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Billy Pauch Jr. Passes Overheated Jordan Watson for Bobby Wilkins Memorial, Sherby takes 602 Sportsman, Davis RUSH Late Model Winner

By Len Sammons -

Georgetown, DE - After a torrid dirt Modified battle, Billy Pauch Jr. bypassed Jordan Watson for the lead after several failed attempts and then drove away to win the first Bobby Wilkins Memorial on Friday at Georgetown Speedway.

"Man, that thing was good." said an overly excited Pauch after earning $3,000 in a race that honored one of Delaware's all-time great drivers who died the same weekend a year earlier.

"I could rip wherever I wanted. I'm not sure what it is, but this car is really good here. I gave one away to (Ryan) Godown the lat time I was here, but tonight we were blessed to be able to do what we did."

Watson blamed himself for losing an event he dearly wanted to win. Wilkins was from his hometown of Milford, DE. Watson grew up as one of his fans and remains close friends with his son Beau and the entire Wilkins family.

Racing in October under cool temperatures, Watson blocked air to his radiator so it would not run too cold and restrict power. Instead, it got too hot during the non-stop 25-lap feature.

"If I have anyone to blame it's myself. I closed off some of the radiator before I left home today. I ran 190 in the heat race so I thought I'd be fine for the feature, but it got to 240 when me and Billy got racing," said a disappointed Watson.

"I had to make a business decision. This is the last motor we've got to finish the season and we have two races left, so I backed her down."

In the 20-lap Sportsman feature, Thomas Sherby raced nearly the entire distance with Greg Humlhanz to his outside before taking command and the $1,000 victory.

"That was awesome. I trust Greg and he trusts me. We ran side-by-side for I don't know how many laps. I was smiling the entire time," said Sherby.

"Didn't matter if I won or Greg. At one point I was cheering for him. But once my tire started firing, it came together for me."

Carson Wright and HJ Bunting brought the short 12-car Modified field to the green flag. Wright, a Georgetown native, got the jump while Watson rocketed from fourth to second on the first lap. With an outise sweep in turns one and two, Watson impressively had the lead before lap two was scored.

Pauch, who drew the fifth starting spot, was more patient. He advanced to third on lap two, and when he took second from Wright on lap five, Watson had already built up a considerable lead.

It wasn't until lap nine that Pauch got to Watson's back bumper and attempted the first of several unsuccessful inside moves on the cushion riding leader through the halfway point of the race.

"I knew I had a really good car, so I didn't want to crowd him to get the lead. I wanted to pass hi clean," said Pauch.

"Most times you don't normally have that good of a car that you can wait and take your shot and do it the right way. Never had a problem with Jordan and I really didn't want to have to straighten a body panel to run this car again tomorrow."

With ten to go, Pauch made the winning move when he dove low in turn one and slid across in front of Watson to take the lead.

"I changed my entry to the corner. Came in lower and came across the track with my nose," said Pauch. "I could have gotten him the first two times if I wanted to slide in hard in front of him, but I didn't want to crowd him."

Once in front, Pauch pulled away to a safe lead, with only lapped cars to deal with until the checkered flag fell.

"Every time I'd see him I'd rip a fast lap then try and ease up a little bit. See him again, rip it a little more. Once he slid in front of me I kept watching the gauges and had to slow down once it hit 240," said Watson. "It got back down to 230 to 235 the last couple of laps. It was a tough decision, but one I had to make. I was hoping for a yellow so it would cool down and I could run as hard as I can, but we never got one. At the end I was just trying to make the finish."

Without a caution, the 25-lap feature ran off in eight minutes. Pauch lapped up to the fourth-place finisher. The track, prepared by Jamie Friesen, was in excellent shape.

"Couldn't believe the race went non-stop. For a while my neck was starting to go down, we were flat out around here. I couldn't believe it; I hadn't got tired here in a long while," said Pauch. "Hell of a race track. Stewert Friesen is one of the greatest dirt Modified drivers ever and his dad (Jamie_ is one of the greatest northeast track prep guys you'll find. That's a true statement everyone should agree with."

Watson came home a distant second with Wright an impressive third and Watson's younger brother Joseph limping home fourth with Bunting fifth.

"Jordan and his brother are tow of the best talents in Delaware, so it was good to come down here and race with them tonight," said Pauch. "HJ Bunting is still very good and Carson Wright is getting better and better. These guys are starting to race more this year which is really helping them."

Watson was extremely disappointed afterwards, although happy at the same time that the Clements open small blcok, purchased used from a Late Model team, didn't get too hot and blow up. "Circumstances killed us, can't be mad about it. We had a really good car, just needed a yellow," said Watson. "I figured as cold as it was I was worried about the motor not getting heat in it. Got going so wound up hard on the top, was barely letting off the gas, and it got hot. I kept saying please throw the yellow, someone top on the track as long as it's not me. But it didn't happen."

The 20-lap Sportsman feature was a three-car race for mos tof the distance. Sherby beat current point leader Bryce Bashore off the front row to lead at the start, but lost i tquickly to the high-riding Humlhanz, who advanced from fourth into the lead.

Lap after lap, Sherby tried to get the lead back with a dive to the inside, but each time Humlhanz would drive back around him off the corner. With the two running side-by-side, Bashore could only watch the exciting battle from close behind.

On lap 14, Sherby was finally able to secure the lead using a lap car on the outside as a pick. He drove low and passed them both in turns three and four. Humlhanz tried to cross back under Sherby off turn four, but his effort failed.

A lap pater, the only yellow flag was waved with five laps remaining. With a single-file restart required, Shervy got a clean start and drove across the line ahead of Humlhanz. "I knew on that restart he was going to try and make a run on the top. Under the caution I made sure that tire would fire on the right-rear," said Sherby.

"I only had five laps to pound out the win and he got back beside me again. But when I saw the white flag and I was leading I knew I couldn't lift, sent it in there as fast as she would go and hoped and prayed it stuck."

Bashore held off a late charge by Adam White to finish third, with Luke Bunting fifth over a field of 16 competitors. After the race, Humlhanz drove up alongside Sherby to show his appreciation for a great race together.

"We were both laughing and giving each other high fives in three and four afterwards. I love racing with him," said Sherby. "As long as a yellow car wins it, really didn't matter which one it was. Neither of us were lifting - kinda scared me a little because if I pushed a little I would hit him, which is something I would never have wanted to do."

The win was the second straight win at Georgetown for the part-time driver. "I had to take a hiatus because of work, was running second and third in the points but that hit the bed when I couldn't get off work," said Sherby. "Came back racing and we're back in victory lane so I can't complain. What an awesome track and won a thousand bucks too, which ain't bad. Got a three-hour ride home, so we'll celebrate tomorrow, but this is a big one."

Sherby loves racing in Delaware so much that he makes the long drive to race there whenever work allows from his home in Petersburg, NJ. "I live in South Jersey, 15 to 20 minutes from the ferry. I'd rather drive 3 1/2 hours than race in New Jersey," said the 32-year-old driver. "As long as work allows it I'm going to keep racing. I'm a union operator - when they call I don't have a choice, I gotta go, everything else to the back burner. Me and my dad own it all and we have a blast."

Matt Hill drove from the eighth starting spot to win the RUSH Crate Late Model heat race over Nick Davis. In the 20-lap feature, however, Davis was the calss of the field, jumping from the front row to dominate the main event. Joey Warren who started third, finished second and Hill - despite starting on the pole, would finish third.

Jay Lowman won the Delmarva Chargers feature.

Kerry King won the Southern Delaware Racing Club Feature, Dylan Reed won the modified division portion of the feature event.

Credit - Area Auto Racing News for the article

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