Layne Riggs Sweeps South Boston Opening Night

Layne Riggs had not won a Late Model Stock Car Division race at South Boston Speedway until he won the first of Saturday’s two 65-lap NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined the Danville Toyota 2022 Season Opener racing program.

Later in the afternoon the Bahama, North Carolina resident scored a repeat win.

Starting from tenth place in the afternoon’s second 65-lap NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division race, Riggs needed only 21 laps to work his way into the lead. Once in front, he pulled away from his challengers to earn the win and a sweep of South Boston Speedway’s twin 65-lap NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division races.

“I had no clue we were going to do that (sweep the twinbill),” Riggs said. “I’m really proud of everybody on this team. Last night (Friday night) we were scratching our heads. We were only about tenth in practice Friday. We were contemplating not even running the race. To rally back like this and win both races, it really means something special being that I consider South Boston Speedway as my home track.”

Riggs started the first 65-lap race on the outside pole next to pole winner, defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series National Champion and defending South Boston Speedway Champion Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia.

Sellers led early, but Riggs grabbed the lead on lap 32 and edged Mike Looney of Catawba, Virginia by 0.695-second to take the win. Sellers finished third with Mark Wertz of Chesapeake, Virginia and Landon Pembelton of Amelia, Virginia rounding out the top five finishers.

A multi-car mishap on the second lap of the second race took out Sellers and heavily damaged Pembelton’s car. Riggs started tenth but moved quickly to the front, taking the lead from outside pole starter Mason Bailey on lap 21, and pulling away to a 2.023-second win over Looney.

“I really hated to see the cars get torn up on the initial start,” Riggs remarked. “A couple of cars (Sellers and Pembelton) were cars we thought were going to be in contention for the win at the end. I hated I didn’t get to duke it out with them. I know they will get fixed up and we will be doing it again really soon.”

While Looney was hoping for a sweep, he had a good outing with his pair of second-place finishes.

“What a great field of cars, 25 cars and a lot of talented drivers and a lot of good equipment,” Looney remarked. “We thought if we came down here and beat the national champ (Sellers) we would be sitting pretty. We beat him, but there was a guy in front of him. We just needed to be a little bit better. We needed just a little bit more.”

Bailey finished third, with Thomas Scott of Efland, North Carolina and Jacob Borst of Elon, North Carolina rounding out the top five finishers.

South Boston Twin 65s
NASCAR Weekly Series Opening Night
Late Model Stocks
March 19, 2022 Race Results

Late Model Stock Car No. 1 (65 laps)

Late Model Stock Car No. 2 (65 laps)