Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(May 25, 2010) -- Ace Speedway was the place to be at this past Friday night as their first ever "May Daze" was held, offering a $2000 to win 100 lap contest for the Late Model Stock Cars.

Some outsiders were expected but had to cancel at the last minute, or then again maybe they were just scared of trying to tackle Rodney Cook and the Ace regulars, as Cook has become one of the hottest drivers in the region, winning four out of five races this season coming into "May Daze". The field was the best of the year with 16 cars and the return of Scotty Warren, who didn't race at all in 2009 was a real bonus as the fans let him know during driver introductions. With all the flare going in, it turned out to be one of the best races at Ace all year, but in the end the man to beat was still the man to beat and the word "Bounty" was being floated around again after this one.

Some other notables in the field at Ace in addition to Warren was Ryan Wilson, Ryan Gray, Micheal McGuire and Robert Turner. Wilson raced at Ace last year, but has spread his schedule out to different tracks this season while running for the championship at Caraway, where he already has a victory this season. Gray had planned to run the entire season at Ace and finished runner-up to Cook during the first race of the season before injuring his hand in a crash and being forced to miss a few weeks. McGuire had made the jump straight from Limited Late Models to UARA-STARS Series this year at the the ripe old age of 13, but has found rough going in the series to start and was trying out the 4/10's mile bullring to simply get more seat time and a much needed good run. Turner is a Ace regular, but engine problems had plagued him for the first three races in a row before the events even started and he was forced to sit back and wait until his car was ready to go not having run a lap in competition this year yet.

As qualifying concluded, it was once again the same as the week before, as Dustin Rumley in his brand new Marlowe Chassis was atop the heap. A very strong Jason Payne would roll off second, followed by Brad Kurth, Wilson and Cook rounding out the top five. Turner, Gray, Warren, Bobby Griffin and John Moore completed the top ten.

Fireworks were shooting into the air in turn one as the field was given the command and it was time to go as Rumley led the field to the green. Kurth and Cook wasted no time getting by Payne and things got wild and crazy from the get-go as beating and banging was going on from the front to the back of the pack. The first caution comes out on lap four and this would be a common theme for the night, as not much carnage was taking place, but the flagman definitely got a workout. Ace has implemented the "cone" rule for this season, as any competitor that wants to go to the outside lane with one to go can do so, giving cars in the back a chance to advance rapidly and for sure giving the fans even more excitement, and on this night both would take place frequently.

Turner and Gray were the first to try and Turner nearly got the lead from Rumley before the higher groove started to give up a bit. He didn't really need to worry about that though, as a lap later Kurth gets loose under him for second sending both cars up the track and allowing Cook to take the runner up spot. It would be short lived fun as Kevin Parker would spin bringing out the second caution of the night, then shows his displeasure to Thomas Scott under yellow. We are still on lap five of the 100-lap race as caution laps do not count.

Right before the next restart a slight drizzle had started to form, as the track was already worried about weather heading into the area and hurried up the pre-race to get the feature in. Before the first drop hit, Randy Butner, Ace and Bowman Gray modified competitor, who also heads up the Motorsports program at Forsyth Tech, gave the hot tip of the day. "It's fixing to rain" he stated, then just a few seconds later precipitation could be felt. Randy just smiled and said "The bald man always knows when rain is coming", another great candidate for quote of the year.

As the rain fell, the track continued to keep heat in the surface in case it got heavier. It never did and eventually quit as the green went out once more. Turner once again tried his luck to the outside with Bobby Griffin this time, but to no avail as the front two cars of Rumley and Cook got great restarts and jetted away from the field. Back in the pack it was getting rough with Michael McGuire in the middle of it all, as the youngster was not handling in the corners and nearly had to stop to get the run off, letting the Ace regulars nearly ram him in each turn. It finally happened with Dean Fogleman in turn four as McGuire gets spun around, but as his spotter said, "We can't stop like that, we got to go."

After two more cautions in three laps for Thomas Scott losing his hood then blowing an engine, we get back to it. This time Turner is able to slide in front of Cook for second, as Kurth is battling to the outside of the field also. McGuire had taken the outside also and pile drives Kurth in turn four sending both cars around for yet another caution. Both were able to continue, but their nights were far from being out of the action quite yet.

On the ensuing restart, Cook makes a bold move to the crowds cheers and tries his hand on the outside against Rumley. Taking the lead from him on a restart was going to be hard on this night, as Rumley would gas it and go to a tee every time and Cook had to fall back into second. We would get a little green flag run for a bit, as the top three of Rumley, Cook and Turner separated themselves from the field before the yellow would fly once again on lap 25. Payne had been working Warren over for many laps and the two would eventually make contact sending Warren into the turn four wall, ending his comeback night.

After three more cautions for Payne and McGuire getting into a skirmish, Payne blowing an engine, then John Moore being pushed into the turn two wall, we finally get down to business. Cook finally gets the green flag run he needs to put pressure on Rumley and does so, lap after lap, sticking the nose of his car under the rear of Rumley in each corner. Cook gets to the inside of Rumley on lap 49, the crowd comes to their feet and just as fast, Coy Hedrick spins off turn four to bring out another caution. The anticipation is killing everyone to see these two race, but they would get their chance.

On the restart Rumley would only pull out to a car length this time, as Cook began to hunt him down. He finally gets a good bite off turn four on lap 55 and shoots to the lead, as Rumley quickly tucks in behind. It becomes a three car race as Cook, Rumley and Turner take off once again. With Cook beginning to pull away, Rumley would soon have his hands full with Turner all over him for the second spot until the caution flies once more on lap 85.

