Desoto Speedway | Bradenton's Dutilly defeats longtime nemesis Campi in Super Late Models

EAST MANATEE -- For the last several years, Bradenton's Jesse Dutilly has been trying to beat Anthony Campi in a head-to-head battle for a race victory at Desoto Speedway.

Using a brand new car in Saturday's Brighthouse Challenge Series 100-lap Super Late Model event, Dutilly finally got the leg up on his chief rival. The defending series and track champion drove from deep in the field and got the best of Campi on a late restart to take his first victory of the season.

Campi wasted no time getting to the lead from his third spot, passing Dylan Bigley for the lead just four laps into the event. Five laps later, Bigley and his father, Billy Bigley Jr., got together coming out of Turn 2 and spun into the infield to bring out the yellow.

On the restart Dylan Bigley got the jump on Campi to retake the top spot. Campi got back around Bigley for the top spot for the lead on Lap 21 and pulled out to a nearly a three-second lead in five laps.

Dutilly, who set fast time in qualifying but was forced to start 10th after a pill draw, got by Bigley for second on Lap 26 and started chipping away at Campi's lead. Within 10 laps, Dutilly got to the bumper of Campi's car and stayed there until the leaders caught lapped traffic near the halfway point of the race.

Dutilly took advantage of Campi getting trapped by the slower car of Brad Bowman and dived to the inside to try and take the lead. Campi and Bowman made slight contact, forcing the left front fender to fly off Campi's car and bring out the caution on Lap 52.

Campi got the advantage on the restart and withstood several challenges from Dutilly for the top spot over the next several laps. The pair was starting to check out from the rest of the field when the caution flew again for a spin involving Michael Atwell and Steve Dorer on the 63rd lap.

Dutilly used the high line on the Lap 67 restart to his advantage to grab the lead from Campi. He quickly set sail from Campi and Bigley, building a lead of nearly a straightaway over the next 20 laps and appeared to be in cruise control on his way to the win until Tommy Kelly's spin in Turn 4 brought out the caution with 12 laps to go.

The final restart proved to be pain-free for Dutilly as he quickly cleared Campi and the rest of the field and cruised to victory.

"This is huge for us," Dutilly said in Victory Lane. "We've been trying to beat him for three years. We beat him when he missed races or crashed out. We've been working for a long time to close the gap. I couldn't be happier."

Campi said Dutilly's Carbone Motorsports team had "really been doing their homework." His team was running a car that had been heavily damaged in a crash by 14-year-old driver Tyler Dipper in February's Icebreaker 100.

Nick Neri, who won a 75-lap Turner Tree and Landscape Super Late Model feature last month at Desoto Speedway, kept his track points lead with a third-place finish. Dylan Bigley held off Dorer in a late battle to finish fourth.

In the 25-lap Mini Stock feature, Eric Daniels led a five-car freight train around the 3/8-mile oval with Johnny Marra, Ronnie Robinson, Roger Wright and Jessica Ostrovskis in tow. Marra was challenging Daniels for the lead when the caution flew for Ren Wright Jr.'s hard crash in Turn 2 on Lap 13. Wright was uninjured.

Marra took the lead on the restart and held the top spot over Daniels and Ostrovskis when another caution came out for a spin with eight laps left. On Lap 19, Daniels, Robinson and Ostrovskis were in a three-wide battle for second. Robinson and Daniels both spun in the incident and were sent to the rear of the field.

Ostrovskis made several attempts to get the lead over the closing laps, but Marra fought off the advances to take his first feature victory of the season. Roger Wright finished third.

In other action Saturday night, Bobby Mobley survived carnage to win the 17-lap Bomber feature; Steve Darvalics battled side by side with Mobley for the top spot for several laps before taking the lead for good with 10 laps to go in the 30-lap Sportsman feature; Duane Best won the 25-lap LKQ Pick Your Part Pure Stock feature; and Chuckie Hearns won the Pro Figure 8 feature.

Next week Desoto will host the Sunoco Racing Fuels Pro Late Models and the Q Auto and Injury Attorneys Pro Trucks. School Bus Figure 8s return. Pure Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks and Street Stocks also will be in action.SATURDAY'S RESULTS

Super Late Models

1. 30 Jesse Dutilly, 2. 81 Anthony Campi, 3. 17 Nick Neri, 4. 128 Dylan Bigley, 5. 94 Steve Doer, 6. 28 Billy Bigley Jr., 7. 13 Scot Walters, 8. 00 Anthony Cataldi, 9. 5 Joe Boyd, 10. 59 Dustin Dunn, 11. 51 Micael Atwell, 12. 2 Brad Bowman, 13. 79 Dakota Stephens, 14. 42 Troy Mcnabb, 15. 81 Michael Williams, 16. 75 Tommy Kelly, 17. 12 Steve Weaver, 18. 20 Anthony Sergi, 19. 12 David Green, 20. 67 Chad AllmanSportsman1. 79x Steve Darvalics, 2. 13 Aaron Williamson, 3. 29 Bobby Mobley, 4. 35 Greg Krom, 5. 88 Graig Cuzzone, 6. 12 David Williamson, 7. 07 Scot Garrity, 8. 8 Dan Scott,9. 4 Rick Reed, 10. 9 Brooke Storer.Pure Stock1. 3 Duane Best, 2. 29x Donny Funk, 3. 67 Kyle Best, 4. 24 Jeff Pacheco, 5. 29 Jason Rendell, 6. 44 Rick Hess, 7. 19x Brad Wegert, 8. 80x Chad Cummings, 9. 72 Roger Dufrense, 10. 19 Jeff Gaulbault, 11. 98 Logan Leonard D.Q.Bombers1. 29 Bobby Mobley, 2. 24 Jeff Pacelo, 3. 22x Randy Spicer, 4. 39 Jason Carr, 5. 19x Danny Wegert, 6. 93 Jeff Firestine, 7. 32 Dean Butrum, 8. 92 Fred Blake, 9. 23 Kenny Gibson, 10. 19 Sherry Krom.Mini Stock1. 99 Johnny Marra, 2. 91 Jessica Osteroviskis, 3. 48 Roger Wright, 4. 28 Eric Daniels, 5. 67 Jimmie Best, 6. 05 Ronnie Robinson Bradenton, 7. 5y Aaron Yanke, 8. 37 Jerry Grove, 9. 22 Cameron Cruise, 10. 008 Ren Wright Jr.

Pro Figure 8

1. 83 Chuckie Herns, 2. 29f Donny Funk, 3. 93 Jeff Firestine, 4. 23 Kenny Gibson, 5. 7 Bobby Gorden, 6. 29x Bobby Mobley

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Desoto Speedway | Bradenton's Dutilly defeats longtime nemesis Campi in Super Late Models ."