Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Dillon, SC(April 5, 2010) -- Race #3 for the UARA-STARS Series is now in the books and as the tour regulars headed home from Dillon Motor Speedway there were several comment headlines being bantered about among the teams on the long ride.

We'll discuss some of the 'headlines' here in this weeks News, Notes & Commentary as we talk car count, crate motors, power ranking reality and so much more.

WHERE ARE ALL THE CARS ...
When people saw there were 15 cars at Dillon Motor Speedway on Friday, no one really give it a second thought, but when only one more car rolled in on Saturday morning, pretty much everyone was discussing car count. 16-cars filled(ok, I'm stretching that) the pit area of the Dillon Motor Speedway, no honestly it was a good thing that the Mini Cup cars were there to help fill the front straightaway.

It was sad, there's no better way to say it and with the series now being down to 14 regulars, things aren't likely to get any better anytime soon. The back to back races last week at Kingsport and this week at Dillon was taxing enough, but in reality the series is forcing even it's most financially stable to take a long, hard look at the check book. As this week they'll be back at the track for a third straight week participating in a test session at Rockingham Speedway and the following Friday they'll head to Tri-County Motor Speedway for race number four. This season's schedule certainly is going to be hard on even the biggest money rollers and that could mean more poorly attended races on pit road, which will lead to even less people in the stands.

GLAD WE'RE NOT IN KINGSPORT ANYMORE ...
Alex Yontz was probably the happiest driver at Dillon this weekend, not because he was in Dillon, but because he wasn't in Kingsport, TN, where he was out to lunch. At Dillon, Yontz wasn't out to lunch, he was simply fast and he showed it all weekend long pacing much of the practice sessions and then qualified on the pole for the first time this season.

UP IN SMOKE ...
Matt Kurzejewski had his first career top five finish vanish at Kingsport Speedway last Saturday night after he failed post race inspection due to a cylinder head infraction. This week with a new engine under the hood, he was poised to prove that the engine had nothing to do with his performance, but he never got the chance as during practice he saw his chances go up in smoke. It seemed the new engine wasn't built to run a full race weekend and shortly after smoke poured from his car in practice, he had his car loaded up and headed home without being able to start the race.

NO SO FAST ...
For a while it looked as if Alex Yontz and Kyle Grissom were going to share the front row for the second time this season until late in qualifying when the 'sandbagger' himself, Coleman Pressley showed that his practice speeds were once again no indication of how fast he was as he posted the second fastest time and dropped Grissom to the second row for the start.

NO PROBLEMS ...
Brennan Poole had to be getting used to starting at or near the rear of the field, I mean he's done it so many times, it should come and seems to come as second nature for him, but this time the sophomore driver proved he could qualify up front. Poole posted the fourth fastest time, which was his first top ten qualifying effort of the young season after starting mid-pack at Hickory and dead last at Kingsport. Closer to the front of the pack for the start was a good omen for the young driver, but would it pay off?

BORING, RIGHT FROM THE START ...
With a dismal 15-car field and a dismal turnout in the stands, the racing never really got exciting despite a few anxious moments with a couple hair raising accidents. From the drop of the green flag it was all Coleman Pressley, all the time with little to no side-by-side racing once the field seperated after the first few laps. This week there was no Brennan Poole to make an exciting charge from last to the top five, there was no local drivers, who weren't that good in qualifying and made the race exciting as they charged forward ... there was little to nothing to keep anyone entertained.

ALL CLEAR FOR TAKE OFF ...
The first interesting moment of the race came shortly after a brief caution as Ronnie Bassett, Jr., a rookie of the tour this season got up against the outside wall while racing around several other cars. This resulted in his car climbing up the wall and launching in the air on the front straight away. It caused damage to his car, but the rookie would return to the track after some attention from his crew, but Bassett's car wasn't up to par after the incident.

FIRE ...
John King II had a solid performance in Kingsport a week ago, finishing in the top five for the first time in his young asphalt career, but this wasn't Kingsport and this wasn't a week ago. This week he was behind the wheel of another chassis, one they bought late last year when Chad Harris' team at Motor Mile Speedway folded, it was a good car, but the John King Racing team never really got it like they needed it. King, who has a background in dirt racing, certainly showed that as he was sideways in every turn on every lap, but because of his dirt experience he was able to drive the car and maintain his position.

His luck ran out however later in the race as rookie, Robert Johnson made Contact with King in a wreck that would end both their races as King's car made hard contact and burst into flames. However the fire was quickly extinguished and King was uninjured, but this wreck would also take out another rookie, Bassett, who was right behind them when the crash occured and couldn't avoid the contact.

FIRST TOP TEN ...
The Dillon race may have been a dismal one overall for the UARA-STARS Series, but a few drivers had to leave the race with their head up with new accomplishments. Julia Dawson was one such driver as she drove to her first career top ten finish in the UARA-STARS Series in her Don Satterfield owned car. Dawson has been making strides since coming on to the tour full time this season and after an eleventh place finish at Kingsport last week, she made it one spot better for her first top ten at Dillon Motor Speedway.

