Marty Party

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Marty Party in Greenville

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Photo by: Langley Austin
Marty Ward jumped in a new ride, but continued his domination of Greenville Pickens Speedway during the Melling Select 150.

Jake Crum(left) looks on as his team works to change the rear end in his car after the part failed during his qualifying run. Crum's team worked hard and it paid off for them with a 2nd place run.

Story By: Corey Latham
Greenville, SC ~ With only 2 more events in the 2008 UARA season, the competition and the points battles are tighter than ever in the history of the series. Richard Boswell II went into Greenville-Pickens Speedway with a slim 4 point lead on Jake Crum. During Saturday nights running of the Melling Select 150, the battle would come full circle as one came and the other went. In front of it all was a GPS 5-time track champion driving off into the night. He could have drove off into a different day if the race was a tad bit longer.

I Feel.....Blah

Alex Yontz was coming into the event as a title contender, and fresh off his run at Martinsville finishing 12th. But starting a day before the event, Mr. Yontz wasn't feeling well at all, and at the track Sunday he was sick as could be. Alex had said he was getting out of the car at the first caution of the race, and anybody that knows him knew he must have been bad off to even think about that option. B.J. Mackey was at the track and put on standby to drive for Yontz, that was until qualifying. Alex went out and put the #55 machine in at the 8th spot, and after that qualifying run we all knew what was going to happen then. Funny how a good running car can cure an illness. He was still sick, but the racer in him took over the sickness.

Bad Luck Not Over

Jake Crum had been on a high of sorts lately, after hitting a slump

for the middle part of the season. The last 2 races had brought finishes of 4th and 2nd, and it looked as if the Crum team had shaken the monkey off their back. But it reared it's ugly head one again at Greenville, but luckily in qualifying and not the race. As Jake took to the track, something in the rear end broke, forcing him to pit road. Not having an extra one the team had to scramble.....enter the team of Brandon McReynolds. Brandon loaned Crum his spare, but Jake still had to make an attempt. He could have started last without qualifying, but he would not of been credited with any of the passing points the UARA point system offers. And as close as they are to Richard Boswell in the championship battle, that was not an option.

Crum took to the track and ripped off a blazing lap of 34.432, only 14 seconds off the pole speed, the rear end was hurt so bad he nursed it just to get back to pit road. The team immediately scrambles to work, getting it in just as the autograph session ended. Little did they know the misfortune would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Locals Rule

As we enter a different racetrack for each UARA event, there are always some of the hosting tracks regulars that come out to race. And for the most part they do pretty well, but at GPS they were simply "on it". David Roberts took the

David Roberts won the pole with a blazing time of 20.584, much faster than the field practiced. Roberts had a great car, but mechanical troubles late would cost him a solid top five finish.

Sunoco Pole with a time of 20.584, followed by another semi-regular, R.A. Brown, going from the outside front row. A UARA point contender jumped in at 3rd with Jamey Caudill, and the GPS legend Marty Ward clocked in the 4th spot. Tri-County winner Matt McCall completed the top 5 and we were ready to roll.

The Curse Is Lifted

The last 2 UARA races at GPS had been a catastrophe before the cars entered turn 1. Both races at the start the whole field was nearly wiped out, and we were hoping for better results this time. As the green fell, David Roberts spins his tires, here we go again, but the field scatters and we all make it around. R.A. Brown moved into the lead but Roberts would regain his composure and take the top spot back on the next lap. Alex Yontz shows if he's gonna feel bad, at least he'll race good and moves past McCall for the 6th spot on lap 6. The 3 car of.....well let's just give him his own paragraph.

At the drop of the green Ward was on the attack, taking 2nd from Brown on lap 3, and then getting the lead from Roberts on lap 13. And he flat out set sail. By far the most dominating performance of the 2008 UARA season, but would he be contended with at all?

FIRE!!!

Towards the back of the pack, cars were going everywhere. GPS does have an outside groove, and many drivers jumped on the opportunity quickly. Jake Crum had started last, but held up a little for a tense battle between Corey LaJoie and GPS regular Kenneth Headen, they were a beating and a banging. It all came to an end on lap 15 as Headen got on the outside of LaJoie, and LaJoie pinched the #99 into the outside wall coming off turn 2. Headen's cars rode on the wall down the entire backstretch, before coming to a halt against LaJoie's machine still on it's side. It was then that it got scary as it erupted into flames. LaJoie jumped from his machine and

This Shouldn't Take Long

Marty Ward won the GPS track championship in 1990, 1991, 2002, 2003 and 2008, the guy knows his way around the flat half mile, just a bit and he was driving the same car Brandon McCarson drove here last year in the UARA-STARS race to the victory, after parting ways with his championship winning team owner.

David Roberts(18) tried to hold off Marty Ward(3) for the lead early in the race, but the night belonged to the same man, ho the season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway belonged to ... Ward. Being in an unfamiliar ride didn't hurt Ward at all.

pulled Headen from his battered car, as the tire was catching on fire and the flames got bigger. The two had completely walked away before the track crew had gotten to the scene, now with flames nearly 15 feet high. It was contained and both cars were done, but luckily the racers were just fine.

