WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!

York Scores BIG Win at Ace Speedway  .... by Corey Latham

WE ARE ...
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS!

York Wins Thriller At Ace
Wow. That's pretty much all you can say about this one. And for any of you race fans that weren't able to attend, I am truly sorry. Beating, banging, racing, fighting, wall-climbing, ACE had it all on the night the UARA series invaded the 4/10 mile facility. Former UARA champion Jason York decided to race with the series again, and was strong taking the win in a 3 wide fight to the checkered flag. But there was soooo much more.

Who Needs New Tires?
Jumping straight into practice, Roger Lee Newton set fast time in the first session. The odd thing was, he was on worn tires, everybody behind him put stickers on and he was still faster. When Newton went out for his sticker run, he slowed down nearly 2 1/2 tenths. The darnedest thing I've ever seen. As me and Newton searched the truck for 600 lap tires, B.J. Mackey and Jake Crum lead the field in the final session. Behind them was the story though. Rookies Brandon McReynolds(3rd), Ryan Robertson(5th), Scott Turlington(6th) and Garrett Campbell(7th) were consistently fast all day long. Then behind them came local favorite Rodney Cook, and everybody knew to keep an eye on him.

Look Ma, I'm Up Front!
In Sunoco Pole qualifying, 25 cars took to the track. Darell Wallace Jr. and Andrew Carlsen each had to change motors before qualifying after having terminal problems in practice. Richard "Boz" Boswell II blistered the field for the Sunoco Pole award, beating the other competitors by over a tenth to lock up P1. but that was only half of the story, remember those rookies in practice? Garrett Campbell wowed the crowd putting his #12 machine up on the outside front row for his best starting position ever. Darrell Wallace Jr.'s motor changed must have helped, as he put his ride in at the 3rd spot. Ryan Robertson was 7th, Brandon McReynolds 10th, and Scott Turlington came up 13th. Jason York and Jamey Caudill started 4th and 5th to round out the top 5. All cars made an attempt, almost. Justin

photos by: Langley Austin
Jason York shows his excitement as he rises from his car in victory lane for the first time since 2006 in UARA-STARS competition.

Boston was warming his tires up for his lap when he lost control at the start-finish line, hitting the wall hard and destroying the car.

I'm Fast But I Can't Stop
As the first of 2 support events were finished, there was a feel that this night was going to be wild. In the first 2 races before the UARA event, the modifieds had the leaders wreck coming to the the checkered, then they fought, and the Limited race was highlighted by a nasty wreck with cars on top of each other. Could the UARA keep up pace? They sure did. The field pulled out for the warm up laps, and just before the field was given one to go, the #50 machine of 5th place qualifier Jamey Caudill ducks on pit road. To every one's surprise, he didn't come back out until 75 laps had been run. The culprit, a broken brake line. The 50 car returned much

Jamey Caudill heads down pit road as the rest of the field comes down to take the green flag to start the 150-lap affair on the tough bullring of Ace Speedway.

later and showed he was just as fast as anyone, but too little too late.

Action-Packed
As the filed took the green, we wondered what the rookie was going to do on the outside. Was he going to fall behind Boz and ride? Would he get shuffled back into the field never to be heard of? How about he races extremely hard and takes the lead. That's what he did after running on the outside for the first 8 laps before he takes the lead. Campbell would give the spot back 2 laps later but gave notice that he was one to reckon with. Behind them, the #18 of Jason York is driving aggressive and going to the front moving the Wallace machine and then Campbell out of the way to move into second. It wouldn't be long before he was at the leader, and on lap 19 he takes the lead from Boswell. Crazy racing throughout the field as Campbell gets shuffled

Garrett Campbell(12) despite starting with a disadvantage qualifying on the outside of the front row, took the lead early from Richard Boswell(72) in the race only to give it back and settle into a great battle for a top five position.

back behind Rodney Cook, then Cook bobbles and Alex Yontz and Campbell get back by. The field is halted by the first caution of the day on lap 22, when Roger Lee Newton comes down on Brandon McReynolds, spinning Newton. Both cars continue.

Creepin'
The field was driving wild with control, if that's possible. But one driver who is always strong, but never makes a fuss was coming to the front as usual, B.J. Mackey. B.J had quietly worked his way to 3rd by lap 32, and was all over second place running Boswell. Boz could do nothing to stop this, and on lap 38 Mackey moves past and sets sail for York. He would be helped greatly a lap later when Ryan Robertson gets into the back of point leader Jake Crum bringing out the caution as Crum gets going straight in turn 4.

Not So Quiet

The Chase Pistone Inc. team had a tough day at the track as early in the day they had to change an engine in Andrew Carlsen's car and later had to load up Justin Boston's car after the young driver slammed the wall in qualifying.  It was a tough day early on rookie's as Darrell "Tiger" Wallace also expired an engine and had to make a change.

Well B.J. doesn't make much of a fuss usually, unless it's for the lead. And that chance came on lap 65 after a restart for a Stacy Puryear spin. As the field went into turn one 2 laps after the green, Mackey moves York up the track off turn 2 and Wallace and Boswell follow putting York back to 4th. 3 laps later the terrible year of Scott Andrews Jr. continues as he and Thomas Hartensveld get together off turn 4, resulting in heavy damage to the front of the Andrews car. Andrews told his displeasure as he was interviewed from pit road, and rightfully so, he has been fast every week this year and has ended up with some badly torn up race cars not of his own doing.

