Mother Nature finally gave in and allowed the gang at Hilltop Speedway to get their opening night in the books. What a beautiful night she gave us! Racers and fans were more than ready to fill the place and enjoy the roar of horsepower and those awesome smells of racing fuel. I was kinda anxious to get me some of those Hilltop coney dogs too to be perfectly honest. The action was fast and furious all night long, beginning with qualifying. Picking up the very first DFC Racing Carburetors bonus money for fast qualifier in the Late Models was veteran racer Shane McLoughlin. Shane has been a strong competitor in this area for years and it was my pleasure to see him grab the cash. On a side note, I've decided to extend that bonus money offer to the Late Model fastest qualifier through the month of May. Let's see how many different drivers can pick up that bonus folks.

When it was time for the Late Models to hit the track for their feature it was clear that Shane would have his hands full if he wanted to take home the win. Early on it looked like Wolford had the entire field covered, including the often dominant Corey Conley. After an early caution Corey must have decided it was time to get up on the wheel and show the crowd how to pilot a Kryptonite car around "The Hill". On the restart Corey dove to the bottom and snagged the lead by the exit of turn 2. He never looked back after taking the lead and simply put on a clinic on smooth driving all the way to the checkers. It would be a special win for Conley too. This win gave him the record for all time feature wins in the Late Models at Hilltop. It's a record he's been working for since last season and very well deserved. Congrats Corey!