Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(August 22, 2009) -- WOW! That's about all I can think of after witnessing Friday nights races at Ace Speedway.

I've said all year that Ace has some of the most exciting racing around and between Friday night's Extreme division, the Limited race, and the Late Model Stock Car feature I'm not sure if I've seen better this year, anywhere. It wasn't even a full moon but you couldn't tell it, as beating and banging was the norm, "organized confusion" if you will, and Robert Turner took home a victory in one of the closest finishes ever seen at the Speedway.

First off, the Extreme and Limited races were barn-burners and should be noted. The Extreme race was won by Michael Neal, but the battle between he, Jerry Kernodle, Larry Isley Jr., Jeff Thomas, and last place starter Keith Brame was something you only see every once in a while. Those cars were 4 wide at times the last few laps, and smoke was flying and sheet metal bending, but each driver kept their composure and congratulated each other when it was over.

The Limited race was much the same, at one point the entire 7 car field wrecked at once, but the drivers overcame the carnage and put on a show for the fans, and every car raced with damage to the finish. To quote Kick'n Asphalt Radio show host, Doc Love; "Car count is overrated" and I couldn't agree more. Congrats to Michael Hatley on his hard fought win and congrats to Ziggy Zimmerman coming in second with a car that looked nearly totally destroyed.

Everybody was hyped up by the first two events, now it was time for the Late Models, and they didn't disappoint either, matter of fact, they had controversy before the day even started. Jason York was back for the first time since his fines and run-in with Speedy Faucette back in May, and the team decided to leave before they even unloaded. The track informed them that Faucette was not allowed to participate in the first practice session after their run-in, and since this was York's first time back since then, he would have to follow the same procedure. The York team drove out of the track in disagreement, but track management intervened and the York hauler turned around and came back in, missing the first practice session ... It really didn't matter though.

Qualifying went off and York laid down the best lap of the night, beating Faucette by just 16 thousandths of a second to take the pole. York drew 4 on the redraw, now putting the top 5 starters as Jason Payne, Robert Turner, Faucette, York and Rodney Cook rounded out the top 5 of the 14 car field.

All eyes were on the cars of Faucette and York at the start, after all, the last time both were here they almost needed a ring announcer. They did not let us down, as Turner jumped past Payne on the start to take the lead, York wanted by Faucette on the outside and Faucette wanted to do everything he could to keep it from happening. The two cars raced very clean for the first 3 laps, until Faucette got loose out of turn 4 allowing York to go free on the outside and Cook diving by on the low side. As they went into turn 1, John Moore stuck his nose under Faucette and the two made contact, collecting the cars of Dustin Rumley and Dean Fogleman as they spun. Moore and Faucette would continue pretty much unscathed, as Rumley and Fogleman got extensive front damage.

Now it was Turner's time to shine. After missing a few weeks being overloaded by his day job, Turner was back, and was letting everyone know it. He quickly jumped out to a 10 car lead, as York and Cook made short work of Payne putting the #9 back to 4th. These 3 cars would be the class of the field on this night, but there was action to be had behind them.

Motor Mile Speedway regular, Brandon Dean was making his first trip ever to Ace and he quickly found out that the guys here get down and dirty. Rumley had a car that looked like a modified from the first caution, but he and Dean had a whale of a battle for the most part of the event. Faucette was another car to watch, as he started in the back after pitting from his spin, and breaks back into the top five before the 30 lap mark.

The last 47 laps were run caution free, and while Faucette was able to get past Payne for 4th, it looked as if they were going to finish with little action at the end. Turner had maintained his lead of 10 cars, and Cook had made a run on York for second, but used his brakes up in the process and had fallen back. As we got to 20 laps to go, York had a "laying back" look to him, and we all wondered if he had saved something in the tank. He sure did.

We get to 10 to go and York slightly has changed his line in turn 4, using the apron off the corner to turn the car better, and it was working nicely. Eight cars back, six, now four, as
 

they took the white flag he was still three cars back and looked as if Turner had it in the bag. The leaders run up on lapped traffic and Turner bobbles just a bit off turn two and York drives it deep to the inside of the #13 going into turn three. The cars come off turn 4 with Turner trying to pinch York down to the bottom, and York turning right to not let it happen. They make contact twice coming to the flag, and Turner squeezes his machine in front by about a foot and a half to take the win..

Great, great racing. The fans were once again treated to an incredible event, full of carnage, great racing, and great respect shown from that hard racing in each division. This is the way weekly racing should be, if your worried about getting your car scratched, take it to car shows. Ace Speedway is not the place for you, It's for racers, and they for sure have those there. Come out and see for yourself. Oh, and on a side note, you may see the York machine there quite a few times for the rest of the year, it just gets better all the time.

Results:
1) Robert Turner
2) Jason York
3) Rodney Cook
4) Speedy Faucette
5) Jason Payne
6) John Moore
7) Joseph Tucker
8) Brandon Dean
9) Dustin Rumley
10) Elliott Jewell
11) Kevin Parker
12) Kenneth Smithey
13) Dean Fogleman
14) Thomas Scott