I Feel Soooo Much Better

Well, he really didn't, but Alex Yontz was driving like he did. On the restart after the fire and red flag, he jumped to the outside of Kyle Grissom for 5th and passes, and gets up alongside Jamey Caudill for 4th, These two would race side-by-side for many laps

The flames burst from under the hood of Kenneth Headen's car after getting together with Corey LaJoie in a battle for position early in the race. It was the race's first caution which was a sign of a wild night to come in the Melling Select 150.

before Caudill would hold him off on the inside. Behind them another driver was sneaking up, Anthony Anders. Anders was using his track experience to the max, he started 10th and got to the 7th position before halfway, all on the outside. We get to halfway with Ward and Roberts still leading the field, nicely.

Lap 75 ~ 1.Ward 2.Roberts 3.Brown 4.Caudill 5.Yontz 6.Grissom 7.Anders 8.McCall 9.Randy Hawkins 10.Boswell

Now It Gets Wild

As Ward lead the field at lap 82 by nearly 5 seconds, behind him business was picking up. Everybody had caught Roberts for second, and Brown and Caudill make the pass putting the #18 back to 4th. After a caution for a crash with Thomas Hartensveld and Darrell Wallace Jr., Anders does his high side magic on the restart and gets by Grissom and Yontz to move to 5th,

as the three go 3-wide into turn 1. After another restart on lap 101, Anders goes to the low side this time and picks the 4th spot from Roberts, bringing Yontz, Grissom and McCall with him. Then it got interesting. Grissom gets into Yontz and sends him up the track taking the 5th spot. 3 laps later McCall tries the same but looses the nose and gets into Yontz spinning himself in front of the entire field. Roberts, Chase Austin, Owen Kelly, Darrell Wallace Jr., Darrick Coomer, Dillon Smith, Clay Greenfield and Anthony Cordell all spin to avoid. All cars would continue except for the Coomer and Cordell machines, done for the night.

Not What He Needed

Darrell Wallace, Jr.'s(76) night came to an abrupt end when he got tangled up with Thomas Hartensveld(36) on the back straight away just past the midpoint in the race. A tough day for the driver who finished second at GPS last year.

As the field was getting a little wild up front, point leader Richard Boswell II was have a ho-hum night running in the 9th spot. Arguably the hottest man on the tour, he was just trying to protect his point lead at this point after battling an ill-handling car. But the night would get worse for Boswell on lap 116 after one of the top runners night was completely over. Anthony Anders, after making it all the way up to the 4th spot, came down the track just a tad in turn one, too bad Kyle Grissom was already there. Anders spins hard into the outside wall, done for the evening. During the caution to everyone's surprise, Boswell hits pit road and the hood comes off.....lots of steam. The team would put water in numerous times before having to correct the problem...a broken water line. Boswell would finish 19 laps down in 21st, and more importantly loose his point lead to........

Remember Me?

Remember the Crum kid starting dead last? well he didn't stay there long, moving up to 15th before the halfway point. And more importantly was the way he did it. While cars were spinning, wrecking, and driving hard, Crum was very cautious getting to the front, only going when he knew it was safe. As the laps wore down and cars fell by the wayside, the #1 ride seemed to get faster and faster. Dead last to start with, and at lap 123 Crum takes the 5th spot from Yontz......a masterful feat if ya ask me. He would get closer to the front, but how that happened is a story that will be talked about for some time.

Tempers Flare

In all the melee that was taking place on the track, he sneaks up on ya again, there he was, Roger Lee Newton. Newton has been known this year as a not so great qualifier, but at the end of the day he has been up front. Once again he was up there, and on lap 127 Newton gets into the back of Caudill and takes the 3rd spot. 4 laps later, Caudill is right back on him. After trying to get under Newton for 2 laps, the two make contact entering turn 2 and Newton goes into the outside wall. Not torn up, Newton gets his machine going and catches up with Caudill, thinks

about it for nearly a lap, then proceeds to drive through the #50 machine, ripping the entire right side off of Caudill's car.

Knowing he's going to get parked, Newton pulls into Caudill's pit, parks and stares the JR Motorsport team down as he exits the vehicle. Caudill would have to give up his 3rd spot to repair damage, and after the race it all broke loose. The two nearly went at it 3 different times before the authorities were tired of it. Roger Newton Sr. was at the track for the first time after breaking his back a month ago, and he was none too happy either. He gave a quote for Race22.com to use, but we really can't even whisper that one. The whole thing was ultimately uncalled for, and I wouldn't expect to

Jamey Caudill(50) comes in to make repairs to a nearly destroyed right side on his brand new HarCor chassis. Caudill recieved the damaged after Roger Lee Newton lost his temper and drove over Caudill's car under caution late in the race.

see the Newton's at the next event at Caraway, the officials were not impressed.

We All Knew

As we come to the finish, we were waiting on what was known from lap 13, this race was Marty Ward's. Jake Crum would give a valiant effort, as he and Brown would go at it side-by-side for 4 laps before Crum would prevail. Maybe Crum had something, we'll never know as Marty Ward sails off into the night winning the Melling Select 150. The race had everything, wrecks, passing, bumping, police being needed, fires, and a lone car totally whipping the field like nobody has done all year.