Woodside Is Survivor

Sean Woodside survived a demolition derby to take the checkered flag in the 50-lap Miller Lite Challenge, the first of two Food 4 Less Super Late Model main events in front of 4,620 fans at Irwindale Speedway.

Woodside, who qualified seventh but started the race in the top spot, went wire-to-wire for the victory, holding off series rookies Nathan Wulff and former Late Model champion James Weston. Charles Utts finished fourth.

The race was plagued by crashes from the beginning. As the cars came around to the starting line, five cars near the back of the pack were knocked out in a pileup on turn three, forcing the track officials to redo the grid and start the cars again.

On Lap 22, another multiple-car crash on the backstretch took out most of the leaders, including John Tyczki and Nick DeFazio, who had been running second and third.