WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!

Weekly Region Round Up presented by ... Jim Cook Racing

WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!

Hickory Motor Speedway ~ Hickory, NC
Hickory, NC ~ Andy Mercer came into Saturday nights Rick Bowman Memorial twin 50-lap Late Model Stock Car races winless, but after capturing the pole for the first race he drove his Pistone LTO chassis to victory lane not once, but twice.

Mercer jumped out front on race number one and demolished the chances of the other competitors in the 17 car field in dominating fashion. While Mercer was out front getting the job done the way he was supposed to former NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, Shane Huffman was making some noise of his own driving the late Dwight Huffman's car. Huffman drove up through the field to record a second place finish, he would finish there in both races.

Todd Goble had a couple impressive runs in his Dexter Canipe prepared car finishing third in the first race after starting on the outside pole, but in race number two he was impressive driving from a tenth place start to finish 4th. Andy "High Side" Loden continued to struggle with his car being very tight and was only able to pick up a fourth and fifth place finish respectively in the twin races. Jesse Lefevers picked up a third place finish in the second race of the

night after struggling through race one. Lefevers finished third after running second for most of the race and battling with Huffman hard for the position, Lefevers drove an incredible race.

Another note worthy finish was that of Sam Watts, who finished fifth in race one, but struggled in race number two nearly crashing once and nearly being take out in another instance and finished ninth.

Franklin County Speedway ~ Callaway, VA
Callaway, VA ~ Buster Carroll returned to race winning form, by picking up an unusual Sunday evening victory over a stout 18 car field. Carroll put the pedal to the metal in the Specialized Saw & Mower 250 at the World's Fastest 3/8 Mile Paved Oval.

Carroll outrun Reidsville, NC's Rodney Cook, who also took the points lead at Franklin County Speedway for the first time in his Late Model Stock Car racing career after Jimmy Mullins defending track champion and points leader coming into the race struggled and only managed a sixth place finish. Cook was second with Rick Sigmon, Travis Hurt and Nathan Wheat rounding out the top five finishers.

Motor Mile Speedway ~ Radford, VA
Radford, VA ~ Mike Looney may have pulled off the upset of the year as he took his crate engine powered car to a 150-lap Late Model Stock Car victory over former NASCAR National Champion and two-time defending division champion, Philip Morris.

Morris, who is so far winless this season apparently protested the engine in Looney's car, but to no avail as Looney scored his first win of the season in his underfunded Catawba, VA based team.  The protest was the second of the season for Morris and his second straight unsucessful protest, looks like a little sour grapes from the former NASCAR National Champion.  Morris was second followed by a very impressive run by young, Brandon Dean, who qualified third and finished there in his best run of the season. Jason Mitcham and Chad Harris rounded out the top five finishers.

It was a tough day for four of the top drivers in the region this year, first Kelly Kingery, who finished 17th, Davin Scites, winner of the season opening event finished 20th after cutting a tire while running up front, Hickory Motor Speedway's season opening winning driver, Brian Curry who finished 28th and Wade Day, who qualified fifth onyl to finish a very disappointing 33rd.

Music City Motorplex ~ Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN ~ Dillon Oliver picked up a win on the 5/8 super speedway of short tracks, the Music City Motorplex formerly known as the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Oliver picked up the win over Mark Day, Daniel Pope II, Michael House and Andy Johnson.

Newport Speedway ~ Newport, TN
Newport, TN ~ In a wild night of action at Newport Speedway a new winner in the tracks history would emerge, 16 year-old, Matt DiBenedetto would score the win on the high banked little track. The win was the second of the season for DiBenedetto and his Mitch West Racing team, the first of which came two weeks ago at Tri-County Motor Speedway.

The win also marked the second victory with the Chevrolet Crate Engine under the hood of his Ford Fusion, a change that with success like that may become a permanent one. DiBenedetto was the class of the field and held off challenges from Roger Powell. Junior Franks, John Ashley and Brian Ramsey rounded out the top five finishers in a fifteen car field.

Greenville-Pickens Speedway ~ Greenville, SC
Greenville, SC ~ 2007 Late Model Stock Car track champion, David Roberts returned to the form from a season ago with a victory at Greenville Pickens Speedway. Roberts beat pole sitter and early season winner, Coleman Pressley to the finish with Marty Ward the only two-time winner this season finishing third. Ralp Carnes and Kenneth Headen rounded out the top five.

Southern National Raceway Park ~ Kenly, NC
Kenly, NC ~ Kyle Hall scored another win in one of the twin races on a special Sunday evening special at Southern National Raceway Park with Corey Strickland scoring the other victory.
Hall was followed to the line in race number one by 2007 Old Dominion Speedway track champion, Michael Hardin, Doug Godsey, Sherman Davis and Strickland. Strickland in race number two was followed to the line by Davis, Godsey, Hall and Ryan Rhodes.

Tri-County Motor Speedway ~ Hudson, NC
Hudson, NC ~ Young Sam Watts picked up his first victory Friday night at Tri-County Motor Speedway in a battle with last weeks winner, Andy Loden to the finish. Watts was followed to the line by Loden, Chrissy Wallace, RA Brown and Josh Goble.

Ace Speedway ~ Altamahaw, NC
Altamahaw, NC ~ Speedy Faucette ended his streak of bad luck on Friday night as he won his first race of 2008 thus keeping Rodney Cook winless again as Cook settled for second. Cook was followed by last weeks winner, Dean Fogleman, Jesse Ingle III and Scotty Warren.

Caraway Speedway ~ Asheboro, NC
Asheboro, NC ~ Randy Benson grabbed the checkered flag at Caraway Speedway, but his win may end up being short lived as his engine is currently being inspected by NASCAR officials and there may be a problem with his race winning crate engine. We'll have more on this later in the week when it is determined whether or not the engine is legal. Benson was followed to the finish line by Brad Brinkley, Joey Coulter, Tommy Lemons, Jr. and Dan Moore.

CHECK BACK ... Later this week for more on the regions racing including some more indepth looks at some of the weekends racing action as well as a look ahead at the next weekends action and more photos from Hickory Motor Speedway's twin 50 lap races.

Andy Mercer emerges from his car after the first of two wins at Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, NC