Considering the dramatic finishes to races so far during the UNOH Battle of the Beach series, everybody expected the fireworks to continue when the K&N Pro Series featured a green-white-checkered after Cale Conley spun virtue of contact from D.J. Kennington.

The first lap went clean with Michael Self holding the lead, however the second lap was where it would go down. In the middle of turns one and two, Gray Goulding would get into Self, sending him around, collecting Greg Pursley, Derek Thorn, Kyle Larson and Kennington.

Goulding would grab the lead, holding it down the backstraight. However, going into the final set of turns, he would lock up the front wheels, causing him to slide up the track. That would be enough for Cameron Hayley to get underneath Goulding and grab the win by inches.

“This is the most incredible moment ever,” Hayley said. “I’ve been waiting to come here and win. I don’t know what to say. It just feels amazing.”

The 16-year-old out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada ran the full K&N Pro Series West schedule last year driving for Bill McAnally, finishing seventh in points with five top fives in 15 races. This year he moves over to Gene Price Motorsports, running as a teammate to Greg Pursley in the car that won the championship last year with Dylan Kwasniewski.

“It’s huge,” he said. “Gene Price Motorsports gave me a heck of a piece. He gave me the car to do this. It just feels great.”

Goulding, who finished second, was making his first ever K&N Pro Series as the 15-year-old looks towards tackling the full schedule ahead.

“I just got to thank my team; everybody that has worked so hard,” Goulding said. “I hate having to do that, but I felt like we got a little help. It’s just one of those racing deals. I hate seeing that. Great finish coming to the line.”

Coming to the line, Goulding felt that he slipped in some fluid that had been leaked on the track.

“Just too late to come back,” he added. “I’m never going to forget this. Daytona, it’s amazing. It’s my first K&N car so it felt awesome.”

Bryan Ortiz came back through the field to finish third after spinning on lap 19. Ryan Gifford finished fourth after going for a spin with Ortiz and Jorge Goeters on lap 40. Ben Kennedy rounded out the top five. Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., became the first member of the France family to compete at DIS in a stock car.

Thorn finished sixth, followed by NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Champion D.J. Kennington in seventh. Kennington started the race from rear after being spun on the last lap of the qualifying heat race earlier in the day.

Self was credited with eighth after the spin. He had made his way from the back of the field to the front after a spin on lap 19.

“Same thing that has happened all weekend,” he said. “It’s short track racing. You’re racing for $20,000. That’s huge. We knew it was coming. We had a solid lead with about three to go…..and it’s just guys going for it. I probably would’ve done the same thing if second or third……We made an impression down here. We came from last to first and passed everybody on the track.”

Greg Pursley and Kyle Larson rounded out the top 10. Pursley came back to run inside the top five after being spun by Conley with 27 laps to go while leading. Pursley led 127 laps of the 150 laps.

Conley, who had been in the thick of the lead battle, finished 11th with Noel Dowler 12th. NASCAR Mexico Series Champion Goeters didn’t have a good night, going for a spin on lap seven before finishing 13th.

2012 K&N Pro Series West Champion Dylan Kwasniewski finished 27th after wrecking on lap 54 with David Mayhew.

“Just got ran over by my old teammate,” Kwasniewski said.

John Hunter Nemechek, son of Sprint Cup Series driver Joe Nemechek, finished 28th after being involved in a wreck just after a restart.

“It’ a tough night,” Nemechek said. “A guy (Chuck Buchanan Jr.) stopped in front of us and we had no place to go.”

NKNPS Daytona 2/19/13 Unofficial Results

RACE STATISTICS
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 22 mins, 15 secs    Average Speed: 45.503 mph    Margin of Victory: 0.158 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 7-12; 42-49; 54-58; 60-69; 72-77; 80-82; 108-116; 124-126; 128-131; 149-152. 10 for 58 laps.
Lap Leaders: Greg Pursley 1-127, Michael Self 128-154, Cameron Hayley 155. Total Laps Led: Greg Pursley 127, Michael Self 27, Cameron Hayley 1. 2 changes involving 3 drivers.

Same verse, different series. On Monday night, it was Kyle Larson giving the bump to CJ Falk for the win in the UNOH Battle of the Beach NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model race.

“To come out of Daytona with a trophy is pretty unique,” Park said. “That’s why this NASCAR Home Tracks deal down here is cool. Kids who aspire to move up to Sprint Cup can come to Daytona and race their trophy and win a trophy.”

On Tuesday night, Steve Park got into Mike Stefanik off of turn two to take the victory.

“I didn’t want to get into Mike,” Park said. “He’s a good friend of mine. I was getting pushed (by Eric Goodale) as bad as I pushed him.”

Park, a native of East Northport, New York, has had success in the Modified ranks before, winning 16 races between 1991 and 1996. Park then moved up the NASCAR ranks, including a pair of Sprint Cup Series wins under Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. However, a crash under caution in 2001 at Darlington Raceway put his career on hold. Since recovering, Park has been running the odd race here and there.

Stefanik, who led from mid-race till the spin, was credited with a 13th place finish.

“That was just crap,” Stefanik said. “It feels just as bad as Irwindale getting dumped under caution with one lap to go. This one feels just as bad, if not worse, cause there was only one more turn to go and then say good night. It’s a tough game, tough freaking game. I just want to watch it and see what happened. Got hit once, and then got pushed around so he can say what he wants, blame it on whoever he wants, I don’t care.

“I’ve never dumped a leader and been proud of that. I think Steve’s too big of a guy to do that.”

Eric Goodale would finish second with long-time modified competitor Ted Christopher.

“Tonight was definitely pretty interesting,” he said. “Too many cautions, too bad for the fans. All in all, from where we came from, it was a good night for us. I’m proud of my team, we’ll go home and get ready for the rest of the season”

Doug Coby and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top five. Justin Bonsignore, Brian Loftin, Cole Powell, Ken Heagy and Dalton Baldwin completed the top 10.

Todd Szegedy started from the pole and led the race’s first 126 laps, but he was forced to head down pit road on Lap 127 after breaking a suspension piece in the front end.

Kyle Larson was looking to continue his winning ways in the UNOH Battle of the Beach wars, however hit the front stretch wall after missing a shift on the restart.

There was a scary moment when Danny Bohn flipped on his roof and caught fire. He would get out of the car, suffering no injuries.

NWMT Daytona 2/19/13 Unofficial Results