t see a lot of kids doing what he’s doing. He’s really trucking.”
Hughes, of Meridian, led each of the 30 laps and pocketed $2,000. He had the fastest car of the night and built multi-second leads during extended periods of green-flag racing.
Hughes navigated most of the race along the wall as drivers split time between low and high lines.
“The top was kind of giving away up in (turns) 1 and 2, but once I could get back going good, I could run pretty smooth laps up there and build my momentum back up,” Hughes said. “Coming form go-karts, I generally like to be around the skidder tires, but Johnny watered it before we came out and that helped.”
Hughes sets pace
Most of the action in the race was behind Hughes, as drivers changed positions throughout the race. At one point, Lee Ray powered through the low line in turns three and four to move from sixth to second. On lap 18, Johnny Stokes moved from third to first on the backstretch. But Hughes hung to his high line and regained the lead before the pair got to the stripe.
“I was really fast on that bottom, and when I got to second, I thought I got him,” said Stokes, who finished third. “I chose the bottom, and thought, if I got as good of a run as I wanted to, I’d try to slide up in front of him. But I didn’t get a good enough run to do it.”
The race featured three re-starts in the last 12 laps, which gave Burchfield and Stokes chances to catch Hughes. Burchfield looked to have a shot in the last few laps when he began aggressively diving his No. 25 Malibu wagon along the low lines of the corners, even as drivers had to navigate a nasty divot that formed between turns one and two.
“After I went to the bottom toward the end of the race, I started closing the gap on him,” Burchfield said. “Then, I thought if we ever got in lap traffic, I might have a chance. But we never did. A re-start or lap traffic … either way would have been good, but even if I passed him he still would have been tough to hold off. He had a real fast car this weekend.”
Hughes, the 2015 Mississippi Street Stocks Series rookie of the year, said he’s honored to race with veteran drivers and be competitive.
Stokes said Hughes’ contribution to the sport, at least at the local level, goes beyond entertaining crowds.
“I’m 62, so I think it’s great for our sport,” Stokes said. “I’m a promoter, so I think we need that. Racing keeps kids out of trouble, too. If kid is at a track, his daddy may be spending a lot of money, but (the money) isn’t going to dope. That’s a good thing.”
Ray and Brian Rickman rounded out the top five in the Street Stocks feature.
n In other action, Chase Washington won the NeSmith Late Model feature. Scott Dedwylder, Daniel Bridgmon, Jeremy Shaw, and Evan Ellis rounded out the top five. Tony Shelton won the 602 Late Model feature. Tony Shelton Jr., Joey McKinney, Roman Ponds, and Justin Carter rounded out the top five. Brad Gable won the Factory Stocks. Heath Beard, John Beard, Jennifer Byrd, and Josh Lawley rounded out the top five.
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