GAFFNEY, S.C. — Ryan Godown ran down Larry Wight with 11 laps to go and made history in the inaugural Rebel 50 at Cherokee Speedway.
Godown became the first winner in the Halmar International Elite Series, a branch under the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco umbrella.
Godown’s triumph is worth $25,000 – a minimum winner’s purse during the six-race Elite Series – and is his ninth in STSS competition overall.
“I’m blown away,” a choked up Godown said. “I never would’ve thought it… I can’t thank the guys at home enough, I’m nobody without them.”
Godown’s victory is a dream start to the Elite Series after more than 60 cars made the trek to Cherokee from the Northeast.
“This is really fun,” Godown exhaled. “I just wanted to qualify for this race; honestly just being here is really cool.”
Godown led mid-race leader Wight to the line over a hard-charging duo in Billy Pauch Jr. and Jimmy Horton. Mike Maresca finished fifth.
H.J. Bunting led the field to the green after redrawing No. 1 earlier in the day, ahead of Bobby Hackel, Wight, Maresca and Ryan Watt, just ahead of sixth-place starter Godown.
Through the first 15 laps, Bunting held a steady advantage of the rest of the field, even gapping Hackel and Wight just before he began to enter lapped traffic. The majority of the pack was content to hold their lines and massage their way through the first portion of the feature event, until Matt Sheppard stepped out of line.
On lap 10, Sheppard rocketed around Billy Van Inwegen for 10th. Sheppard, who redrew position No. 12 out of 12 possible spots, then made his way around Stewart Friesen on lap 16 for ninth.
While the rest of the top ran the bottom, and as the top-five cars closed the gap on Bunting because of lapped cars ahead, Sheppard blitzed the contenders. Just one lap after passing Friesen, Sheppard cruised past Demetrios Drellos for eighth and then by Danny Creeden for seventh on lap 18.
Incredibly, Sheppard was around Godown on lap 19 and then quickly around Watt for fifth, ripping around a handful of heavy hitters in as many laps.
When Sheppard entered the top five, the rest of the field collectively said game on. On lap 21, Maresca used the outside to pass Wight for third, but when he missed the groove off of turns three and four the next lap, he lost spots to both Wight and Sheppard.
Just before the halfway point, Wight powered by Hackel for the runner-up spot and Sheppard and Maresca both followed.
The first caution of the night came on lap 25 for Andy Bachetti. At the time, Bunting led Wight, Sheppard, Maresca, Hackel, Godown, Watt, Creeden, Friesen and Drellos. The field made it just two laps before the next caution on lap 27 for Watt, Creeden, Drellos and many others, but Godown made a significant charge. In those two laps, Godown muscled from sixth to fourth around the top and put himself in position for the rest of the race.
“I tried to just ride in the beginning,” Godown said. “But when Sheppard blew around me on the top, I knew I had to get moving and keep pace.”
On the home stretch, Godown mentioned that he thought the top was going to be good at some point, just didn’t know when. After Sheppard moved him back to sixth, he adjusted quickly. There was another two-lap stint to get the race to lap 29 and once more Godown picked off two spots, moving into second behind Wight, with Bunting, Sheppard and Maresca rounding out the top five.
When the green flag flew once more, Wight took control of the race, but Godown worked the bottom to keep pace. Eventually, Godown moved back to the top and followed Wight’s line for a few laps before making his next challenge nearing 10 to go.
After it looked like Wight was pulling away, Godown clawed within a few car lengths with 12 to go. Thanks to a charge off the bottom, Godown led lap 39. A lap later, the first yellow due to a blown right-rear tire halted proceedings.
With 10 to go, Godown chose the bottom and Wight made the most of his attempt on the outside. The two ran an entire lap side by side with Godown eventually clearing Wight on lap 42.
“On those double-file restarts, he didn’t give me much room and I didn’t give him much room, but I don’t think we even touched,” Wight said. “That was good, hard racing for $25,000 and we showed these fans what Modified racing is all about.”
Godown fought off another double-file start with seven laps left and then a few single-file starts at the end to seal the victory. One of the more important restarts might have been one that didn’t count, though.
With five to go, Friesen used the outside to get around Wight for second and then set his sights on Godown but a yellow negated the move. Friesen and Sheppard both eventually were forced to the pits with a shock issue and flat tire, respectively, inside the final five laps.
“I didn’t really have much tire to go at him,” Wight explained. “I tried to go for it on the restart, but then I just fell in line and made sure I finished.”
Wight followed Godown across the line in second, worth $12,500, ahead of Pauch Jr., who came from 19th on the starting grid. Pauch’s third-place finish cashes in $8,000.
“This one was a hard one, man,” Pauch said. “We battled out of our draw on Friday; we missed the redraw, but I knew we had a really good piece.”
Horton, who started 22nd, used some late-race restarts and the top groove to his advantage to soar to the front in the late stages and snag a fourth-place result at Cherokee and $5,000 as Maresca rounded out the top five, worth $4,000.
Teenager Logan Watt registered his first career Short Track Super Series Crate 602 Sportsman victory in the accompanying 30-lap, $2,000-to-win event.
The finish:
Feature (50 laps): Ryan Godown, Larry Wight, Billy Pauch Jr., Jimmy Horton, Michael Maresca, Max McLaughlin, Ronnie Johnson, Darren Smith, Billy Van Inwegen, Mat Williamson, Alex Yankowski, Ryan Watt, J.R. Heffner, Alan Johnson, Dominick Buffalino, Matt Sheppard, Marc Johnson, Stewart Friesen, Anthony Perrego, Jeremy Pitts, H.J. Bunting, Bobby Hackel, Billy Decker, Danny Creeden, Jeff Taylor, Demetrios Drellos, Jack Lehner, Andy Bachetti, Jimmy Phelps, Rocky Warner.
Keyword: Godown Banks $25,000 For Rebel 50 Score