Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com
Photos by: RACE22.com & Lori Hopper of http://MyTrackPhotos.com

Hudson, NC(June 16, 2010) -- Tri-County Motor Speedway, NASCAR's only Friday night venue with Late Model Stock Cars competing has had a tough season to date with car counts dipping into the single digits in nearly if not all the divisions, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been good racing on the 4/10 mile speedplant.

Last Friday night was another shining example of just that as only seven Late Model Stock Cars competed in twin 35-lap features and just ten Limited Late Models started, what turned out to be a barn burner of a race. The first Late Model Stock Car feature was on tap to start the night off, but the field was made up of some unusual cars as the guy who had started off the season winning two in a row was in a new car and a driver who has been in contention multiple times this season at Hickory was making his first Tri-County appearance.

Grant Wimbish, was there in a new car after destroying his primary(and only) car at Hickory a week earlier in a nasty wreck, but this time he wasn't there in his familiar blue and silver #57, but rather a bright orange and yellow lettered car he had purchased from Tommy Lemons, Jr. late in the week. Wimbish, his team and crew chief/consultant, Matt McCall had thrashed to get this car ready, which marked not only a change in cars, but a change in chassis' as well as this car was a Marlowe Racing Chassis. His crew chief and part-time racer himself recently made the same switch to Marlowe as he drives for Jamie Yelton's Fat Head Racing and thus the perfect opportunity for Wimbish to make the change as well.

Wimbish's change was a huge one, but from the drop of the green flag in race number one it was evident that the change wasn't going to slow the young racer down. Wimbish charged into the lead early and maintained that position despite some serious challenges all race long from Drive for Diversity driver, Michael Cherry. Wimbish in a rather uneventful 35-lap affair would come away with the checkered flag holding off Cherry for his third win of the 2010 season. It was a great way to kick off his campaign with the new Marlowe Racing Chassis and he acknowledged that it took a lot of work to get that fast, that soon.

"My guys busted their tails to get us ready to come out here after that crash at Hickory last week," said Wimbish in victory lane. "This was a big change for us to the Marlowe Chassis and I think once we get this car figured out, we'll be even better. This win is big for us, they don't have a lot of cars here, but all the cars are good cars."

Behind Wimbish and Cherry in race number one was fellow Drive for Diversity drivers, Rebecca Kasten and Jessica Brunelli with Kyle Moon, who was making his first start at Tri-County this season finishing fifth despite being just as fast as the leaders, but being trapped behind some slower cars on the final restart.

For race number two it was Cherry, who would get the jump on the field on the start with his teammate, Kasten starting second, but it was Kasten, who on the only restart of the race, just a few laps in would help her teammate the most. Kasten pulled ahead of Cherry before the restart and then waved out the window for Cherry to go as they got near the restart area, thus allowing Cherry to pull away from the field. A couple of drivers behind noticed the exchange and thought at first that Kasten was trying to signal that they were waving off the restart.

The restart worked to Cherry's advantage and without any challenge at all, the young driver drove home to his first career Late Model Stock Car victory. Despite the restart antics between teammates, I don't think for a second Cherry needed it as he was dominant in that second race and deserves all the credit along with his his team. Kasten would finish second after dropping to the third on the restart and then nudging her way past Ryan Glenski for the position. Glenski would finish second after mechanical problems dropped him to finish seventh among seven cars in the first race. Wimbish and Brunelli would complete the top ten for the second race.

With the Late Models taking center stage each week, it's up to the Limited drivers to create enough excitement to really get the crowd pumped up and with two uneventful Late Model races for the most part it was the Limiteds who had the crowd up out of their seats. The race only featured ten cars, but it was the perfect mix of veterans such as Waylon Flynn and Tyler Church, drivers with a couple years experience like Christian Pahud and rookies like Sammy Jasper that really made this the race of the night.

Flynn started from the pole after turning the fastest time in qualifying, but elected to start in the outside line, giving the "pole" to Tyler Church with Jasper third and Pahud starting fourth. Flynn was out to prove that he was the class of the field and put his car out front early, but Church wasn't going anywhere and stayed right there with him while Jasper was on a free fall through the field and Pahud was trying to close the gap. Jasper eventually slipped back and tangled with Jason Cochran and later was involved in a major crash that cripled not only his car, but others as well including Jennifer Crossman, whose car looked destroyed.

Jasper would continue, but the battle was shaping up for third as Pahud held the position and Josh Goble wanted it. The two made contact on the back stretch one lap and you could see that Pahud was trying to get back to Goble's bumper and as the two headed into turn three a couple laps later, Pahud lifted Goble's car up and sent him into the wall. Unfortunately for Pahud, he went in way too fast and couldn't get down the track to avoid Goble's spinning car and Goble wasn't happy about the incident. Goble jumped from his racer and went to Pahud's window grabbing at his window net and trying to get to the young racer. Fans were excited and were cheering as they thought they might get to see a good fight, but that was not to be as the track officials hurried to seperate the two drivers and teams.

With that incident now being the hot topic of the night, the race was sure to get boring, right? Not yet ... On the final restart as they feature double file restarts at Tri-County, Flynn and Church somehow got together sending Flynn on a free fall back to fourth and long ways behind new leader, Jason Cochran, who came close to winning a race earlier in the year. Flynn looked as if he was done, when he got back up to second, but in the final couple of laps he made huge gains and put his car in the right spot to make a bump and run off turn four to take the win by just a few inches over Cochran. It was an exciting finish to a great race with Flynn clebrating in victory lane, Cochran thinking about what could have been and Pahud and Goble still steaming over a controversial incident.

It was a good night of racing at Tri-County and this reporter hopes that the low car counts will improve and help make racing stronger at the always entertaining 4/10 mile track once again.

Results:
LMSC Race #1
1 - Grant Wimbish #27
2 - Michael Cherry #2
3 - Rebecca Kasten #5
4 - Jessica Brunelli #1
5 - Kyle Moon #19
6 - Tyler Brown #15
7 - Ryan Glenski #28

LMSC Race #2
1 - Michael Cherry #2
2 - Rebecca Kasten #5
3 - Ryan Glenski #28
4 - Grant Wimbish #27
5 - Jessica Brunelli #1
6 - Kyle Moon #19
7 - Tyler Brown #15

Limited Late Models
1 - Waylon Flynn #51
2 - Jason Cochran #72
3 - Tyler Church #07
4 - Mike Eplee #86
5 - Zach Bruenger #55
6 - Sammy Jasper #28
7 - Josh Goble #77
8 - Christian Pahud #63
9 - Jennifer Crossman #15
10 - David Parks #44