By GUY LORANGER, The Herald-Sun

The dream just keeps getting better for Timothy Peters. The 21-year-old Providence native, who picked up one of the area’s top short-track sponsors, Bailey’s Cigarettes, during the off-season, won at Orange County Speedway for the first time Saturday night in the Coca-Cola 270.

Peters qualified on the pole in 14.30-second time and led all 150 laps of the season-opening NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Late Model Stock feature.

He took the checkered flag with a comfortable lead over another Bailey’s Chevy driver, reigning OCS champ Frank Deiny Jr., while Ronald Hill followed in third place.

"If we can run like this all year, we’ll be in good shape," said Peters, who will vie for the OCS track title after a runner-up points finish at South Boston Speedway a year ago. "The car handled great all night, and I knew Frank would be up there. It was a phenomenal run for both of us."

Deiny, who will race full-time at South Boston instead of OCS this season, started 19th before shooting into the top five by the 70th lap. He climbed to second and held position through two restarts.

"I’m hoping I can come back here once in a while," said Deiny, who test-drove his No. 4 touring car for the first time four days ago. "It’s kind of like coming home."

The race saw five caution flags, with the worst coming at the start.

Scott Kirkpatrick hooked up with two other cars in Turn 1 of the seventh lap. A strip of fire spilled out of Kirkpatrick’s car, sparking a collective "ooh" from the large crowd, though it was quickly extinguished.

Peters steered clear of such trouble while building a lead of up to five seconds by the 100th circuit. Durham’s David Triplett challenged him briefly while running second on laps 60-75 but ran into trouble himself in the late stages.

Triplett, who placed third in last year’s points race, traded paint with Hill while battling for third place on lap 142. Five laps later, Triplett’s Pontiac went into the wall in Turn 4, and he finished eighth.

"I just drove into it too hard — it was my fault," said Triplett, who said there was no contact between with Hill. "Call it driver failure, brain failure, whatever.

"We were fighting the car all day. We’ve got work to do. The good news is that it’s in one piece, and we can come back and race next week."

Wayne Grubb placed fourth, while six-time track champ Barry Beggarly drove his new white-painted No. 82 car to a fifth-place finish.

Peters, who finished third and fifth in his only races at OCS last year, said he doesn’t expect the rest of the season to be as smooth as Saturday night.

However, with strong financial backing, a Rick Townsend car and Charlie Hemphill motor, he likes his chances.

He dedicated the win to his father, Tony, who passed away in July.

"I know he’d wish he was here," Peters said. "I know he’d be proud."

Though the Late Model race had its share of cautions, the night got off to a much cleaner start, with back-to-back close finishes and just one caution through in first two races on the Coca-Cola 270 card.

Durham’s Timmy Ferrell won the 30-lap Grand Stock opener by holding off Greensboro driver Brian Cole in a side-by-side finish at the checkered flag.

It was followed by a 40-lap Limited Sportsman event that featured a tight duel between winner Troy Jones of Creedmoor and runner-up Jonathan Cash of Oxford. Jones led from pole-to-pole, but Cash trailed within a car-length for most of the race, nearly passing on the 30th circuit.

"I can’t say enough about [Cash]," Jones said. "Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw his windshield. I knew he’d drive me clean."

Durham driver Randy Richardson, meanwhile, continued his dominance in the Modified Four-Cylinder division, winning the first 25-lapper of the season. Phillip Penny, another Durham driver, finished second.

"When we qualified, this car wasn’t handling good," Richardson said. "I had to work for this one tonight."

After three hours and 45 minutes of racing, the night was capped by Durham’s Bobby Penny winning the Super Stock Four-Cylinder over runner-up Augie Saccoccio of Durham.