Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(April 6, 2010) -- All eyes were on Ace Speedway this past Friday, as the season that many thought would never happen rolled off for 2010.

With much uncertainty, the track had announced that the first event would pay $2500 to win in the Late Model Stock Car division, and many wondered just who would show up. A nice field of 14 LMSC's came to get it on, and more importantly, the stands were filled to capacity. A good night all around, and Brad Allen looks to have the track going in the right direction.

As practice and qualifying was completed, the vibe in the pits was one that had not been seen in recent times at the bullring. And at the conclusion of the drivers meeting, in which the teams were addressed by Dennis Huth of the ASA series, and new general manager Brad Allen, it was made clear that a new era was going to start at Ace Speedway. Speedy Faucette had claimed the pole for the nights 75 lapper, beating Ryan Wilson by .16 to smoke the field. It was short-lived though, as the dreaded redraw came into play, with Faucette drawing the 5th spot, putting Dustin Rumley and Bobby Griffin on the front row. The field did lose a top car before the race even started as Robert Turner spun a bearing in the motor, causing the team to load up before time trials.

As the temperatures get higher into the season, most teams tighten their cars up to accommodate the loose conditions that a hot, slick track offers them. That was exactly the opposite at Ace, as it was extremely warm and many teams went in the wrong direction on their adjustments, which was easy to see in the early going. Dustin Rumley was the first to show the effects, as he fell from the top spot on lap 17, and began to free-fall through the field. Your new leader was one that was determined to get a victory in the LMSC ranks, a hungry Bobby Griffin.

Griffin is one of those guys that you can't help but to pull for. He's just a regular guy, nothing flashy and would help anyone out in a second. He is also one of the more underfunded drivers in the LMSC divison, but on Friday he had a car that about any driver would envy. Bobby was the class of the field, and the power and drive his car had up off the corners was superb. His lead grew into half a straightaway at times, and it looked as if the victory was all his, leading 48 laps, but at Ace we have learned that things can change quickly.

As Griffin was leading, Rodney Cook was coming. Admittedly a bad qualifier, Cook became the car to watch as on longer green flag runs as other cars lost the handle, he was one of the only ones to actually look better as time passed. After rolling off 8th, he finally made it to the battle of Wilson and Faucette for second and quickly put both of them by the wayside. Faucette would later fall back himself, as he had raced Wilson very hard cooking his brakes to where they were almost unusable.

Griffin looked to have the win locked down, but a late caution with 19 to go between the spinning cars of 2008 champion Dean Fogleman and Kevin Parker bunched the field back together. And a restart in 2010 is a lot different than before, as Brad Allen has implemented the double-file restart making things even more exciting. Griffin would get the jump,but having Cook on your bumper with the win in sight makes you look out the back just a little more.

As Cook started to reel in Griffin from his good restart, all sorts of moves were taking place behind them with OCS regular Ryan Gray making a run to the front. Gray rolled into the track 10min before qualifying, and all the practice he had before the race were the three laps in time trials. When asked before the event why they rolled in at the last minute Gray replied, 'We didn't have anything else to do", smiling the whole time. Gray was able to get by Faucette and Wilson, but was too far back to make a run at the leaders, this race was going to be decided between Griffin and Cook.

With 10 to go Cook was there, and began putting the pressure the back of Griffins car instantly, hoping for the veteran driver to make a mistake. Griffin kept his car pinned to the inside making Cook only have one option on the tight track, use the bumper. And it wasn't a lot of contact, but just enough to move the #85 of Griffin into the high groove as Cook made his way past. It was just a matter of time anyway, as the handle on Griffin's car had gone away to, and he got freight-trained on the outside.

Cook would roll into victory lane a happy man, as Booby Griffin would sit on the side of his trailer dejected, knowing he did have the best car he has ever brought to the track. Ryan Gray was also happy, as 2nd place was not what they were expecting as they had no practice at all, he did state that he was going to run the entire season at Ace though. Faucette came home a disappointing 7th, but the defending champion won't stay back there long making this another season to come and check out the action at Ace Speedway. Adding other drivers into the championship mix with Bobby Griffin and Gray will just make it that much better.
 

Winner-Rodney Cook: "This is just another one of those tracks were I can't qualify at. It's a tough deal, we had a lot of good cars out there tonight. My car was just really good on the long runs, I got tired out there but just got up on the wheel. It was a pretty clean race for the most part, some people call me a dirty driver, but I just have to let my car roll through the center of the corner, if I could do that in qualifying I probably wouldn't be starting back there. I think it looks better starting back there and coming forward, It's not something I like to do, but anybody that has watched my career has always seen me work my way from the back. I just gotta take my hat off to Bobby and those guys, he's a heck of a racecar driver, he just has a lack of funds, and I know all about that. It's good to see them have such a great run."

2nd-Ryan Gray: This was pretty awesome. We stayed up till 3am last night working on this thing and didn't leave the shop until 6 tonight to come up here, my guys worked really hard. I thought I had something for Rodney there at the end, but he was just so much better for a few laps after those restarts. We'll come back and get them next week, we're running the whole season over here, at least that is our plan. With Orange County not enforcing their crate engine rules properly, and having to buy 4 new tires, I just can't afford to run it. We are really looking forward to running Ace though."

3rd-Ryan Wilson: "On the long runs I just got too tight in the center. Those double-file restarts hurt us pretty good to though. I had quite a few people that wanted to use the front bumper tonight, so I used it back quite a few times too. This track is tough, probably my worst, so to come out of here with a top 3 finish is great. It hasn't been vrey fun for me here, but running up front just made it a whole lot better. We are gonna try and come back a few times this year."

Results:
1 - Rodney Cook #14
2 - Ryan Gray #04
3 - Ryan Wilson #12
4 - John Moore #4
5 - Jason Payne #9
6 - Bobby Griffin #85
7 - Speedy Faucette #37
8 - Thomas Scott #8
9 - Dustin Rumley #88
10 - Dean Fogleman #71
11 - Kevin Parker #10
12 - Mike Chambers #27
13 - Coy Hedrick #44
14 - Robert Turner #13