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Grissom Delivers "Knock-Out" in Fall Brawl

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Hickory, NC ~ (Sunday, October 14, 2008)Sunday afternoon one of the seasons biggest races took place at the most famous short-track in America, Hickory Motor Speedway.

The "Fall Brawl" is the season ending race for the Late-Models, and is always a barn-burner, and sometimes a crash-fest.  This year didn't disappoint, lots of great racing, lots of beating and banging, 4 red flags, one for a funeral, and the leaders putting on one heck of a show. As the two most dominate cars of the day raced each other hard, the ever sly Kyle Grissom watched and waited, and made his move to the front to take home the victory.

The day started off with 30+ LMSC's taking to the track, with Kevin Leicht

Photo by: Debra Slater-Manter/Legacy Video & Photography
Kyle Grissom(center) plays with his trophy as the top of the "Fall Brawl" trophy is a boxing game.  Above he battles with one of the track announcers, Doug Houser(left), no word on whether or not Grissom was able to win the boxing match.

leading the field to the green. The top of the starting grid was filled with talent, Yelton, Huffman, Mercer, LeFevers, Hartensveld, Fuller and Canipe to name a few. At the back you had Makai from Hungary, Ogata from Japan, Blum from Florida, and Rzesnowiecky from Las Vegas. By far the most diversified field I've ever witnessed. All of these drivers had a rough going with the exception of Rzesnowiecky, Hickory was just a tad bit different then what they were used to. And we also had the LMSC diva, Candace Muzny, who was a story by herself, and for all the wrong reasons.

Green flag goes in the air and before we get to turn one, Danny O'Quinn loses all his brakes and hits the turn one wall extremely hard and burst into flames. Turns out a bolt broke off and got bound up in the brakes, causing the pedal to not move. O'Quinn was looking for good things after running the Nationwide Series race at Lowes Motor Speedway two nights before, but it wasn't going to be on this day. Red flag before we get started, but luckily Danny was able to escape unscathed.

We do get some green flag racing after the O'Quinn crash, and field gets racy. Jamie Yelton started 4th running a crate motor, and quickly let it be know that he had one of the cars to beat. Jamie picked them off as he came to them, and on lap 14 he was able to take the lead from Leicht.....with a little

Photo by: Debra Slater-Manter/Legacy Video & Photography
Danny O'Quinn's(6) car busrt into flames after he hit the wall on the start of the Fall Brawl 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Photo by: Corey Latham/RACE22.com
What was left of Danny O'Quinn's car after track workers got to put the fire out and the team got a few minutes to examine the remains and get it ready to load in the trailer.

help from Candace Muzny. Muzny was being lapped and ran right up in front of Leicht and the rest of the field, allowing Yelton to pin Leicht ride behind the lapped car to take the top spot.

As the two leaders sailed away, behind them positions were changing every lap. Kyle Grissom started 10th and made his way to the front.....quietly. By lap 40 Grissom was able to make his way by LeFevers for the 4th spot, and then set his sights on the leaders. Even further back, Hickory regular Rob Fuller was coming to the front in a hurry. Fuller timed in at the 3rd position, but before the green flag fell he was on pit road making adjustments, sending him to start from the back. He made it up into the top 15 by lap 40, and before the end of the day came he easily would pass more cars than anyone there. The only problem was that it was same cars each time.

James Goff would become a player throughout the day, and on lap 68 he would get up to the hotly contested battle between Andy Mercer and Grant Wimbish for the 4th spot. Mercer had it, Wimbish wanted it, and lap after lap Wimbish could get to the inside but couldn't quite pull it off. As the two raced hard, Goff had seen enough and passed both cars in the same lap to put himself up in the 4th spot. 5 laps later, Muzny, who had been in the pits making repairs from the numerous skirmishes the #92 was involved in, pulled back onto the track right in front of Wimbish causing the #57 to spin down the backstretch, bringing out the 3rd caution of the day.

Photo by: Debra Slater-Manter/Legacy Video & Photography
Rob Fuller(17) gets turned around in front of the field as the cars behind him begin to pile in and obviously the worst one in this incident was Dexter Canipe, Jr.(38), who was unable to continue in his "Best Appearing Car" award winning ride.

