By Gary Daughtrey

Special to the News-Herald

George Brunnhoelzl III started on the pole and led 141 of 150 laps to bag his second win of the year in the BayPort Credit Union 150 for NASCAR’s Whelen Southern Modified Tour, the featured event of Saturday’s racing program at Langley Speedway.

Brunnhoelzl claimed the pole, at 94.411 mph, sharing the front row with Andy Seuss.
In the early going, it quickly became apparent that Brunnhoelzl and Seuss were the class of the field. By lap 17, they had pulled away from third-place Kyle Ebersole by nearly a full straightaway.

Brunnhoelzl continued to show the way until Lap 77, when he, along with the other front-runners, pitted under the fourth yellow flag. Ebersole, who had pitted earlier, stayed out and assumed the lead.

Back under green, Brunnhoelzl dispensed with Joe Ryan Osborne to move into second, then set off after Ebersole. On Lap 85, Brunnhoelzl ducked underneath Ebersole at the end of the backstretch and nosed ahead off Turn 4. Twelve laps later, Seuss regained the second spot.

Caution flags on laps 108, 135 and 144 kept the field bunched and set the stage for the “green-white-checkered” finish.

On the final double-file restart, Seuss got the drop on Brunnhoelzl and was credited with leading Lap 148. Returning to the white flag, though, Brunnhoelzl roared back out front.

At the finish, Brunnhoelzl was the winner by about two car-lengths. Ebersole battled past Seuss on the last lap and came away with a runner-up finish. Seuss was third to the line.

Looking for his third straight Langley win, Burt Myers made an early run up to third before losing a lap in the pits. He “lucky-dogged” his way back onto the lead lap, though, and rallied to take fourth, followed by his brother, Jason Myers, in fifth.

In the series standings, Jason Myers holds a one-point lead over Seuss and Burt Myers, who are deadlocked for second. Ebersole ranks fourth, five points back, while Brunnhoelzl is fifth, nine out of the lead.

From Langley, the series moves on to South Boston Speedway for a 150-lapper next Saturday.