Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Joe Chandler

South Boston Speedway

Last year, Layne Riggs won the season-opening twin races for the Sentara Healthcare Late Model Stock Car Division at South Boston Speedway. He then rolled on to win the South Boston Speedway championship and the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.

This year it was Carter Langley making a sweep of South Boston Speedway’s season-opening Sentara Healthcare Late Model Stock Car Division twinbill, earning his first and second career wins in Late Model Stock Car Division racing in the process.

Will history repeat itself in 2023? It’s far too early to tell. For now, though, Langley continues to savor his first two career Late Model Stock Car Division wins while looking ahead to another twinbill in the URW Credit Union Fools Rush 262 racing program at South Boston Speedway on Saturday afternoon, April 1. Race time is 3 p.m.

“I didn’t expect the first and second wins to come this close together,” Langley remarked after completing the sweep of the March 18 season opener. “I couldn’t think of a better place than here for it to happen.”

The win in the opening race gave Langley a big boost of confidence heading into the second race of the season-opening twinbill.

“It really calmed me down inside the car,” he pointed out. “Knowing you haven’t won a Late Model Stock Car race yet really kills your nerves. Winning the first race and then winning the second race back-to-back really gives you a big boost of confidence.”

While Langley has a big boost of confidence with his first two career wins, he understands it is very early in the season and he must focus on one race at a time and one event at a time if he is to have a successful season.

“Winning the first two races means a lot, but you can’t get your head too big to begin with,” Langley pointed out. “Hopefully we can keep the momentum going throughout the season.”

MORE ABOUT LANGLEY’S HISTORY

The Zebulon, North Carolina resident competed at South Boston Speedway full-time in 2021, scoring a pole win, five Top-Five finishes and nine Top-10 finishes in 15 starts.

He competed in one race during the regular season at South Boston Speedway last season, finishing fifth in the track’s 200-lap showcase event on July Fourth weekend. Langley logged eight Top-10 finishes in 17 starts while competing on the CARS Tour last season.

This season Langley plans to compete at South Boston Speedway full-time.

“I really like this track,” Langley remarked. “I missed being here last year and being around this family-oriented track. I really didn’t have that much fun last year. I figured I would back it down a little bit, be good this year, and go after it again next year.”

The URW Credit Union Fools Rush 262 racing program, South Boston Speedway’s first special event of the 2023 season, will be highlighted by The Flying VA Classic, a 99-lap race for the stars and cars of the SMART Modified Tour.

Last year’s 99-lap SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway featured seven lead changes among five drivers, with race winner, Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pennsylvania, leading three times for a total of 39 laps.Twenty of the 30 cars that competed in the race broke the 100- mph mark in qualifying and 16 cars finished on the lead lap.

In addition to The Flying VA Classic SMART Modified Tour race and the twin 71-lap races for the Sentara Healthcare Late Model Stock Car Division fans will see the competitors in the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division battle it out in a 21-lap race.

HOW TO SEE THE RACE

Tickets are $17 and can be purchased online at South Boston’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com. You can also call the speedway office at 434-572-4947.