The second red flag of the day would follow on the restart, as Dexter Canipe Jr., Fuller, Patrick Molesworth, Matt Blum and Wayne Webb all wad up entering turn 1. All continue with the exception of a badly damaged Canipe, who had taken the "Best Appearing Car" award before the race started. After a another caution involving Munzy and Rzesnowiecky down the frontstrech, we get back to racing. Yelton, Leicht and Grissom are the top dogs of the day, and they show it as they pull away from the field. Yelton had gotten nearly a 3 second lead in the earlier green flag runs, but as we approached halfway, Leicht and Grissom seemed to have the advantage. We were halted by another red flag for Ashley Huffman blowing and engine and a funeral

across the way at the cemetery, and Grissom and Leicht would never get their chance as Yelton holds them off to take the lead into the halfway break.

1.Yelton 2.Leicht 3.Grissom 4.Mercer 5.Goff

Before we get back on track after the break, we have an unusual accident on pit road. All the cars are stopped, and Jeremy Burns decides to go anyway and rams into the back of the #71 of Gyuri Makai.....extremely hard, causing extensive damage ultimately ending his day.

We get back to racing after the crews have adjusted on the cars, but it looked the same as before, Leicht wanted the lead from Yelton. Yelton

Photo by: Corey Latham/RACE22.com
Nick Loden(right) took his second straight victory at Hickory Motor Speedway as he won the Kids Power Wheels Race.  Loden, the son of 2008 NASCAR North Carolina State Champion, Andy Loden is well on his way to becoming a star.

did his best to protect, but on lap 133 Leicht gets under Yelton with Grissom trying to push him through. they race side-by-side for four laps, but a caution would heed this battle once again.  Muzny has gotten into the back of Akinori Ogata in the Pistone LTO house car, sending him around.  There is a trend here if you noticed.

After Jesse LeFevers spins Andy Mercer out of the 5th spot ending his day, we finally get busy in the front. Leicht had drove his car very hard getting under Yelton numerous times, but every time a caution would end the run. On lap 174 it comes to a head, Leicht gets under Yelton in turn one, slamming into the side of the #8. They both skid up the banking, hang on, and race side-by-side the next 5 laps before Leicht gets by on the inside, bringing Grissom with him.

For the next 30 laps Grissom works on Leicht, sometimes getting under him but cautions would ruin his run. Finally, on lap 213, Grissom would pull by Leicht for the top spot and motor away from him. Goff has come on and taken the 3rd spot from Yelton, and Rob Fuller after starting last, getting up to 11th, getting in an accident and coming from the back again has moved back up to the 6th spot. For Goff and Fuller those great runs would be short lived once again.

While Grissom and Leicht are comfortably gone, Goff is just biding his time passing lapped cars by himself. As he approaches the car of Makai, he tries to pass low and suddenly the Makai

machine darts to the inside, causing the #33 of Goff to run completely on top of the car coming to a halt still wedged on top the #71. Both cars would receive extensive damage, with Goff having to go many laps down for repairs.

Photo by: Debra Slater-Manter/Legacy Video & Photography
James Goff(33) gets airborne up on the side of Gyuri Makai(71) as he was attempting to pass the rookie driver.  Goff's, who had a good run going had his day cut short by this incident.

Race Results:

32 Kyle Grissom
2 Kevin Leicht
8 Jaime Yelton
59 Coleman Pressley
97 Zeke Shell
43 Jesse LeFevers
11 Chase Austin
57 Grant Wimbish
17 Rob Fuller
71 Gyuri Makai
25 George Gorham
18 Bear Rzesnowiecky
87 Akinori Ogata
81 Thomas Hartensveld
1 Jeremy Burns
21 Wayne Webb
33 James Goff
45 Jeff Stankiewicz
01 Roger Powell
47 Patrick Molesworth
15 David Pletcher
10 Andy Mercer
35 Chris Lewis
92 Candace Muzny
7 Ashley Huffman
31 Jr Franks
5 Matt Blum
38 Dexter Canipe Jr.
77 Ryan Fischer
6 Danny O'Quinn, Jr.