It Had Been Awhile, But Latour Found His Way Back To Victory Lane

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David Latour Jr. didn’t have any trouble finding Victory Lane at South Boston Speedway on opening night, although he would have been forgiven if he did. The win in the Limited Sportsman Division race two weeks ago was his first in a decade.

“It was a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. We finally had something go our way. Hopefully we’ll get another one this Saturday night,” said Latour, looking ahead to Saturday night’s Virginia State University Twin 75s presented by the Petersburg Kappa League.

Latour’s winless decade is a bit deceiving though. Before last year he had not run a full season since 2011. And last season he did everything but win at South Boston, finishing second in the final Limited Sportsman points standings. In 11 starts, he was out of the top five only twice and had four second-place finishes.

A good car and smooth driving paved the way to Latour’s season-opening win.

“Staying out of trouble was the key,” said Latour. “Everybody else felt like they were superman the way they drove. We had a top-four car. We just picked the right time to go. We got around the leaders when they were racing each other hard.”

Latour had to race his way through a strong 15-car field, something he is accustomed to doing.

“There were six or eight cars that could have won. In qualifying there were eight or nine cars within a tenth of each other and I qualified 11th. The driver needs to learn to qualify,” said Latour. “That’s why I won the Hard Charger Award last year, racing up through the field every week.”

Saturday night’s race will be the first under the lights on the new pavement and Latour expects that factor to make the competition wide open again.

“The track is so much smoother and a lot faster. But it’s going to be totally different from daytime to under the lights,” said Latour, who is sponsored by Golden Farm Foods but has space to fill on his car. “It’s going to throw everybody’s setups for a learning curve.”

The lights go up at South Boston Speedway for the first time this season on Saturday, April 8 for the Virginia State University Twin 75s presented by the Kappa League of Petersburg.

There will be twin 75-lap races for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car Division, a 50-lap Limited Sportsman race, a 30-lap Budweiser Pure Stock race and a 15-lap Budweiser Hornets race.

Registration and pit gates open at 2:30 p.m. with practice from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Grandstand gates open at 5:30 p.m., qualifying is set for 6 p.m. and the green flag flies at 7 p.m.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for youth ages 7-12. Kids ages six and under are admitted free with a paid adult.

SBS PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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