Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Coeburn, VA(April 12, 2010) -- When the green flag flew over the Lonesome Pine Raceway's 2010 season on Saturday evening it came under bright sunshine and with a overflowing pit area, but when night time fell it was the Late Model Stock Cars who shined brightly under the lights.

Lonesome Pine Raceway has always been one of those tracks that no matter how many cars show up for a race and no matter what names are in the field, the races have always been good and the 3/8 mile bullring showed that once on Saturday night. In qualifying, Caleb Holman put his brand new Marlowe Racing Chassis for Jimmy Hillard Racing on the pole besting the other 12 top notch Late Model Stock Cars including two-time and defending track champion, Nate Monteith, who would start to his outside.

Former track champion, Wayne Hale and Keith Stiltner made up the second row with rookie, Blake Jones, who made his first start in a full size stock car earlier in the Charger division, starting fifth. At the drop of the green flag, Monteith flexed his muscle and showed everyone how to start from the outside line as he burst into the lead. Monteith would look to have the dominant car of the night as he raced out in front of Holman, but an early caution would bring Holman back to his bumper as Stiltner spins off the front bumper of Jones as the two raced for fourth position.

Stiltner would restart at the back of the pack and Jones' car looked to have made it through unblemished as he lined up fourth for the restart. With Monteith back out front at the drop of the green flag, it looked as if no one had anything for the two-time track champion as Holman wasn't able to put much pressure on him. Monteith's luck however changed dramatically on lap 23 as the young driver spun off the front bumper of Dalton Hopkins, who he was working to put a lap down.

Monteith showed his frustration to the younger driver under caution, but after the race admitted he may have came down on Hopkins, but either way Monteith had a long road ahead of him to get back to front of the pack. Holman now had the position he had hoped for with the lead in hand and no one behind him looked to have anything for him except for Monteith, who was now riding in tenth place for the restart. At Lonesome Pine the double file restarts are utilized and that helped Monteith not be as far behind as he would have been if they used single file restarts.

Holman put his car out front on the restart and wasn't going to look back as Wayne Hale was riding behind him, but after a couple of quick cautions for spins by Mitch Gibson and Hopkins, Hale would hit put road leaving Jones as a rookie in second place with over half the race distance in the rear view mirror. In the meantime, Monteith was racing like a man possesed as he worked his way back toward the front of the pack and on lap 36 he was riding in fourth position, just 14-laps away from the checkered flag.

On the restart he used the outside line to draw even with Holman for the top position on the double file restart, but Monteith had used up his 'good restart' earlier in the night on the initial start and Holman wasn't about to let him get the jump on him this time. Holman and Monteith would battle side by side through several restarts which would bring the fans out of their seats to watch the two veterans battle on a track they had both sharpened their skills on.

As the laps clicked off and through several more restarts including one for a wild crash on the front straightaway with Gibson and Stiltner making contact and other cars spinning to avoid the crash, Holman was still able to hold the position. On a lap 41 restart, Holman slipped a little on the start and Monteith held his line on the outside and was aided by a caution to take over the lead, but the battle wasn't even close to over. On lap 44, the final restart came with just six laps to go and Holman was ready for the restart, but as he got on the gas his car slammed sideways nearly clipping Monteith's rear end and nearly taking out the third place car of Jones, who was having a solid run.

Holman, being the veteran he is, somehow managed to save his car and drove around Jones as he looked for the rear bumper of Monteith's car. Holman got under Monteith on every straightaway, but in the corners, Monteith would work his way back in front of him a little and as the laps clicked off it became evident it was going to be one of those classic finishes. The fans stood to their feet as the pair raced side-by-side by the white flag and raced into turn one and the duo stayed that all the way back to the checkered flag with Holman making a strong run to the inside of Monteith off turn four.

However, Monteith had just enough to hold off Holman by a fender at the finish line to win a classic race for his crew member, Chris McCracken, who had passed away one year ago to the day.

"Wow, that was an awesome race," said Monteith in victory lane. "It's great to be able to win tonight for Chris(McCracken), who we lost a year ago today, but to do it that way, I know he would have loved that race. When we got turned around there with that lapped car, I knew we had the car to get back up there, but I've got to thank Caleb(Holman) for driving me so clean. I know the fans loved that race and I'd like to race like that every week."

With Monteith celebrating in victory lane, Holman could only wonder how great it could have been to win his first race in the new car for Jimmy Hillard Racing.

"The car was great tonight, I mean this is one of the best cars I've ever driven," said Holman of his new Marlowe Racing Chassis. "Every restart though, this thing was wicked, I couldn't hardly control it and I nearly lost it on the final restart there. It's great to race with Nate(Monteith), there's not many people you can race like that with and I enjoyed it."

For both drivers it was great night, but for Monteith it was some added closure to the loss of his crew member last year, whose son, Devin was at the track with Monteith in victory lane on Food City Night at "The Pine". It was also a special night for Blake Jones who made his first career Charger(Limited Late Model) and Late Model Stock Car starts on the 3/8 mile track. He picked up a fourth place finish in the Charger division after slipping back late after challenging for second and finished third in Late Model Stock Cars after running second for part of the race.

In a post race press release sent out by Caleb Holman he was quoted as saying, "Tonight was what racecar drivers live for," and he's right, but thanks to Holman and Monteith the fans were the one's who got what they 'live for'. It was one of the best Late Model Stock Car races that this reporter, who has been covering races on a weekly basis for 17 years, has ever witnessed.

Caleb Roark, who had a solid night in the Late Models brought home the fourth position and Jeff Woodward was fifth with Stiltner racing back to finish sixth ahead of Newport Speedway promoter, Ed Surrett who finished seventh. Shane Higgins, Wayne Hale and Mitch Gibson rounded out the top ten finishers.

In the Charger division, "Bad" Brad Housewright had his car on a rail Saturday night as he dominated the first race of the season for the crate engine based Late Model division. The "Mountain Man", Paul Shull put in a solid effort behind Housewright to finish second with Kevin Wolfe racing up to take home the third spot ahead of Blake Jones. Freddie Taylor, Jr., Jody Bostic, Royce Peters, Derek Woodward, Steve Wright and Austin Peters rounded out the top ten finishers in the Charger race.

Late Model Stock Cars:
1. Nate Monteith # 44
2. Caleb Holman # 74
3. Blake Jones # 80
4. Caleb Roark # 7
5. Jeff Woodward # 94
6. Keith Stiltner # 22
7. Ed Surrett # X1
8. Shane Higgins # 9
9. Wayne Hale # 19
10. Mitch Gibson # 49
11. Dalton Hopkins # 88
12. Buddy Talbert # 1
13. Wayne Webb # 97