James Long from Panama City, Fla., was a first-time pole sitter Saturday at Roebling Road with a time of 1:20.886, followed by six racers all in the 1:21s. Thirteen Thunder Roadsters started the race three wide down the front stretch, with Long maintaining the lead through the first lap, followed very closely by defending Thunder Roadster champion Randy Suddreth, and Brad Daugherty, Kevin Mewborn and Mike Brooks.
Turn 1 of the second lap had Suddreth alongside Long as Darrel Hamilton worked his way to the front after starting sixth. By lap two, the Thunder Roadsters were mired in out-of-class cars, and traffic management became critical for the rest of the race. Lap three saw Long, Suddreth, Daugherty, and Hamilton nose to tail. A red flag followed by the double yellow for a nasty incident involving last race winner Mike Molloy bunched up the field. After a short ride in the ambulance to his hauler, Molloy was cleared by the EMTs.
Seven cars passed Long after the restart, and it was nose to tail for positions one through eight. Suddreth, Daugherty and Hamilton stretched their lead from the next group of Thunder Roadsters while swapping positions. Hamilton dropped back to watch Suddreth and Daugherty duke it out, and was rewarded when they got together on the last turn. Hamilton passed both of them and won the race, Daugherty limped to second with a tire down. Mewborn followed in third,
Sunday’s qualifying was black flagged immediately when Tim Sosebee’s car caught fire. Sosebee got out OK, but no qualifying times were recorded. Therefore, the starting order was determined by lap times set during Saturday’s race.
The 11 Thunder Roadsters caught the first wave of cars quickly, again making traffic management important. In a replay of Saturday’s race, Randy Suddreth, Brad Daugherty and Darrel Hamilton pulled away from the field, nose to tail, swapping positions. Positions four to seven were in the next close running group. James Long and Mike Brooks did start to close in on the first three as traffic played a big role. Long eventually pulled away from Brooks, who then was passed by Sonny Tu. Suddreth and Daugherty swapped the lead as Hamilton fell behind about five car lengths. A double yellow tightened the field but Suddreth and Daugherty pulled away again as Hamilton retired with brake issues.
Suddreth eventually pulled away from Daugherty to cross the finish line first, but was later disqualified, giving the win to Daugherty, who became the first driver to score a second win in 2014. Second place went to Sonny Tu for his best result this year, followed by Scott Lanford with his second podium finish in the last three races. Daugherty had the fastest lap of the race at 1:20.544 followed by Kevin Newborn at 1:20.959.
