ALLISON TAKES THE ROAD TO VICTORY AT SOUTH BOSTON

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. (April 29, 2022) – To say Neal Allison was dominant Friday night at South Boston Speedway would be a vast understatement.

Driving as a hired gun, Allison returned to the pavement-based USAC SpeeD2 Eastern Midgets and crushed the field at the four-tenths-mile, semi-banked oval, setting fast time in qualifying and then leading 29 of the 30 laps in the caution-free feature for his first win of the season.

Allison wheeled the No. 10 Parker Brothers Racing machine – a chassis that the teenager had formerly driven himself in EMA competition – to a commanding 6.289-second triumph over runner-up Brady Allum, after racing from sixth starting position to the lead in just five corners.

It marked the fourth career EMA victory for the 17-year-old native of Greensboro, N.C., who has spent the last year and a half primarily on dirt racing both winged and non-winged micro sprints.

That dirt experience, Allison tipped, aided him in his quest for victory Friday at South Boston.

“I think my time running on dirt has just made me a better driver,” Allison said in victory lane. “Having that experience just helps me to stay up with track conditions easier … and after a few laps back on the pavement, I felt like I’d never left it to begin with. It wasn’t as long a transition back as I thought it would be.

“In the first practice of the day, we were super loose, so maybe that’s just how I was comfortable, and we worked on it from there,” he added with a chuckle.

Before Friday night, Allison’s last EMA victory came Sept. 21, 2019, at South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway.

After leading the opening circuit by a nose, Allum (Salisbury, N.C.) ultimately tied his career-best EMA result of second, with Must See Racing sprint car regular Joe Liguori (Lebanon, Ind.) pulling double duty on Friday and racing to a third-place midget finish after a torrid second-half duel with Allum.

Logan Sulyi (Raleigh, N.C.) and Avery Stoehr (Assonet, Mass.) filled out the top five.

Friday’s race was the opening act of a doubleheader weekend for the USAC Speed2 Eastern Midgets at the Virginia short track, headlined both days by Must See Racing’s 410 pavement sprint car tour.

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USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: April 29, 2022 – South Boston Speedway – South Boston, Virginia

QUALIFYING: 1. Neal Allison, 10, Parker-14.858; 2. Logan Sulyi, 19, Sulyi-15.215-Sulyi; 3. Chris Lamb, 9, Radical-15.351-Radical; 4. Hunter Wise, 1, Radical-15.387; 5. Brady Allum, 87JR, Allum-15.483; 6. Eric Lewis, 4, Radical-15.602; 7. Avery Stoehr, 20, Parker-15.832; 8. Joe Liguori, 47, Wise-15.885; 9. Caleb Edington, 74x, Edington-15.896; 10. Dillon Thomas, 4x, Thomas-16.164.

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Neal Allison (6), 2. Brady Allum (2), 3. Hunter Wise (3), 4. Logan Sulyi (5), 5. Avery Stoehr (7), 6. Dillon Thomas (10), 7. Caleb Edington (9), 8. Chris Lamb (4), 9. Eric Lewis (1), 10. Joe Liguori (8). 7:34.80

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Brady Allum, Laps 2-30 Neal Allison.

USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Logan Sulyi-127, 2-Chris Lamb-126, 3-Brady Allum-124, 4-Hunter Wise-124, 5-Eric Lewis-116, 6-Dillon Thomas-113, 7-Neal Allison-76, 8-A.J. Sanders-68, 9-Avery Stoehr-58, 10-Nathan Byrd-56.

NEXT USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: April 30, 2022 – South Boston Speedway – South Boston, Virginia