Lap 75 (halfway)
1.Mackey 2.Wallace 3.Boswell 4.York 5.Alex Yontz 6.Rodney Cook 7.Campbell 8.Robertson

Stacy Puryear(17) all by himself spun down the front straightaway.  Puryear had a fast car, but struggled all race long and settled for a ninth place finish.

9.Jamie Yelton 10.Curtis Truex Jr.

Watch Out, Here I Come
Jason York had already showed he was one of, if not the fastest car at the track during the race. But the nudge by Mackey that put him back to 4th made him work a little harder. Lap 90, after hounding Boswell for several laps he gets by for 3rd. Lap 100, York gets into the back of Wallace and goes around for second, Wallace tries to repay the favor but misses allowing Boswell to pass and put the Wallace car back to 4th. Behind them the cars of Campbell and Cook are having a spirited battle with Campbell moving Cook out of the way for the 6th spot. Even though Rodney had got passed, you could almost see the smile on his face, he loves competition and the beating and banging without wrecking is right up his alley. He tries desperately to get to the back of the #12 car, but handling off the

Scott Andrews, Jr.'s(18) bad luck continued as he ended his night with heavy damage from contact with Thomas Hartensveld.  Andrew's despite having one of the fastest cars every week has failed to finish too many races.

corner would be his downfall on this night.

Slowest Spin Ever
With 25 to go, the leaders and most of the field had gotten strung out just a bit. But the exception was 8th thru 11th position, they were all over each other. Kyle Grissom started back in the 18th spot, but had dodged all the carnage and had just taken the 10th spot from Jake Crum. In front of them was Ryan Robertson and Jamie Yelton as all 4 came up on the lapped car of Dillon Smith, who stayed in the middle of the track as the faster cars approached, causing a logjam. Everybody slowed and Grissom was tagged by Crum and got pushed.....and pushed.....and pushed until he slowly went around on the frontstrech bringing out the caution on lap 127. This caution would not the last, but it would set up the events leading to the fireworks at the end.

I Won't Be Denied

Photo #1: Ryan Robertson(31) ducks low to avoid the spinning car of points leader, Jake Crum(1).  Crum survived this spin with out incident, but in Photo #2 Crum gets a little damage as he tags the back end of Kyle Grissom(32) spinning him.  Crum had a tough night all race long and finished 12th, his worst finish outside of Bristol.

Mackey had built up nearly a 3 second lead, but it was all erased for the Grissom caution. This was the break York needed, and after the restart he was in B.J.'s back pocket. After 6 laps of green flag, york gets under Mackey and they race side by side, making contact numerous times. Mackey hangs tough and keeps the lead when another caution is displayed for the cars of Clay Greenfield and Brandon McReynolds. 10 laps to go and we'll try it again.

Newton Almost Becomes A Spectator
Roger Lee Newton has become the poster-child for consistency this year, Mark Martin style if you will. He never really qualifies good, and throughout the race he doesn't cause much noise, but at the end he's consistently in the top 10. Well, he was working on another one after having earlier troubles and had just moved into the top 10 when he and Scott Turlington make contact coming off of turn 4. Newtons car hooks and climbs the wall at the flag stand, nearly going over it and actually touching the grass between the wall and the fence. Newton comes to a rest with half the car on the track and half still up on the wall. He would get out just fine. Here we go again, another green-white-checkered finish.

One For the Ages
Yet again, we knew it would be exciting, but had no idea it would be this good. Racing all over the track tonight, and it was going to come down to the 2 fastest cars, the way it should be. As they took the green, York dives to the inside of Mackey. They exit turn 4 and make contact coming to the white flag, sideways and still side by side. Behind them going down the backstretch, Alex Yontz gets into a tussle with Rodney Cook, Garrett Campbell and Ryan Robertson and goes from 5th to 10th in half a lap. Back to the leaders as they enter turn 4, York runs Mackey high, Boswell dives to the inside and uses the apron to turn. They come to the line and it's York beating Boswell by a fender, with Mackey and Wallace Jr. side by side

Top: Andrew Carlsen(98), Scott Turlington(48) and Roger Lee Newton(33) get together hard on the front straightaway just after a restart.  As you can see, Newton's car gets airborne on the back of Turlington's car as he climbed the wall.  As you see byt the Middle & Bottom photos; Newton's car was visibly destroyed as it sat halfway on the wall and the track.

behind them on their bumper.

Best Ever?
How we got through the last 3 laps without a wreck is beyond me, there was some serious
banging and some serious driving to overcome the banging. This is a testament to the UARA series, a lot of young drivers but at ACE they showed why they are where they are. These boys can flat out drive, and put on one of the best shows the fans at ACE or anywhere had ever seen. The best? Hard to say, but I've been to races all over the east coast and this night will definitely be filed in my top 5 of all-time. Thanks for entertaining us guys, job well done.

Brandon McReynolds(28) and Curtis Truex, Jr.(88) show the amount of carnage seen on Friday night at Ace Speedway.  It was a great race ... well at least from the granstands or the top of one of the haulers!

Maybe one of the greatest finishes ever, but certainly the best finish to a race this season for the UARA-STARS.  Richard Boswell(72) fell about six feet short of getting his first win as Jason York(78) claimed his fourth win.  The win for York made him the ninth winning driver in the history of the UARA-STARS Series, a big accomplishment for the former series champion.  Darrell "Tiger" Wallace, Jr.(76) and BJ Mackey(who's car you can barely see)behind Wallace and Boswell's car could have easily got the win themselves.