It is now in the final stages and as they had done all night almost on every restart, Wilson and Gray would go to the outside. This would benefit them greatly all night, as the inside lane with all the cars would get log-jammed and they could pick up a spot or two each restart. Wilson battled with Rumley hard allowing Cook to pull away before Rumley could clear him and making the race look all but over with only ten laps to go. But, you know it never goes like that.

Back in the pack Griffin, Kurth, McGuire, Parker and Hedrick all get together, with Griffin and McGuire slamming the outside wall down the frontstretch ending both their nights. Griffin's car was virtually destroyed but drivable, and he made his way around the track to run down the side of Kurth showing his displeasure ... and then it got real interesting.

As Griffin parked in his pit box with his night over, Kurth went to the other end of pit road to make repairs. Griffin wasn't done showing his gratitude for an accident he say's that Kurth caused and made quit exit of his car and headed straight to Kurth's pits. Griffin walked straight up to Kurth's car and threw a punch into the window and then all heck broke loose between the teams.
 

Griffin was escorted back to his pits and Kurth was only in for minor repairs, but he was getting out of his car now, he could care less about the race. Kurth was infuriated and went down pit road pushing people to the side as they tried to hold him back, the whole time yelling at the Griffin pit on just what he thought of them. Track General Manager Brad Allen was finally able to restrain Kurth, but not before he backed him halfway down pit road, Kurth was hot.

Both drivers told exactly what they thought of the situation and Kurth was up to bat first. "I honestly don't know what happened in that wreck(with Griffin)," said Kurth. "I was behind him and somebody else and saw them get into each other and start banging off one another, I just stayed behind them. At the end, I guess he thought I hit him."

Kurth's crew chief, former LMSC driver and current Bowman Gray Modified driver, Dean Ward, cut in and was straight to the point, "You want to quote something? He needs his ass whipped, that's what it comes down to."

Kurth continued on, "He came down here in my pit and tried to hit me while I was in the car. Oh well, he ain't man enough to wait until I get out of the car, that's usually how they are." Kurth was calm and cool talking with me and knowing some rowdy people in my days, the fact that he went from irate to plain cool in an instant is scary.

Griffin was a tad more vocal about the incident and didn't hold back his feelings. "I was just being patient, we knew there was going to be a lot of wrecks, but you do it every week and put up with it, I'm going to go ahead and quote the word "idiot", the same idiot does it every week over here," said a still agitated Griffin. "There ain't a driver down here from Rodney(Cook) to John Moore or Jason Payne to myself that ain't sick of it. Well, he got the wrong one this time, I can tell you that."

"I hope his nose feels pretty good. It's just so damn aggravating, these guys work so hard on this car, we ain't got no sponsor and now it looks like I'm pretty much done for a while from somebody trying to wreck the entire field." Griffin was looking forward to running Franklin County this coming Monday, but said his chances look slim now. If I was a betting man I would say he'll be there and so will Kurth.

OK, everyone including me finally realized we still had a race to complete and ten laps separated Cook from his fifth win of the season. Kurth was encouraged to climb back in his car and good thing he did as caution laps didn't count, so he got to have a throwdown in the pits and still never lost a lap. The field lined up for one final restart with Wilson and Gray once again on the outside with Kurth flying up late.

At the green it was all Cook as he got away from the field. Wilson did the best he could to hang tough on the outside, but Rumley and Turner proved to be too much and put the youngster back to fourth. As they took the white flag, Turner began pressuring Rumley once again but he couldn't get under him enough to make the pass. Behind them Kurth was charging and got around Ryan Gray to take home a fifth place finish at the end, not bad for a guy that had fire shooting out of his ears walking down pit road just five minutes before.

At the front it was all Cook though, as he rolled to his fifth win in six races, undoubtedly the best start to a season in his career. "I ran hard the whole race, I always do," Cook replied out of breath. "Dustin(Rumley) was going pretty good there for a while and then his car started to give up a bit. I could tell because with about 50 to go he started moving around a bit, like his car wasn't as stable and mine just stayed the same."

"Everything is just going the right way for me, it looks like I might be riding at times, but I can promise you I'm running that thing hard every lap. My hats of to them though(the Rumley's), they should be proud, they are getting better each week. Mark Rumley(Dustin's dad) came and shook my hand and I know I'm not one of their favorite people here, so that means a lot. This is by far the best start to any season I have had since I have been racing and the competition here is tough and the track is one of the toughest around, which makes all this that much sweeter."

"We are just going to keep this going, we are going to Franklin County this next week which is one of my favorite tracks and we are hearing they are going to have some big time competition up there, so we are going to give it all we got and see if we can't keep this dream season alive."

Cook seems to have a hold on the Ace Speedway, but others such as Rumley, Turner, Griffin and the only other winner this year, Kurth seem to inch a little closer each week. But it hasn't been enough so far and that "bounty" term that was thrown around seems like a great idea at this point. For some reason I just think Cook would welcome that idea even more.
 

Results:
1 - Rodney Cook #14
2 - Dustin Rumley #88
3 - Robert Turner #13
4 - Ryan Wilson #12
5 - Brad Kurth #9
6 - Ryan Gray #04
7 - Kevin Parker #10
8 - Coy Hedrick #44
9 - Mike Chambers #27
10 - Bobby Griffin #85
11 - Michael McGuire #22
12 - Thomas Scott #8
13 - Dean Fogleman #71
14 - John Moore #4
15 - Jason Payne #9
16 - Scotty Warren #29