Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(April 28, 2010) -- Four races, three Friday nights, and Rodney Cook has picked up three wins. It is beginning to look like a trend, as Cook got out front after setting the fast time in last Friday's 75 lap feature and cruised to his third triumph of the season.

After the crash-fest we saw two weeks ago with nearly 80% of the cars in the field taking considerable damage, only 11 LMSC's showed up the the Ace bullring for the Friday night affair. Missing was Dustin Rumley, who had his car absolutely destroyed, Ryan Gray who simply didn't have enough time to get his car back together and Robert Turner, who hasn't been able to start a race yet after blowing two engines in two different practices in the first two races.

We did get one new name in the field for this weeks event, and he came just a little ways to race...........like from another continent. Micheal Lia, a National champion go-kart racer from Australia, was here to make his first ever start in a Late Model Stock Car, matter of fact it would be the first time he had raced an oval track in his life. Lia was driving a car out of the Rodney Cook stables and he came with a good piece, as it was the car that Rodney had won his two previous races in. Lia however, was not there to set the world on fire, as he simply wanted seat time and will be flying back into the states four more times this year for additional starts. His ultimate plan is to move here next year and start his US racing career fresh in 2011.

Cook would grab the pole, followed by Jason Payne, Brad Kurth, Bobby Griffin and Dean Fogleman. The always popular invert would flip the top four putting Griffin on the point, along with another twist for this week. Ace had been using the double-file restarts this season for the first time, and while they worked good the first week, last time out was total destruction. Instead of doing it again, Ace came up with another way to give the fans more to see, and to give drivers back in the pack a chance to run up front, the "choose" cone rule. Much like Bowman Gray Stadium, a cone is placed on the track one lap before green after a caution, and any driver can choose to take the high line to advance their position on the restarts.

On the start as it is every week at Ace, it got crazy rather quick. Kurth makes a power move to get by Griffin for the lead, as Cook follows right in his tire tracks disposing of Payne for third. It didn't take long for the fireworks to start as Payne, Fogleman and Thomas Scott all get together to bring out the nights first caution. Scott and Fogleman would continue, but as Payne tried to limp around for a few laps, it was obvious his night was done, as the entire left side of his car was sheared off.

Bobby Griffin has been a new man this season at Ace, and undoubtedly has become one of the cars to beat in his sharp #85 ride. He would show his strength once again as he choose the outside for the restart, and raced the leaders hard into turn one before falling back into third. We were now 22 laps in, and Cook made his move to take the lead from Kurth, and that was all he needed. Kurth would have his hands full with Griffin for second, and as he did lay a few blocks down to hold his spot, Griffin moved him in turn 4 to take the spot and set his sights on Cook.

As Griffin pulled away from Kurth after getting him crossed up in turn four, a new driver was in the hunt for a top spot as John Moore was now all over the #9 of Kurth. Moore had came into his own throughout the season last year, and looked to be one of the cars to challenge for the championship in 2010, but the team has not found the balance that they had at the end of 09'. It looked to be back on this night, as Moore was able to get inside of Kurth for third down the backstretch, but once again lady luck would bite him hard. The two cars make contact and Moore goes into turn 3 with a shower of sparks, as the contact cut down his right front and sends the caution flying once more.

It looked as if Griffin could possibly have something for Cook, as the two cars separated themselves from the rest of the field. Griffin has been snake bit himself this year, and it reared it's head once again. As he inched ever so slightly to Cook, Griffin said he could feel it, the motor was "tightening" up and a few laps later and it finally went up in a puff of smoke, along with his chances of victory once again.

Now it was Kurth being the only car even in the ballpark with Cook, but try as he might, the #14 of Cook was simply on a rail and was not going to be denied. Kurth could stay in relative striking distance, but that might have been Cook just keeping him back far enough, we'll never know that. The lead was a forgone conclusion, but third was heating up, and between two drivers that were already heated a tad to begin with.

Two weeks ago Thomas Scott and Dean Fogleman got together in a large crash that destroyed the right front of Fogleman's car. Needless to say, Fogleman was not happy as the incident occurred down the frontstretch. Well here they were again this week and Fogleman had got around Scott with 15 to go, but Scott wasn't done quite yet. Fogleman, the 2008 track champion put nearly seven car-lengths on the youngster Scott, but he saw that interval disappear with only two to go.

As they get the white flag Scott looks to the outside, then going into turn three makes a banzai move to the inside, contact is made and both cars spin out less than 150 feet from the finish line. Once again, and with good reason, Fogleman was irate, but to me it's a double-edged sword. Scott is a young driver who is learning, and while the move may have been a touch questionable, it would have been disappointing to see him not try it to advance his position. It all comes down to a "racing deal", and hopefully both drivers will move on and race hard in the future.

Rodney Cook was unstoppable on this night, as he said it was one of the best driving cars he had ever sat behind the wheel of. Kurth complained that his car was too tight, which was evident watching him, as he skated his car up the track with the nose on numerous occasions. Funny thing was though, maybe the happiest guy there was the guy who finished third, Kevin Parker.

Parker is a low budget racer who simply wants to get seat time and improve on what he's got to run with the guys up front. He has got faster each week and now it seems that he is just a tick off from where he needs to be, his first ever podium finish was like a win to him as he put it. He and the rest of the field have their work cut out for them if they want to beat Cook, he is on a roll here at the beginning of 2010.
 
Boo Boo Dalton won an exciting Limited Late Model feature that saw him and track dominator, Ziggy Zimmerman beat and bang off one another for much of the race.  Zimmerman at one point went airborne on Dalton's car as the two had a heated battle.

LMSC Results:
1 - Rodney Cook #14
2 - Brad Kurth #9
3 - Kevin Parker #10
4 - Mike Chambers #27
5 - Coy Hedrick #44
6 - Dean Fogleman #71
7 - Thomas Scott #8
8 - Michael Lia #72
9 - Bobby Griffin #85
10 - John Moore #4
11 - Jason Payne #9