FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Zack Mitchell couldn’t ask for a much better start with a new racecar.

The driver from Enoree, South Carolina, recently took delivery of a piece from Barry Wright Race Cars, and he’s won twice in three outings.

Those victories came on consecutive nights in Ultimate Super Late Model Series action. He’s hoping to duplicate that performance this weekend as Fayetteville Motor Speedway hosts a pair of events for the top-of-the-line Supers.

On Friday, Mitchell will bring a comfortable points lead into a $5,000-to-win show sanctioned by Ultimate. The next night, he’ll go head to head against many of the same drivers on the same track in a $5,000-to-win race for the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series.

“Hopefully we can do that again,” said the 23-year-old machinist, who won Ultimate events in Georgia and South Carolina on Aug. 30-31. 

The twinbill sweep boosted Mitchell’s chances of repeating as Ultimate champion. With three races to go and $20,000 awaiting the titlist, he leads Fayetteville’s Daulton Wilson by 98 points. Wilson, the leader for the series’ top rookie award, is 38 points ahead of Charlotte’s Anthony Sanders.

“We were sort of struggling the past couple of months,” Mitchell said, “but we’ve got this new car and seem to like it pretty good. The last two races been successful.”

Mitchell’s April victory at Friendship Speedway came in a car built by Longhorn Chassis. He said he switched to the Wright-built piece for a couple of reasons.

“Barry’s shop is about 30 minutes from us,” Mitchell said. “He builds a good racecar, and so does Longhorn, but it’s really just the convenience. We’ve been close to Barry for a long time.

“And my girlfriend, her business is in the building directly beside his shop.”

After Fayetteville, the Ultimate season returns to Lavonia on Oct. 26, then concludes at Sylvania, Georgia, on Nov. 22.

Mitchell isn’t chasing the Clash crown, but he could achieve a top-10 points finish. The Clash schedule has three events remaining after Fayetteville: an Oct. 12 date in Gastonia, and $10,000-to-win races at Lancaster and Gaffney, South Carolina, on Nov. 23-24.

“We try to get to anything within a five- or six-hour ride from home,” said Mitchell, whose 2017 campaign included a win in the Clash-sanctioned Ed Gibbons Memorial at Fayetteville and the series title.

Brett Hamm of Newberry, South Carolina, won this year’s Gibbons Memorial, and he has since added two Clash victories at Gastonia’s Carolina Speedway. He enters Saturday’s race with a 60-point margin over Gaffney native Dennis “Rambo” Franklin.

Franklin captured the Clash title in 2010-11 and ‘13, and he was victorious in its Aug. 10 show at Fayetteville. Franklin leads all drivers with 44 career Clash wins.

Friday’s action begins at 7:30 with hot laps for all classes. In addition to the Ultimate series main event, double points will be at stake for the competitors in Diet Mountain Dew Modified, Mod Lites and Sportsman. Adult grandstand admission is $20, students ages 11-15 pay $10, and children 10 and under are free.

Grandstand tickets are the same price Saturday, when hot laps for an action-packed program start at 6:30. Drivers in the track’s Renegades, Super Stock 4, Stingerz and Legends classes will compete for double points, and that’s in addition to racing in Clash, Bell & Bell Vintage Modifieds, and a $2,000-to-win Mideast Modified Tour show.

The track is located off Doc Bennett Road near Fayetteville Regional Airport.

Source: Fayetteville Motor Speedway

Photo Credit: Brooke Collins