Coeburn, VA(July 5, 2009) -- Saturday, July 4th is a day when most of America spends their day celebrating America's Independence by having a cook-out with their family and taking in some fireworks ... the UARA-STARS Series spent the day celebrating with their "racing family".

Series points leader, Matt McCall came into the day as he does at every stop on the 16-race tour as one of the favorites to win and he did everything he could to live up to that high standard. McCall paced the first round of practice and backed that up in the second and final practice session for the UARA-STARS Series at Lonesome Pine Raceway.

From there he qualified on the pole and looked to have the 3/8 mile speedplant figured out as the 150-lap race was set to get underway. Most of the teams on pit road felt as if they would have to beat McCall to win this race or even to have a chance .... they were right as McCall turned up the wick as the field went green.

Behind McCall on the starting line-up for the UARA 150 was Brandon McReynolds, Richard Boswell, Paddy Rodenbeck, Jamey Caudill and Garrett Campbell. Campbell in sixth had a crazy weekend as yesterday after being in the top ten in testing he thought he had blown an engine and drove all the way home from Coeburn, VA to Asheboro, NC. They found out it was water in the gas when they got home and made their way back to Lonesome Pine for Saturday's action.

Jamie Yelton's young prodigy, Brennan Poole qualified seventh, impressive for the youngster who has struggled with qualifying this season. Jake Crum was eighth in his fourth start of the season and he would be player before the night was over with, Kyle Grissom posted the ninth fastest qualifying time ahead of local driver, Nate Monteith. Monteith looked good in practice, but wasn't as fast when it came time to qualify.

With the threat of weather very high the UARA-STARS race was moved from last in the running order to third and eventually with rain already falling to second. The race went green with rain drops already sprinkling down and that would be the theme for the next 150 circuits as rain interupted the race on several occasions.

As the green flag dropped McCall pulled out into the lead with third starting Boswell wasting no time in getting around McReynolds for the second spot. Despite the rain picking up it's pace the field stayed under the green until trouble struck for one of the pre-race favorites. 14-year old, Dylan Presnell had already won two features at Lonesome Pine Raceway in weekly action and was one of the guys many people were looking at to be a strong contender for the win.

Presnell practiced solid early, but trailed off when it came time to qualify placing himself in 15th, but early in the race while just making laps Presnell got turned around. Presnell was spun by JR Motorsports driver, Owen Kelly, who has came under scrutiny in recent weeks for being overly aggressive. Presnell made it away from the spin without damage and even managed to stay on the lead lap.

The next spin would come in an unusual chain of events as Jamie Yelton was being lapped by his former driver, Paddy Rodenbeck. Yelton, who is Brennan Poole's driver coach was making his first start of the 2009 season and when Rodenbeck went to lap him he ended up in the young drivers path. Behind them as the field stacked up, Yelton's young driver, Poole spun after contact from behind from Crum. Yelton later said that something on his car broke and that's what caused him to be in Rodenbeck's path thus stacking up the field.

On the restart McCall was again out front and checking out as behind him the field was shuffling positions each lap. Boswell went to make his move on McCall on the restart and slipped up a little while on the high side dropping him back several positions. That put McReynolds back up to second and Rodenbeck in third, but the rain was spraying all over the track and eventually local driver, Mitch Gibson goes for a spin.

This caution on lap 30 puts a halt to the hard racing and with the rain pouring down harder than ever the field is brought to a stop and the red flag is displayed. This red flag is very short lived as the rain quickly comes to a slow down and the UARA officials brought the cars down pit road so that the crews could clean off the windshields.

With the green flag back in the air the racing action is as intense as ever as the drivers fear that the originally scheduled 150-lap race will be shortened by rain. Everyone seems to be racing to the halfway point and McReynolds is doing everything in his power to make a run on McCall. Unfortunately for McReynolds, McCall is using a slightly higher line and is able to pull himself off the corner stronger and with the rain falling steady again it appeared that McReynolds wasn't able to make a charge.

On lap 56 a great battle between John King and Brian Blevins comes to a crashing halt as the slick track takes it's toll once again. Blevins gets sideways in turn three and slams into the side of King spinning both cars and with Nate Monteith on their bumper he's involved as well. Blevins and King continue on, but Monteith parks his car for the night.

The field goes under the red flag again as rain continues to plague the UARA 150 and with the race still short of the halfway point the track drying procedures get back underway. As the rain slows once again the field gets double file to try and dry the track and just before the halfway point the field gets back under the green flag.

Lap 86 brings about another caution as Kelly spins all by himself and parks his car for the night. The top five at this point is McCall, McReynolds, Boswell, Caudill and Crum. Soon after the next restart Boswell brings himself back up to second by passing McReynolds and trying to chase down McCall.

The next caution would involve a couple of hot young drivers as Poole, who had recovered nicely from his early spin was back up to eighth and looking for seventh under Coleman Pressley. These two would end up making contact sending them both spinning and trapping Poole a lap down.

From that lap 114 scramble it would be a mad dash to the finish of this 150-lap race and McCall would prove once again he was the man to beat as he pulled out to a comfortable lead on the restart. McCall was never seriously challenged, but some of the guys behind him were under fire. Caudill was one of those guys under fire as 2008 UARA-STARS Series Champion, Crum was beating down his back bumper.

Crum slammed to Caudill's inside, hit him from behind, turned him sideways on several occasions and still for the longest time he was unable to get by the veteran driver. Crum eventually raced to Caudill's outside and proving once again he was one of the cleanest drivers in the history of Late Model Stock Car racing, Caudill raced him hard, but never made contact with the youngster. Crum took the spot and would finish in the fourth position ahead of Kyle Grissom, who eventually got by Caudill as well.

Boswell would come up short in his quest to unseat McCall, who owned the whole day at Lonesome Pine and McCall would take home the win, his third of the 2009 season as the veteran driver extended his points lead. McReynolds finished third behind Boswell with Crum fourth and Grissom fifth. Caudill was relegated to sixth after the late surge by Crum and Grissom. Rodenbeck would finish seventh with Campbell rallying from his Friday problems to finish eighth.

Presnell recovered from his early spin to finish ninth, the best among a strong group of rookies in this event. Pressley finished tenth after his spin with Poole. Matthew Godley, who struggled greatly at Hickory Motor Speedway a week ago, had a decent run and came home the last car on the lead lap in 11th.

Up front the race belonged to McCall without any serious challenges as the veteran started first and after leading 150-laps, he finished first. The track was wet all night, but the UARA-STARS Series drivers did a magnificent job of keeping their cars under control and the UARA officials did a great job of making sure the race was run to it's completion.

Official Results:
1) Matt McCall
2) Richard Boswell II
3) Brandon McReynolds
4) Jake Crum
5) Kyle Grissom
6) Jamey Caudill
7) Paddy Rodenbeck
8) Garrett Campbell
9) Dylan Presnell
10) Coleman Pressley
11) Matthew Godley
12) Brian Blevins
13) Michael Rouse
14) Scott Turlington
15) Brennan Poole
16) John King II
17) Caleb Roark
18) Mitch Gibson
19) Owen Kelly
20) Nate Monteith
21) Jamie Yelton