Kenly — In recent years, there are two things racing fans have been able to count on when the Hooters Pro Cup Series makes its annual stop for the Crane Cam 250 at Southern National Raceway Park: a plethora of cautions, and a battle to the wire between Mike McFarland and Michael Ritch.

Last year, in a race dotted with 15 yellow flags, Ritch used the inside route on lap 190 to take the point from McFarland, then held off the Mooresville driver to take the checkered flag.

Saturday night, the yellow cloth filled the twilight sky 19 times.

McFarland took advantage of the 12th slowdown, using the low groove to move alongside Ritch in the third turn of lap 178 and power into the point coming out of turn four.

After that, McFarland weathered Ritch and seven restarts to pick up his second win on the high-banked, 0.4-mile asphalt oval.

McFarland, the Southern Division’s points leader who won here in 2005 and started third on Saturday, was never sure of the victory until the checkers fell, despite winning by a margin of .942 seconds.

“I was worried about Michael on those restarts,” McFarland said, “Because you never know what he’s saved or what he will pull out. I thought our car was better, but I was worried until the checkered flag fell.”

Ritch was a man on the move from the opening drop of the green flag, moving into eighth position by the fourth laps, sixth by lap six and into fourth by the mid-way point of the feature.

He got a break on lap 148 when Caleb Holman and Bill Bigley Jr., running second and third, respectively, made mandatory stops for tires on lap 148, moving into second behind race leader Wade Day.

Day had led from the drop of the green flag until the 58th cycle, when Holman roared by in the final two turns of the lap, but reclaimed the point on lap 138.

Ritch, looking to repeat at SNRP, took the lead on lap 161 when race leader Wade Day made his first of two trips to the pit, said he wasn’t surprised by McFarland’s move to the front.

“It’s pretty much tit-for-tat with us,” Ritch said. “If you remember last year, he had the faster car, but we had the red flag, and I think he had a tire go down and lost a couple pounds of air pressure.

“But Mark had a great car tonight, he was definitely faster from the center off.”

Benson’s Dew Herring continued to have a banner rookie season in the Pro Cup Series, finishing ninth to earn his fifth ‘Top Rookie’ award, along with the $1,000 bonus that goes with it.

The 2007 SNRP Late Model Stock champion, Herring moved into the top five in the Pro Cup South division point standings with his finish.

He ran as high as second at one stage in the event, but could not find the horses to make a pass for the point. Clay Rogers, who edged out Day in qualifying for the pole position, 14.813 seconds to 14.819, never led.

Instead, he was shuffled among the top-ten in the field throughout the race, but eventually battled his way to a third-place finish.

“We’re satisfied,” said Rogers, whose qualifying speed was 97.212 mile per hour, said. “We needed a real long run, because they were getting away from me on the short runs. Unfortunately, with all the cautions tonight, we didn’t have any decent long runs.”

Holman rallied after dropping to 14th following his pit stop to finish fourth, while Jay Fogelman, third in 2007, settled for fifth.