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HOT SHOE HOLDREN


Veteran Dennis Holdren makes victorious debut in Motor Mile Speedway’s Super Street division – JW Martin

(Photo Credit: Chad Fletcher)

It was his first-career win in his first-career start in Motor Mile Speedway’s Super Street division. But it wasn’t Dennis Holdren’s first rodeo.

The journeyman driver from Roanoke, Va., has authored an extensive resume at the .416-mile oval. Holdren’s accomplished Motor Mile Speedway career includes a MOD-4 track championship and a slew of first-place mementos, but until Saturday night, Holdren had yet to visit Victory Lane in a full-size stock car.

On a whim, Holdren’s no. 99 team recently outfitted an outdated Late Model to meet the Super Street division requirements. Two days before the green flag unfurled in the 25-lap Super Street feature, Holdren tested the Super Street package for the first time.

“We really didn’t know what we had,” Holdren acknowledged. “But I’ll tell you what, that thing ran perfect tonight. I couldn’t ask for a better racecar. When they dropped the green, that thing was gone.”

It was a night of firsts for Holdren. The no. 99 team collected the Price’s Body Shop pole award after topping the charts in qualifying. The post-qualifying re-draw placed Holdren seventh on the grid, but the unparalleled speed of the no. 99 quickly overcame the unfavorable starting spot. Holdren was scored third when the lone caution flag of the race was brandished on lap four. Three laps after the restart, Holdren overtook Kyle Barnes for the lead. It proved to be the pass for the win.

Scooter Hollandsworth, winner of the season opener on April 27th, pursued Holdren throughout the 25-lap sprint, but the points leader failed to mount a challenge for the win. Holdren amassed a considerable lead in the closing circuits, capturing the checkers by a colossal 1.58-second margin of victory.

“I gave it all I had. That’s the hardest I’ve driven in a long time,” Hollandsworth said. “Dennis was fast.”

Late Model racer Kyle Barnes capped his Super Street debut with a third-place effort. Dan Martin and Wayne Corprew completed the top five.

A pair of Motor Mile Speedway’s support divisions supplemented the special CARS Tour Super Late Model and Late Model twinbill program Saturday night, with the Carpet Factory Outlet MOD-4 division also in action.

After a dismal outing in the division’s season opener, defending MOD-4 track champion Doodle Lang showcased the trademark dominance of the no. 22 in the 25-lap feature. Lang seized the top spot on lap five, and paced the race through three yellows and one red flag period en route to the win.

“We were hoping things were going to come around, and we would get back to the front,” Lang stated. “With all of those restarts at the end, anything can happen.”

Points leader Kevin Canter placed second, with Jesse Yopp rounding out the podium. Chucky Williams and Josh Phillips finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The first CARS Tour Super Late Model race at Motor Mile Speedway since 2015 was won by Bubba Pollard, who was making his first-career start at the Radford, Va., short track. The Super Late Model ace outlasted Matt Craig and Stephen Nasse to take top honors.

The 125-lap Late Model race produced a flurry of fireworks in the late stages, with Bobby McCarty snaring the win following controversial contact with race leader Josh Berry on the white flag lap. A subsequent overtime restart staged a two-lap dash to the checkers, with McCarty outmuscling Justin Carroll in a door-banging drag race to the stripe. McCarty’s margin of victory was a minuscule 0.029 seconds. Sammy Smith placed third.

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