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McCall
Makes Tri-County "HIS"
By
Corey
Latham and Wink Bodenhamer
Hendersonville, North Carolina (August
30, 2008) -
As
the UARA STARS touring series pulled into Tri-County
Speedway Friday night, it was business as usual. Except
everybody knew one thing in the
back of their head, Matt McCall was gonna be there, and he was
gonna be fast. Matt, along with another former series champion
Lee Tissot and quite
a few "outsiders" came to the track to try their
best against the best Late-Model racers in the country. They
did fine, but in the end, it was the 2005 UARA champion McCall
taking the win after an action packed event.
Clay
Greenfield had come to the season ending race for Tri-County's
weekly racing a week before, to try and get a feel of the
track. It worked wonders as Greenfield won the Sunoco Pole
award with a fast time of 16.271. It was impressive for
Greenfield not just that it was his first career pole, but
being able to beat McCall who had set the track record a week
earlier. McCall was able to secure the KLB Race Cars and Parts
outside pole award. He was followed by Lee Tissot, Jamey
Caudill and most recent race winner at Franklin County,
Brandon McReynolds.
As
the racing action got underway, it was just
that.........action. McCall tries to pull the outside groove
and take the lead, and does for a lap, until Greenfield dives
underneath in turn 3. The two make contact, and Greenfield
spins around bottlenecking the field off turn 4. Multiple 2008
Tri-County winner Jesse LeFevers and Chase Austin had their
nights cut short from the lap 5 melee. Alex Yontz, Kyle
Grissom and Jordan McGregor will also be involved in this
incident but will continue on for more action later in the
night. Greenfield would never recover and fall out later with
suspension damage and receive the ARP Hard Luck award.
As
the race wore on, two things were certain. McCall was the guy
to beat, and all the rest were doing some serious rubbing on
each other. This is controlled beating and banging though,
which equals great racing. R.A.Brown and Brandon Dean ran side
by side much of the race, and after the lap 5 caution got Alex
Yontz pinned at the back of the field, his run through the
pack was impressive. Rookie Andrew Carlsen had a great night
after qualifying in the back of the pack. By lap 50 Carlsen
was solidly inside the top 15 after battling through the field
and came home with a much needed top ten finish, earning
him the Holley Performer of the race award.
Another
top story of the night was point leader Jake Crum. Jake had
been in a slump of sorts the last few races, allowing Alex
Yontz to close within 7 points in the championship battle.
Crum was on the mark Friday night, fast in practice, qualified
6th, and ran the entire race in the top 5, battling hard with
Jamie Yelton and Jamey Caudill to come home 4th. Racing works
in cycles, if Jake's performance has turned around
to where it was the first half of the season, the rest of
the field has their work cut out for them
Lap
74 caution flew as Scott Turlington and David LaTour, Jr.
wreck in turn four. LaTour’s bad luck doesn’t end
here as he finds himself spinning on the front stretch just a
few laps later.
Lap
90 finds the caution flying for the 03 car of Dillon Smith
driven by Corey LaJoie at this event.
LaJoie
hit hard into the backstretch wall saying he just lost it.
Smith was missing from the event as he attended a national
dirt race in Texas.
Lap
123 the caution flies for the spinning car of R.A. Brown a
former UARA regular who this year ran the entire Tri County
schedule. When the green falls on lap 128 the going gets
tough. The field is fierce and they come down into turn
four – four deep and of course they run out of real estate
and the next thing we see is the fender of the Yontz car being
peeled off like a banana.
Getting
down to the end, it looked as if McCall was going to sail off
in the distance. Richard Boswell II had something to say about
that, charging from 7th to second in the last half of the
race, but ran out of time as McCall put his #23 machine
in victory lane for the second time in a week.....at the same
track. And it was the second race ever in this car,
pretty good batting average if ya ask me. Tom
Vigue will bring home the Comp Cam Engine Builder Award for
the powerhouse in the McCall machine.
Lonesome
Pine Speedway is up next for the UARA STARS, on Saturday September
13th.
Will
Crum be able to hold off Yontz for the point lead? Will the rivalries
of 2008 be rekindled at Lonesome Pine? Will Boswell finally
break through for that first win? There's only one way to find
out, we'll se you in the beautiful Virginia mountains in
2 weeks. For
more info visit www.uara-stars.com
or call 828-692-3833
Tune in to our
website for more information www.tricountymotorspeedway.com
or call us at (828)726-6600 with any questions or ideas.
Tri-County
Motor
Speedway
Race Results
Friday, August 29, 2008
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UARA
Late
Model Stock
1. Matt McCall
2. Richard Boswell II
3. Lee Tissot
4. Jake Crum
5. Jamie Yelton
6. Jamey Caudill
7. Roger Lee Newton
8. Brandon McReynolds
9. Alex Yontz
10.
Andrew Carlsen
11.
Jordan McGregor
12.
Kyle Moon
13.
Scott Turlington
14.
J.R. Allen
15.
Thomas Hartensveld
16.
R.A. Brown
17.
Darrell Wallace, Jr.
18.
David LaTour, Jr.
19.
Garrett Campbell
20.
Brad Kurth
21.
Brandon Dean
22.
Corey LaJoie
23.
Clay Greenfield
24.
Kyle Grissom
25.
Chase Austin
26.
Jesse LaFevers
|
Pepsi Limited Late
Model Stock
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Baton
Tire Street Stock
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Red Baron Race
Parts Hobby
Stock
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