Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Kingsport, TN(March 28, 2010) -- The UARA series made stop number two at the legendary Kingsport TN Speedway, a little concrete bullring that was sure to have some excitement.

The track had sat dormant since 2002 until late last year when the UARA brought racing back to the track with a 150 daytime feature, filling the grandstands in the process. Now it was late March and the lights were on at Kingsport for a 7 o'clock start, and the veterans looked to shine at one of the toughest tracks in the country. In the end it wasn't a veteran at all, it was a 14 year-old rookie making his third ever start in the series, matter of fact it was his third start ever in a Late Model Stock Car, who totally waxed the field. Get used to seeing Clint King's name in lights for the rest of the season.

Kingsport is a throwback track if you will, very weathered, very worn, with corners so tight you nearly stop in turns 1 & 2 to get a bite to go down the backstretch. The track is banked, but the groove is on the apron right next to the inside wall in the turns, making the track race a tad like Bowman Gray Stadium, moving a driver out of your way is normal ... and at the beginning and the end of the race, that was very often.

Hot shoe, Coleman Pressley scored the pole, but not without controversy in qualifying. Coleman had his transponder malfunction and not show up on the main screen of timing and scoring, but the backup caught it, of course the main screen is the one all the competitors saw and thus left everyone with a bitter taste in their mouth. Beyond the controversy, he smoked the 24 car field by a full tenth to lead them to the green flag. He was followed by the rookie King, Kyle Grissom, another strong rookie Ronnie Bassett Jr. and veteran Lee Tissott rounding out the top five.

Qualifying was hard on some of the big names, as the fastest man of the weekend Brennan Poole threw out his clutch as he went out to make his qualifying attempt and had to start from the rear. Alex Yontz was also fast all weekend, but the sticker tires put on for qualifying made every car slow down with no heat in them, and Alex was not immune as he pushed in the corners badly putting his Ford back in 13th. Another driver looking for a great run was local hero Nate Monteith, but his weekend had already started off badly as he had to change an engine on Friday night after testing, as his car was near the bottom of the list in speeds and seemed down on power. Saturday was looking up though as Monteith was the second fastest car in final practice, but a brake malfunction on his 'money' lap stuck the #14 car back in the 20th starting position.

With the cold tires and all the cars needing 7-9 laps to get heat in them so they would stick, everyone was worried about the start, and especially turn one. Good reason to worry, as the accordion effect was in full effect entering turn one, and it didn't go without casualties as Royce Peters got turned around, and got slammed hard by Tyler English with Julia Dawson and Monteith spinning to avoid. Clint King was able to jump in front of Grissom to take the lead, and the field would rest a little easier now as the UARA does not do double-file restarts.

After another restart for a spin on lap 15, Grissom was able to muscle under King for the top spot, and the two ran side-by-side for nearly five laps before Grissom took over, bringing Pressley with him. It would be short-lived as just a few laps later on another restart, Grissom would have trouble going through the gears knocking him back to fourth. Pressley would over-shoot turn one also, handing the lead back to King, and this time he was not going to be denied until the checkered flag dropped.

Back in the pack, beating and banging was the norm. Ronnie Basset Jr. making his third ever start also, got uprooted to the high side and fell back gradually. Matt Kuzejewski had a great starting spot of 7th, but fell back and finally got tuned around before beating his way back to the front towards the end of the event, and his car showed the scars. Rookie Robert Johnson found the outside wall down the front stretch ending his night, and Grant McGinnis and Wayne Hale had one of the more spectacular crashes of the night, destroying both cars in the process.

Scott Turlington was another driver looking to turn his luck around after having problems at Hickory. He battled brake problems all weekend and during the race it got worse as he sheared the bolts holding the caliper completely off. Same was true for Micheal Rouse, who worked his way up to third before his right front caliper came off. Monteith was involved in the opening lap wreck, but didn't receive any damage and looked to make a run from the back. But being in the back sometimes means you dodge others problems, and Monteith had to dodge the slow car of Dennis Queen down the front stretch and went into the inside wall ending his already bad weekend.

As the race up front settled down with King leading and Tissott moving into second, another driver was running one of the smartest races seen in some time. Brennan Poole was a man on a mission, but not hastily coming from the back. Brennan played it safe and timed his moves wisely after starting last, he knew his car was good after being the fastest in practice all weekend and with Jamie Yelton coaching on the radio they had a game plan. Poole never pressed the issue, and took his time waiting for others to make mistakes, and pounced on them when they did. Just past the 80 lap mark, Poole found himself running in the top five, but having to come from the back did take It's toll on his tires, and as he got closer to the front, the cars became harder to pass.

The race finally got into a long green flag run, and King began to distance himself from the field. Grissom had come to pit road on an earlier caution to free his car up, and Yontz came down also to take tape off the front of his car, as it was overheating all day, putting both cars out of contention for the win. The race had become the battle of roommates, as Poole was on Pressley for third, and finally got by after a spirited battle with 30 to go. The pair began catching Tissott for second, but King had drove off into the distance and looked to be sailing home free, as the cars were spaced out and many had fallen out. But things never go as planned.

With about 15 to go, the much slower cars of Julie Dawson and Brian Rose began racing like it was the last lap for the win, beating and banging on one another lap after lap, even in front of the leaders. The front runners were able to navigate by, but some back in the field were not as lucky. Dawson and Rose finally took each other out with seven to go after their spotters had been arguing for several laps and blocked the track taking out Alex Yontz and Micheal McGuire out in the process. Needles to say, Yontz and McGuire were not pleased with the way Rose and Dawson were racing the faster cars.

So it came down to, guess what? Of course, another green......white.....checkered. This is where rookie, King was really going to have to show his worth, as he had the veteran and former series champion, Tissott behind him and Tissott was hungry. King sailed off into turn one perfectly, and began to distance himself from Tissott. Behind them all heck was breaking loose, as Garrett Campbell who had been running in the top ten all day, decided he wanted a little more and put the "8 tires are better than 4" theory into play, and dived into turn one slamming into the side of Pressley and running John King high up the track also as the cars went three wide off turn two.

It turned out to be a great move for Campbell, as he went from 7th to 4th in the final lap, but Pressley was not amused as he gave the #12 of Campbell a little bump after the checkered flag. It was just in frustration for his day as a whole, as Pressley admitted after the race that he had dropped a cylinder with 60 to go and was hanging on for dear life.

But up front was one happy camper, as Clint King had become the youngest driver ever in the UARA series, in only his third start. The Ricky Bryant led team was ecstatic, but nobody was happier than the kid behind the wheel. He didn't luck into a win, or experience people having problems and move up, he was fast all weekend, qualified outside the front row, and went on to dominate the race at one of the toughest tracks you could find anywhere. To all those that were skeptical, Clint King has arrived, he is for real and he will be a threat for the 2010 UARA championship!

Results:
1. Clint King #07
2. Lee Tissot #44
3. Brennan Poole #5
4. Garrett Campbell #12
5. Matt Kurzejewski #10
6. John King II #21
7. Coleman Pressley #59
8. Kyle Grissom #32
9. Dennis Queen #92
10. Ronnie Bassett Jr. #04
11. Brian Rose #42
12. Julia Dawson #1
13. Alex Yontz #98
14. Michael McGuire #22
15. Jeff Woodward #94
16. Scott Turlington #48
17. Michael Rouse #23
18. Wayne Hale #19
19. Grant McGinnis #41
20. Robert Johnson III #11
21. Nate Monteith #14
22. Bruce Blessing #55
23. Royce Peters #38
24. Tyler English #18