Story by: Corey Latham and Mike Sveda

Rockingham, NC ~ Rockingham Speedway was the site for racing on the 4th of July, as the "Cherry Bomb 200" was ran consisting of 100 laps for the Frank Kimmel Street-Stocks, and 100 laps for the headlining ASA Late-Models. The day was a hot one, but when it was over, Brandon Johnson and Brett Hudson were sprayed down with ice-cold Cheerwine, the beverage of choice in the Rockingham victory lane.

The races at "The Rock" rolled off at 10am, a unheard of time for a race at any track. Rockingham owner Andy Hillenburg wanted the races to conclude at a decent time early in the day, to beat the heat and so fans could go enjoy their 4th of July activities later in the evening. This turned out to be one of the best ideas ever, but then again since taking over ownership of the track, Mr. Hillenburg and his staff have came up with new and fresh ideas for every event held at the track thus far, all of them being a success. Chalk up another one, as most fans were home before 5pm.

The Street-Stocks were the first ones up, and 42 cars strong they screamed into turn 1. Back on New Years day, when the Street-Stocks were here the first time, it was a race of carnage that took nearly 4 hours to complete. This race was much different, with most of the drivers that were here in January back again, and lots of notes to go off of from the first visit. This resulted in more side-by-side racing than wrecking, but close-calls were the norm each and every lap.

Brett Hudson, from Owensboro KY set the fast time in qualifying, and from the drop of the green flag he was the car to beat. The race for the lead turned into a 3 car race, and later only 2 as Clint Watkins had the speed to keep close, but smoking the right rear sideways in every turn lead to the race being decided between Hudson and a hard charging Tony Conway.

On the restarts, Hudson was able to pull away, but Conway would eat up the #00 in the turns with a much better handling car. Conway could get to his bumper, but the horses under the hood of the Hudson machine were too much, and the ARCA series driver was able to hold on for the win.

Moving on to the main event, the ASA Late-Model series was ready to take to the track for 100 laps. Billy Crane was sitting on the pole, with Hal Martin to his outside, in a very slim 21 car field. One other car was there on Friday, but Kyle Sirizzoti killed his car in the turn 1 wall during practice, nearly flipping the machine and ending his weekend prematurely.

Even with a short field, big names were plenty, AJ Frank, Drew Brannon, Josh Hamner, Brian Campbell, Willie Allen, Peter Cozzolino and Stephen Leicht were all there to take home the Rockingham trophy. With names like that, you would expect a few of them would be battling for the lead throughout the event. That was not the case on this day, with the only exception being Frank, and his day went South in the late going.

Early in the event, Frank asserted himself as the car to beat, but Brandon Johnson was right in his tire tracks at every turn. For the first half, those two cars were in a league by themselves, as Dillon Oliver tried frantically to keep pace, nearly having the rear-end come out from under him almost every lap.

Lap 13 would bring out the caution, as Wes Burton and Drew Brannon get tangled up off turn two, ending Burton's day and causing the point leader's day to just get very long. Brannon would make repairs and get back in the race, but his Butch Miller led car looked more like a Whelen modified than any Late-model.

As the race got to the half-way break, luck was something that wasn't in AJ Franks possesion. Frank had been the dominating car for the first 50 laps, Johnson could hang with him, but didn't look like he had the car to take the lead at that point. As the green waved after the 5o lap mark, Frank started to drop back positions. The car that looked invincible, was now a mid-pack runner. USAR veteran Clay Rogers was helping the Frank team, and gave the low-down. "Stupid plug wire burnt in half, we had this race, It's just ridiculous."

It was now Johnson's race to lose, but without many cautions on the day, the #93 machine was sailing in clean air out front. The only scare came with a caution on lap 78, but Johnson was able to pull away from Brian Campbell, who started 14th but bided his time and was able to bring the #20 all the way to 2nd, but was no match for the "hot-pink" highlighted car of Johnson.

It a great day of racing at Rockingham, and while the fields weren't as large as expected, the racing was close and exciting. And the whole Rockingham staff once again pulled off another event without a hiccup, starting the event at an early time, and getting everyone home for supper. Hats off once gain to Mr. Hillenburg and his staff, the "American 200" in October is the next event at the speedway, and it is shaping up to be a great one also.

Unofficial Results

1. 93 Brandon Johnson 100
2. 20 Brian Campbell 100
3. 33 Dillon Oliver 100
4. 28 Jack Smith 100
5. 25 Brent Downey 100
6. 11 Peter Cozzolino 100
7. 17 Chris Eggleston 100
8. 10 A.J. Frank 100
9. 31 Brian Blum 100
10. 38 Josh Hamner 100
11. 76 Hal Martin 100
12. 05 Gene Kirila 100
13. 90 Rebecca Kasten 99
14. 44 Tommy Joe Martins 97
15. 76 Jerick Johnson 97
16. 55 Mason Mitchell 97
17. 48 Billy Crane 94
18. 08 Drew Brannon 62
19. 61 Stephen Leicth 42
20. 5 Wes Burton 13
21. 32 Troy Smith 12
22. 111 Kyle Sirizzotti 2