Goodale Earns First Victory At Caraway; Wins Whelen Southern Modified Tour Opener

SOPHIA, N.C. – Eric Goodale started his season off hot, winning the season opening Spring Classic 150 at Caraway Speedway on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Riverhead, New York, driver became the second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver to win the season-opening NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour race.

Goodale was able to pass Jason Myers on Lap 124 on a restart and led the final 26 laps to earn his first career win on the southern tour. He started eighth in his No. 58 GAF Roofing/Supreme Skylights Chevrolet.

Myers held on for second.

Prior to Goodale’s win, Whelen Modified Tour regular Ted Christopher won the Whelen Southern Modified opener three times — 2005 and ’06 at Caraway and 2009 at North Carolina’s Concord Motorsports Park.

John Smith, who missed last season with a broken wrist, made his return a successful one with a third-place finish. David Calabrese and Bobby Measmer Jr. rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Burt Myers, Gary Putnam, Frank Fleming, Tom Abele, Jr and JR Bertuccio.

Goodale, who finished seventh in the championship standings last year on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, made one previous start in the southern tour. He finished 17th in 2013 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, North Carolina.

Defending tour champion Andy Seuss was collected in an early-race accident on Lap 13 and finished 19. Former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champions Ryan Preece and Doug Coby also suffered mechanical issues and finished 14th and 15th, respectively.

The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour will return to Caraway Speedway for the Charles Keply Memorial 150 on March 28.

Image Courtesy: Brenda Meserve/NASCAR