South Boston adds Modifieds tour date

Published 3:56 pm Friday, August 18, 2023

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The powerful lightning fast open-wheel modifieds of the SMART Modified Tour will return to South Boston Speedway for a second visit this season as speedway officials have added an event for the touring series on Saturday, October 14.

The Oct. 14 SMART Modified Tour event will have a 3 p.m. start time.

This event may not be the final event on the 2023 South Boston Speedway schedule. Track officials may possibly add one more spectator event to the schedule later in the fall.

A 99-lap race for the SMART Modified Tour competitors will headline the Oct. 14 event. There will also be a race for 602 Modifieds and a race for the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club.

Advance adult general admission tickets for the Saturday, Oct. 14 event are priced at $17 each and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.

Tickets at the gate on race day will be $20 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $17 each at the gate on race day.

The full Oct. 14 race day schedule will be announced later.

The SMART Modified Tour was scheduled to compete at the “Little Rock” at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina on Oct. 14. However, the track will not be ready to host the event, and South Boston Speedway has stepped up to host the event.

“We are happy to step up and host this race for the SMART Modified Tour,” said South Boston Speedway General Manager Chase Brashears. “South Boston Speedway is synonymous with Modifieds, and we are thrilled to now be able to close our racing season out with some exciting open-wheel action.”

The Oct. 14 event will mark the first time South Boston Speedway has hosted two SMART Modified Tour events in one season. In the first SMART Modified Tour event at South Boston Speedway this season, Brian Loftin sped past 2022 series champion Caleb Heady of Shelbyville, Kentucky with 31 laps to go and held off Tom Buzze by 1.3 seconds to win the 99-lap Flying VA Classic.

The race was a highly competitive event with five lead changes among six different drivers. Loftin led the final 31 circuits of the .4-mile oval.

Heady won the pole in qualifying, posting a speed of 101.824 mph. Thirteen drivers broke the 100-mph mark in qualifying for the race.

The SMART Modified Tour has historically produced great racing at South Boston Speedway. In the 2022 SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway, Matt Hirschman took the win in the race that saw the lead change hands seven times among six drivers. Hirschman won the pole for that event with a time of 13.890 seconds and a speed of 103.672 mph. Three drivers eclipsed the 14-second mark in qualifying for that race.

Ryan Preece, who now competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, won the 2021 SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway, a race that featured three lead changes among three drivers. Chuck Hossfeld won the pole for the race with a speed of 103.923 mph. Four drivers broke the 14-second mark in qualifying.