WE'RE NOT KINGSPORT ANYMORE ...
You've heard the saying "From Hero to Zero", well Clint King knows all too well now what that means as the young driver was quickly humbled this week with a poor performance at Dillon coming off his first career win at Kingsport Speedway a week ago. King, who has been succesful in the past at Dillon in other divisions, really was never even a player from the drop of the green flag. It certainly wasn't what they were hoping for finishing sixth, but much more experienced drivers have been dealt the same hand in the past and it's just part of racing among the toughest competition in Late Model racing.

FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME ...
For Scott Turlington, pulling on to the front straightaway after the race had to have felt like the first time he'd ever done that and that's because it was the first time he had ever done that following a UARA-STARS Series race. Turlington who finished fifth, has been a mainstay in the series for the past three seasons despite at times running very poorly and having terrible luck. Turlington has seen many ups and downs in the series from spinning out while leading a heat race at Hickory and missing the show to having a top five car and not even finishing the race due to a crash or mechanical issue.

It was certainly good to see Turlington on the front straight away after the race and we hope that we're going to be seeing him a lot more after these races. Maybe this was the beginning of his bad luck ending and his good luck beginning with a top five finish at Dillon in fifth.

QUALIFYING IS ONE THING ...
For Alex Yontz it wasn't Kingsport, he wasn't running in the back of the field, but the race didn't play out like practice and qualifying for sure as after starting on the pole, he wasn't much of a factor up front. Yontz stayed among the leaders, but slipped back late in the race after being slammed into the wall by Poole shortly after a restart. Yontz would finish fourth, but it certainly wasn't the night he was looking for after practicing and qualifying so well, but fourth was certainly better than crashing at Kingsport.

MAYBE QUALIFYING IN THE BACK IS BETTER ...
Brennan Poole certainly has proven he's one of the best racers in the series after qualifying in the back many times and racing into the top five. At Dillon, he's not been too bad in qualifying, last year he qualified on the outside pole and this year he qualified fourth, but qualifying up front didn't prove to be as good as one might think. Poole had qualified poorly at both Hickory and Kingsport in the last month and raced to fourth and third place finishes respectively, so when he qualified fourth, many thought that this could be his race.

Boy, we're they wrong ... Poole only managed to pick up one spot in the race and likely lost the points lead by finishing just two spots behind the guy who came in second in points. Qualifying in the back and racing to the front seems to be Poole's niche and maybe he should stick to it, because he likely would have easily finished in the top five had he started dead last and the passing points would have likely put him even further in the points lead.

SECOND REALLY ISN'T THAT BAD ...
Kyle Grissom easily had one of the best cars in the season opening race at Hickory and easily had one a top five car at Kingsport last week and had finishes of 17th and 8th respectively. Grissom has simply had bad luck with a sway bar mount breaking at Hickory and the handling fading at Kingsport, so when he was able to stay close to the front at Dillon, they had to happy. Certainly he expected to be have a chance to win the race, but after the first two races, a second place at Dillon wasn't that bad.

PLAYING GAMES ...
Grissom tried everything he could to get to the front of the field, he laid back on restarts and tried to get a run on leader, Coleman Pressley, but Pressley had a trick or two up his sleeve too. Pressley made great use of his brake pedal on the restarts when Grissom would lay back and kept himself out front. It was crazy that the UARA officials didn't get after these two drivers for their antics on the restarts, which actually caused several of the incidents including the one when Poole and Yontz got together. Maybe the officials will be watching when we go to Tri-County for race number four.

CRATE POWER ...
Coleman Pressley has been the leading man when it comes to the development of the new Ford Crate Engine, which was approved for this season. The engine has certainly drawn the attention of everyone in the series as the rules were changed just before the season started giving it what many call a "distinct advantage". That advantage has show itself in these first few races with Pressley finishing second in the season opener, qualifying on the pole at Kingsport and now picking up the win at Dillon with the new motor.

Pressley completely 'waxed' the field at Dillon, it was his third win in the UARA-STARS Series in just his 20th series start and his wins have came in the last five races. Pressley has certainly proved himself and with the 'advantage' most people believe he has with the new crate engine, he should be able to pick up a few more wins ... that is if many other people don't buy themselves one of those engines and Tri-County would be the perfect place for them to try it out.
 

Results:
1 - Coleman Pressley #59
2 - Kyle Grissom #32
3 - Brennan Poole #5
4 - Alex Yontz #98
5 - Scott Turlington #48
6 - Clint King #07
7 - Garrett Campbell #12
8 - Lee Tissot #44
9 - Michael Rouse #23
10 - Julia Dawson #1
11 - Tyler English #18
12 - John King II #21
13 - Robert Johnson #11
14 - Ronnie Bassett, Jr. #04
15 - Joey Bryant #17
DNS - Matt Kurzejewski #10