SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Justin Johnson almost cost himself a shot at winning Saturday’s season-opening Easter Bunny 150 NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division race at South Boston Speedway.

Embroiled in a tense three-way battle with former NASCAR national champion Philip Morris and C.E. Falk III, Johnson slipped up into Morris as they battled for the lead coming off of the fourth turn with 15 laps to go. The contact was sufficient enough that it provided an opening for Falk to slide his way into second place and force Johnson to drop back to third place.

“It was my fault that C.E. got in there,” Johnson said.

”I went on the outside and when I got back down, I ran straight into the back of Philip and turned him sideways. I let off and let him save it and that’s when C.E. jumped up under me. It messed me up pretty good. I messed myself up, in all honesty.”

Johnson, however, rallied back, dispatching Falk back to third before dropping to the inside of Morris as they battled down the backstetch with seven laps to go. The move stuck and Johnson was able to hold off Morris to win the 150-lap event.

“I’ve won a couple of races the past couple of years at Orange County Speedway, but there’s nothing like winning at South Boston Speedway,” Johnson said.

“It’s a great track. It’s great track and a lot of people have come from here that I have respect for as drivers that run here now and have run here in the past. This is a pretty famous place to win.”

The win, the sixth victory of Johnson’s Late Model Stock Car Division racing career and his first win at South Boston Speedway in three years, came by a .624 second. Falk, the pole winner, finished third, with Dude Gibbs of Seaford and Tommy Lemons Jr. of Troy, N.C. rounding out the top five finishers.

Eddie Johnson of Midlothian, Jonathan Bailey of Keysville, Deac McCaskill of Raleigh, N.C., Wayne Ramsey of Amherst and Rodney Cook of Reidsville, N.C. rounded out the top ten finishers.

Johnson had to battle his way from back in the pack twice, having started ninth and raced his way into the lead for the first time on lap 130 when Morris encountered trouble getting by some lapped cars. He held the lead for a brief five-lap period before having it slip away when his car slid up into Morris’ car and opened the door for Falk to get into the mix and falling back to third place.

Morris, who led 81 of the first 129 laps, tried to hold off Johnson but a combination of a broken throttle spring and worn tires prevented the former South Boston Speedway and NASCAR national champion from getting the win.

“When Justin got me, I knew I was going to have be creative to keep it out front,” Morris said.

“There was noting I could do about it (the final pass). I couldn’t keep it (the car) on the bottom. If I could have kept four tires on it, maybe I could have done something, but he was too strong for us.”

Morris, who is gunning for another NASCAR national championship, said while he would have liked to have won the race, it was still an encouraging day for his team.

“It (second place) wasn’t where we wanted to finish and it doesn’t fit our plans to win the national championship,” Morris remarked.

“Nevertheless, it was a good start, better than leading and breaking a wheel like I did here last year.”

Falk, said that when Morris and Johnson made contact and opened the door for him, he saw a shot at getting past Morris only to have the brief door of opportunity go away.

“They got loose off of turn four and I just drove my car down to the bottom and got past Justin,” Falk explained.

“I probably could have gotten by Philip, but he drove us down to the wall. Philip was locking up the brakes getting into the corners. Justin got into the back of me and we were done after that.”

The race featured five lead changes among three drivers with three of the lead changes coming in the final 21 laps. Johnson led twice for a total of 12 laps, including the final seven circuits.

Johnson averaged 72.130 mph in the race that was slowed by five caution periods.

Pulliam wins Limited race

Lee Pulliam won the last Limited Sportsman Division race of the 2007 season at South Boston Speedway.

Saturday afternoon he got his 2008 season off to a big start by scoring a flag-to-flag win in the track’s season-opening 50-lap Limited Sportsman Division race.

Pulliam, from Semora, N.C., edged two-time defending South Boston Speedway Limited Sportsman Division champion Bruce Anderson of South Boston by .552 second in a two-lap dash to the finish that followed the race’s final caution period.

“This is awesome,” Pulliam said.

“The car was so hooked up. I’ve never had a car under me like that. I could pull away on them pretty easily.”

While Pulliam had demonstrated his ability to open up a good cushion over Anderson and Justin Snow of Danville, he said he wasn’t counting his chickens on the final restart.

“It always makes you nervous when you have Bruce behind you,” Pulliam pointed out.

“He’s a heck of a wheelman. I knew if anybody could give me a run for the money it would be him.”

Tommy Peregoy of Red Oak and Timmy Langford of Amelia rounded out the top five finishers.

George Spencer of Halifax finished eighth and Steve Collins of Clover finished 11th after a mechanical problem slowed his car with about five laps to go. Joey Throckmorton of Scottsburg, making his first start in the division, finished 13th after being sidelined in a crash. The car driven by Danny Willis Jr, of Cluster Springs was disqualified by track NASCAR officials after it failed a post-race inspection.

Conner Takes Pure Stock Win

Joey Conner of Halifax took the lead from pole starter Jarrett Milam of Ringgold on the 13th circuit raced to victory in the 30-lap race for the Budweiser Pure Stock Division.

The victory was Conner’s second straight Pure Stock win at South Boston Speedway as he won the final race of the 2007 season.

Conner opened up a good cushion on the field following the race’s final restart and finished about a quarter of a lap ahead of runner-up Justin Tucker of Elon, N.C.

“That was a heck of a win,” Conner said.

“It’s great being able to carry that momentum over from last year. We knew we had a good car, a good package to come back with.”

Michael Jones, a senior at Halifax County High School competing in his first ever race, finished third after having started fourth in the 17-car field. Quain Moore of Callands, and Joe Allred of Scottsburg rounded out the top five finishers.