Wild Night at Florence

The Late Models Get Wild at Florence in Race #2 of 2010

Story by: Chris Owens ~ chris@RACE22.com

Timmonsville, SC(April 13, 2010) -- Wild! Webster's dictionary defines wild as "living in a state of nature and not ordinarily tame or domesticated" and that is what we had Friday night at the Florence Motor Speedway in the Late Model Stock division.

In total, 11 cars checked into the pit area Friday for the first Friday night feature of the season. Little did those 11 guys know they all would be in for a wild one late that night. In time trials, Jamey Lee from Florence, SC took the top spot from the Mullins, SC driver Michael Elliott who timed in second. 50-laps were on the racing card tonight ten laps longer than the 40-lap features we ran last year.

It would take three tries to get the start right, but as they say, third time is the charm and it was as we finally got going on the third redo of the start. The night turned wild just two laps in as Austin Leitner and Averitt Lucas would make contact in turn three collecting Strom Altman Jr, RJ West, Archie Adams Jr. and many more. Everybody would continue on with only body damage.

The field would go back to green and immediately get single file. Rudy Branham and Leitner would beat and bang down the backstretch many times as Leitner was attempting to payback Branham for something that happened last week. Leitner would move by Branham and pull a straightaway on him in the fourth position.

Lee and Elliott would battle the whole night for the top spot and a late race debris caution brought the field back together. The restart was one of the more interesting ones as Elliott would give Lee a tap and send him around. The track would move Lee back to first with Elliott starting alongside.

Austin Leitner and Justin Shorter along with Branham would make contact sending Shorter over the backstretch and down into the trees. Shorter would be okay and continue on to a top two finish. Branham and Leitner would prove to be the most interesting battle all night. Every time one was alongside the other, they seemed to hit each other. Jamey Lee would cruise to the victory in the Pepsi 150 at the Florence Motor Speedway. Last week's winner Justin Shorter would cross the line second and Archie Adams Sr. third.

Next week, the Late Models are back in action once again for another 50-lap feature event. Running with them will be the Young Guns, Stock 4's and Super Stock divisions.

Late Models:
1. #18 Jamey Lee
2. #45 Justin Shorter
3. #1 Archie Adams Sr.
4. #07 Averitt Lucas
5. #05 Austin Leitner
6. #7 Strom Altman Jr.
7. #76 Michael Elliott
8. #28 Rudy Branham
9. #59 Archie Adams Jr.
10. #04 RJ West
11. #25 Remington Prince