Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(June 15, 2010) -- When any track has to put a bounty on someone, that shows that there has been some domination going on there and that has been exactly the case at Ace Speedway this year.

Rodney Cook has put up five wins in six races there, with Brad Kurth winning the other single race on a night of twin races. Now the racing has been fantastic, but Cook has just managed to come out on top at the end of every event. That all changed this past weekend as the bounty was collected the first week it was offered and Dustin Rumley now has an extra $500 to add to his winners purse.

While people were thinking that a few new cars would be there this week, that was not the case as eleven took the green flag. Jason York had tested the day before but did not return and John Moore broke a valve early that morning in practice causing the Ace regular to miss the event. Ryan Gray has been rumored to be returning, but since his accident at the first of the season injuring his wrist, he has not made it back, but says he will be there eventually.

Dustin Rumley changed over to a new Marlowe Racing Chassis three races ago and the difference has been noticable as he has been fast right out of the box with his new car. He kept up that record this past weekend as he put his #88 machine on the pole once again. Ace Speedway's all time winningest driver Robert Turner put up the second best time followed by Jason Payne, Scotty Warren and Bobby Griffin rounding out the top five. Cook would roll off seventh, and knew he was going to have to drive hard from the start.

At the green it would be Turner jumping out to the early lead with Rumley close in tow. Cook was making moves and coming forward from the get go, and as he went low under Bobby Griffin for fourth on lap three, the two made contact and Cook's right front fender was ripped off to bring out a caution. Damage right at the beginning, could this be the end to his reign this quickly? Not so fast.

Since Ace has the "choose" restarts, it worked into Cook's favor as he went to the outside with Brad Kurth on the very next green flag. Turner and Rumley would get away once more, with Cook and Kurth falling into third and fourth. Turner's time on top of the board would be short lived as Rumley would power by on lap six and begin to pull away.

As we approach lap 20, Rumley has checked out from the field and Turner has a mirror full of Cook and Jason Payne who had got by Kurth for the fourth spot. As Rumley gets further away, Cook finally makes his move and gets the second spot from Turner as Payne tries to follow but just can't pull it off. Behind them Bobby Griffin gets into the back of Scotty Warren for fifth and moves him up the track, allowing him and Dean Fogleman to advance.

The rest of the race would go caution free, and as the field got strung out, the only thing in question was if Cook could catch Rumley as he built nearly an entire straightaway lead. A little tense moment did happen with about 30 to go, as Bobby Griffin an Brad Kurth got near each other on the track for fifth spot, the two drivers being fined last race out for some punches thrown on pit road. Griffin would cleanly take the spot and it looks as if the two drivers have left the past in the past.

As we approach the end, it looks as if Rumley has the win easily in the bag. With ten to go he approaches some lap cars and gets slowed down just a bit, Cook closes a little ground. With six to go Cook turns up the heat and closes just a tad more. With 2 to go we all start to wonder if he is really going to get there, the lead still looked to large. As they take the white flag, Rumley still has a 6 car advantage, but going into turn three Cook dives hard to the inside, getting within five feet of the back of the Rumley machine, but it was in desperation and he slid high up the track as Rumley takes the checkers.

After the race Rumley was all smiles as he picked up his first win of the season. "I got to give a big thanks to Greg Marlowe first and foremost", said the excited Rumley. "He talked us into getting one of these cars, well really there wasn't much talking to it, his record speaks for itself, he dominated Martinsville in the top ten last year and his cars continue to win. He came to the track and helped us set this thing up and it has been good from the get go. Got to thank Billy Banks too, he gives me awesome horsepower, Rodney has one too so tonight it's 1-2 for him and a pole. My crew has worked their tails off, he stayed on this thing for three weeks till midnight, just working to get the bugs out, but to be honest, it never really had any bugs. We just needed to make it stick on the long run, it's still just a tick free but it was bad fast. At the end it looked like Rodney was catching me, but I was just backing my corners up riding, no need to wear my stuff out that far ahead. This thing was the class of the field tonight, we are going to give Rodney a run for his money the rest of the season. We're going to beat and bang and have some fun".

Rodney Cook was knocked off his throne for the time being, but was still happy with second. "That was some hard driving" said an exhausted Cook. "Right there at the beginning me and Bobby hit wheel to wheel, and it tore the right front fender off, no fault of his, just hard racing. After that I just tried to settle in and knock some laps off, and thought we were reeling him in and then he pulled away again. I saved a little for the last 20 laps and saw that his car was giving up just a bit, and when he started catching lapped cars I started driving in the corners extra hard to make up time. Kurth held him up a little there at the end as he tried to lap him, and that was nearly all I needed, we just fell a few laps short. I was riding for most of the race but driving really hard at the same time(that's a Rodney Cook quote for sure), I just wanted to get on there and make a race out of it at the end. I think if I had one more lap I could of got to his bumper, not saying I could of passed him, but we would of made it interesting".

Rumley looks poised to take over the reigns from Cook as the one to beat at Ace, and he has consistently gotten better each week in his new ride, it was just a matter of time before he found the checkereds. But Cook, Turner, Payne, Griffin, Moore, Kurth and host of others will be there again this week to put their name at the top of the list as the next king of the hill. It looks like the bounty may not be used again this season with the competition getting closer each week, and that's a good thing.

Results:
1. Dustin Rumley
2. Rodney Cook
3. Robert Turner
4. Jason Payne
5. Bobby Griffin
6. Brad Kurth
7. Dean Fogleman
8. Scotty Warren
9. Thomas Scott
10. Kevin Parker
11. Coy Hedrick