Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Hickory, NC(April 19, 2010) -- It was inevitable that it was going to happen ... you can't run up front week-in and week-out without eventually breaking through to pick up your first win and that's exactly what happened on Saturday night in the fourth race of the season at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Kyle Mansch posted the fastest time of the night in qualifying exactly like he did on race one of the season, when he shocked everyone by sitting on the pole, but this night he was hoping things would turn out a whole lot different in the end. In the season opener, Mansch started from the pole, but was turned around in front of the field by contact from another driver, ruining his night. His second Late Model Stock Car race after moving up from Limiteds, where he won the championship in 2009, he again had a fast car, but was involved in a crash.

Mansch's third Late Model Stock Car race earned him a second place finish a week ago to his Mercer Race Car Engineering 'teammate', Andy Mercer and this time, Mansch was hoping this would be his night. With the pole in hand, Mansch's biggest worry was Mercer, who was starting alongside him on the front row, but when the green flag waved, his worries were eased. Mansch took off on the start and was out to show everyone he had not only a fast race car, but the best one on this night, but his lead quickly vanished as a caution would slow the field on lap three.

Another, "Kyle", Kyle Moon would go for a spin after contact from Josh Wimbish while racing among the top six cars. Up front it was Mansch, Mercer and winner of the first two races, Dexter Canipe, Jr., Candace Muzny and Wimbish the top five for the first of the double-file restarts. Many thought that the double-file restarts wouldn't play to Mansch's advantage, but rather Mercer's, but it was just the obvious as Mansch seemed to be able to pull away at will.

With Mansch comfortably out in front of the small thirteen car field, Mercer now had a rearview mirror full of Canipe, who had slipped by Muzny just after the restart. Muzny now had fallen into the clutches of Jesse James LeFevers, who was making a run up from his 8th place qualifying effort inside the top five and looking for fourth. With a long green flag run now taking place, the action was getting a little spread out with just a few battles around the track as Mansch cruised out in front of the field with Mercer and Canipe in tow.

After surviving a late restart, Mansch once again asserted himself as the best car and as the laps clicked off it was going to take a huge mistake on his part to lose this battle. Mansch would drive off to his first career Late Model Stock Car victory with Mercer finishing second for a second straight 1-2 finish for Mercer Race Car Engineering, just the opposite of last weeks finish. Mansch was excited to pick up his first win, but admitted he was worried about being on the bottom line for the restarts.

"Man, this awesome," said Mansch. "I was hoping things would go our way this week after some trouble in the first two races with getting involved in some crashes and then finishing second last week. Last week got my confidence up, but I was worried about starting on the inside lane tonight, I thought with the hot, slick track we were going to be at a disadvantage, but it all worked out."

With Mansch in victory lane, Mercer was happy for his friend, but wished things had worked out a little better for him.

"We had a good car tonight for sure, but Kyle(Mansch) had a great car and I'm happy for him to get his first win," said Mercer after the 50-lap feature race. "I would have liked to have seen a green, white, checkered finish there at the end, it would have gave me my only shot to win, Kyle(Mansch) just didn't make any mistakes tonight."

Canipe finished third with Wimbish fourth and Muzny bringing home yet another solid top five finish and she may just be the next driver breaking through for that elusive first win. LeFevers rallied to fourth at one point, but slipped back in the late going to finish sixth with Michael Cherry seventh, Neil Meredith eighth, Ash Huffman ninth and Australian George Miedecke finished tenth in his second career Late Model Stock Car start.

In the Limited Late Model race, Dexter Canipe, Jr. picked up yet another victory, but the story of the night was young Brandon Lynn, who qualified on the pole and then drove a great race after slipping back early to finish second just a couple of car lengths behind Canipe. Mark McIntosh, Tyler Church, Austin McDaniels, Travis Byrd, Justin Sorrow, Matt Peircy, Brad Eddy and Sheflon Clay completed the top ten finishers in a wild Limited Late Model race featuring a 17-car starting field.

Sammy Jasper, made his first Limited Late Model start in a car owned and operated out of Jamie Yelton's FatHead Racing stables and had a solid run going inside the top five until he was crashed from contact with another competitor. Jasper had a great showing, but was hoping for much better results in the end especially for the FatHead Racing team, who had won their first UARA-STARS Series race as a driver development team the night before at Tri-County Motor Speedway.
 
LMSC Results:
1 - (88) Kyle Mansch
2 - (10) Andy Mercer
3 - (5) Dexter Canipe Jr.
4 - (51) Josh Wimbish
5 - (92) Candace Muzny
6 - (43) Jesse LeFevers
7 - (6) Michael Cherry
8 - (36) Neil Meredith
9 - (7) Ashley Huffman
10 - (47) George Miedecke
11 - (19) Kyle Moon
12 - (5) Rebecca Kasten
13 - (1) Megan Reitenour
 
Limited Results: 
1 - (5) Dexter Canipe Jr.
2 - (97) Brandon Lynn
3 - (8) Mark McIntosh
4 - (07) Tyler Chruch
5 - (12) Austin McDaniels
6 - (66) Travis Byrd
7 - (8) Justin Sorrow
8 - (11) Matt Piercy
9 - (72) Brad Eddy
10 - (15) Sheflon Clay
11 - (03) Russell Stillwell
12 - (35) Chris Lewis
13 - (44) David Parks
14 - (69) John Hilliker
15 - (28) Sammy Jasper
16 - (6) Brandon Hudnall
17 - (14) Brandon Cox