(Left Turn Photography)

 Wall Turns Back Litton at Baton Rouge

By Bryan Wimberley
DirtonDirt.com correspondent

BAKER, La. (April 2) — Third-starting Chris Wall of Holden, La., grabbed the lead on the first lap, fought off a mid-race onslaught from Rob Litton, then pulled away at Baton Rouge Raceway for his 10th career O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing tour victory. Wall crossed the finished line six seconds ahead of former O'Reilly SUPR champion Ray Moore of Haughton, La., for the $2,000 victory in Friday's 40-lapper.

Wall led most the way, but Litton, another former series champ from Alexandria, La., challenged wall in a classic, lead-swapping duel midway through the race at the quarter-mile oval north of Baton Rouge.

Litton eventually faded to third behind the eighth-starting Moore while Kyle Cummings of Sibley, La., took fourth from David Ashley of nearby Zachary, La., late in the race. The fifth-finishing Ashley was the last car on the lead lap.

At the drop of the green, Wall dipped under polesitter Jeff Chandler of Minden, to lead lap one. After a brief yellow for a spun car, a three-wide battle for third was waged among Doug Begnaud, Litton and Moore, with Litton emerging and tracking down Chandler for second by the sixth lap.

The leading Wall approached lapped traffic on the 10th circuit and began to stretch his lead over Litton to a full second. As traffic thickened, Litton quickly closed the gap, grabbing the lead on lap 16. Wall inched back up to Litton on lap 18 and the two raced side-by-side while trading the point the next 10 circuits.

Wall eventually regained control of the race while Moore took third from Ashley on lap 28 and set his sights on a fading Litton. With Litton falling far behind Wall, Moore took the runner-up spot with two laps to go while Wall cruised to the checkers for his fourth career SUPR victory at Baton Rouge.

NOTES: Wall's MasterSbilt Race Car has a Wall 2 Wall Performance Engine and
sponsorship from C&M Gator Farm, Gator Trax Boats, X-Treme Graphics, GVS Racing and O.H. Hendricks. ... The 24-minute feature, slowed by two early yellow flags,
wrapped up at 11:26 p.m. ... Drivers failing to make the feature lineup: Crowe,
Joey Couvillion, Dwight Falcon, Darin Patrick, Shawn O'Toole, Jason Polite and
Hank Schlindwein. ... SUPR competitors complete the Easter weekend with a Saturday event at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss.

SUPR @ BATON ROUGE: (1) Chris Wall, (2) Ray Moore, (3) Rob Litton, (4) Kyle
Cummings, (5) David Ashley, (6) Doug Begnaud, (7) Robbie Stuart, (8) Corie
Herberger, (9) Jeff Chandler, (10) Chris Holley, (11) Bubba Mullins, (12) Alex
Ashley, (13) Kevin Watts, (14) Josh Danzy, (15) Shane Barbara, (16) Paul
Joyner, (17) Ronny Adams, (18) Donald Watson, (19) Michael Santangelo, (20) Skip
O'Neal, (21) Kevin Sitton. Heat race winners (among 28 cars): Chanler, D.
Ashley, Wall. Consolation race winner: Holley. Provisional starters: Danzy,
Sitton.

*****

Corporate sponsors of O’Reilly SUPR include: AFCO, Bert Transmission, Brodix, BSB Manufacturing, Dirt on Dirt, Dominator, Dura-Lite Racing Wheels, GRT Race Cars, Hinchman Uniforms, Hoosier Tire Southwest, Larry Shaw Race Cars, Master Vac, O'Reilly Auto Parts, PBM Performance Products, Trak-Star Racecars, Trick Wild, Triple A Diesel Service, Wall 2 Wall Performance, X-Treme Graphics