Morton Claims Confusing Victory Over Gomez At Caraway
By Jason Buckley
The last race of the season at a track is something every driver wants to win. For the whole off season, the winning driver can brag about being “the man” that conquered the facility and the competition.
Friday night at Caraway Speedway (NC), nine Legends drivers attended the track’s final Legends event of the season looking to claim that honor. At the end of 25 laps it was Justin Morton taking a confusing victory over Billy Gomez on a one lap restart dash to the checkered flag.
Before the feature started, Morton had his share of bad luck. During the heat race, his car suffered mechanical issues that caused him to question whether it was going to be his night or not.
“First off, on the race track on a restart I felt the shifter break,” said Morton. “I didn’t know exactly what happened, but it turned out it was fixable. The shifter arm came off and we put it back on. While we were fixing it my dad noticed that the whole motor mount on the right side had cracked all the way across, so we had to bring out the welder and weld it up. We didn’t have a grinder to grind the paint off so the welder wasn’t working that good.”
Justin Morton celebrated his win with his family. (LN Photo)
Starting from the fourth position, Morton worked his way up to the lead by the twelfth lap of the event with eastern Carolinas racer Billy Gomez stalking his rear bumper. With just a few laps remaining in the race, a caution came out, giving Gomez a shot for the win.
On lap 24, the green and white flag flew at the same time for a one-lap dash to the finish. Neither Morton nor Gomez saw the white flag on the restart. When the drivers came around and took the checkered flag, the track put out the caution lights to indicate the race was over, which completely confused both drivers.
Billy Gomez made his return to Caraway Speedway a good one. (LN Photo)
“I really didn’t know I won the race,” said Morton. “I thought they had another caution but it was actually the lights coming on because the race was over. I thought it was a caution so I raced back to the caution and stayed in it. I didn’t want to give him a chance to get by me. I ran an extra lap to be sure.”
Morton kept his motor running at the finish line when track officials stopped him at the conclusion of the event. He still was in disbelieve that the race had ended. After multiple times of being told the race was over, he finally shut the car off and exited as the winner.
Gomez, on the other hand, pulled off the track down pit road at the end of the race, then back on the front stretch as the Masters division winner. Even though he got the win for his class, he still wanted another shot at Morton for the overall race win.
“On that restart I thought we had more laps than what we did,” said Gomez. “I gave him a little nudge on the back stretch to let him know I was there, but nothing to put him out or anything. Before I knew it the checkered flag was out. I saw the yellow and the checkered, but I didn’t see the white. I don’t know if I was the only one that didn’t see the white flag or what. I was concentrating on the back of that #17 and I wanted to get by him. I had fun, but I wish I had another chance. That is what Legends cars is all about, which is having fun.”
Behind Morton and Gomez, Brandon McKenzie rallied from the back of the pack to finish third. Just like Morton, McKenzie had trouble during the heat race which could have cost him a start in the feature.
Billy Gomez (left) and Justin Morton (right) discuss how the race ended. (LN Photo)
“We put a little shield under the hood to flow more air to the motor and I think it got caught up with the spark plug wires and ripped one off,” said McKenzie. “We were running on three cylinders and had to pull it off (during the heat race) because we just couldn’t compete with that. You would think in the main event with those two cars in front of me I was running on two cylinders. I think the car was just not handling in the turns. I just didn’t have anything for them in the turns or the straightaway tonight.
“It wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t the best night but it wasn’t the worst. We didn’t put it in the wall. I can’t wait to come back next year and get an interview with LegendsNation.com when we get our first win.”
Winning the last race of the year meant a lot to Morton, who also snagged the track championship for the season. With trouble early on in the evening and a veteran racer on his tail coming to the checkered flag, Morton wouldn’t have wanted to win it any other way.
“He (Gomez) ran me really hard and really clean,” said Morton. “I had to work for it. The car was good and it just got better and better as the race went on. I think his started to go the other way.
“Through all of that it makes it even that much sweeter.”
Results (Top Five)
1) #17 - Justin Morton
2) #66 - Billy Gomez
3) #5 - Brandon McKenzie
4) #7 - Jan Ingram
5) #87 - Bill Price
