Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com
Photos by: Kathy Bond/USARacing & Bill Carr/Motorsports Photo News Service

Hampton, VA(August 25, 2009) -- After the rains came with fury on Saturday, the USARacing Pro Cup series was able to complete the Hampton Virginia/Honor Flight 250 in a rare day race on a Sunday at Langley Speedway and it was Brandon Ward who was able to flex his muscle for the second time in three weeks and win his second race of the 2009 season over local favorite Woody Howard.

Clay Rogers, the winner of the May event at Langley, assumed the pole as qualifying was rained out and the field was set by points with Bobby Gill to his outside on the front row. Local favorites Joe Gaita, Woody Howard and Jeff Oakley would start 20th, 21st and 22nd respectively due to lack of owner points compared to the rest of the field. Bryce Walker would loop his 65n machine in turn 1 to bring out the first caution but not before joined by Ronnie Souders who found himself on the loosing end of Brett Butler's front bumper while slowing up to avoid Walker.

But Butler wasn't done there as he would have a big hand in the race's only red flag which lasted for 22 minutes after Drew Herring went for a spin in between turns 3 and 4 and as the field checked up to avoid the spinning 22s machine Butler drove in apparently without lifting and made hard contact with Jeff Agnew resulting in Agnew's car resting on top of the passenger's side of Herring's machine. Agnew and Butler would be relegated to the sidelines while Herring was able to continue minus a great portion of sheet metal on the right side. Agnew is the only driver to have started in all three USAR events at Langley between the lone event in 1998, where he won the pole, and the two events this season.

As the race went back green 19 year old Justin Boston was at the front of the pack with Rogers hounding his rear bumper and lead for two laps before pitting passing the lead back to Rogers who had lead the first 60 laps. Howard wasted no time making his way towards the front as by lap 90 he had already gained 18 positions moving up to third on the track.

The front of the pack played fairly nice until lap 184 when after a hard fought battle for several laps resulted in Bobby Gill getting loose in between turns 1 and 2 and chased the car up the track making contact with Rogers and sending him for a spin. Rogers was not happy with the incident and would make his thoughts known to Gill after the race. Back at the front it was Justin Lofton, who had been involved in an early wreck with Derek Kale, leading over Ward and Gill but as the laps continued to tick away smoke began to appear from the tailpipe of the 07s as the motor began to go away. Ward would take advantage on lap 206 to take over the top spot.

Lofton's motor would eventually let go bringing out a late race caution and stacking the front of the field up for what appeared to be the makings of another barn burner like the fans saw in May. On the restart, Ward shot to an immediate advantage over second place Gill, who was preoccupied with a mirror full of Howard's black Chevy. Howard would make his way past Gill but the battle between the two local favorites allowed Ward to run away and open up a lead of about a straightaway in length.

At the end Ward cruised to the win by just under three seconds over Howard while Gill, J.P. Morgan and Rogers completed the top five at the end of 250 laps. The rest of the top ten were fighting hard at the end of the race and after rookie Lucas Ransone spun and made contact with the outside wall off turn 2 on the final lap they crossed the line with Boston in sixth, John Gibson in seventh, Caleb Holman in eighth, Kale in ninth, and Ransone finishing tenth the last car to finish on the lead lap. Sixteen of the 22 cars that took the green flag were able to finish the race after a long day on the flat .395 mile oval.

The win was an emotional one for Ward, not just because it was his second in a row, but because of the absence of his father whom had suffered a heart attack in the garage area on Saturday. "This is the first Pro Cup race I've been to without him; just about the first race period I've been to that he hadn't been here, so I missed him a lot today," Ward said in victory lane after the race. "Any win in this series is

big, but especially with the situation this weekend. Being able to get two in a row, it was a real special win." Ward's father, Rick Ward, was rushed to Sentara Careplex Hospital Saturday afternoon and is doing much better after treatment and was expected to be released on Monday.

Clay Rogers despite his displeasure with Gill for the on track incident had to have a smile on his face while leaving the track as his fifth place finish was not just a great recovery from the spin but also was what he needed to become the 2009 regular season points champion over Ward who took over second place from Gill. The USARacing Pro Cup series will begin their four race Championship Series in two weeks on September 5 at Concord Speedway for the Concord 250. The teams will then race at Iowa, Rockingham and South Boston to round out the 2009 season.

** Hampton Virginia/Honor Flight 250 **
Fin. Pos. (Car #) Driver; Laps Compl.
1. (56s) Brandon Ward; 250
2. (55n) Woody Howard; 250
3. (06s) Bobby Gill; 250
4. (23s) J.P. Morgan; 250
5. (54s) Clay Rogers; 250
6. (31s) Justin Boston; 250
7. (13s) John Gibson; 250
8. (75s) Caleb Holman; 250
9. (22n) Derek Kale; 250
10. (00s) Lucas Ransone; 250
11. (17n) Jeff Oakley; 248
12. (22s) Drew Herring; 246
13. (55s) Tom Powers; 242
14. (28n) Wally Smith; 241
15. (04s) Larry Barrett; 232
16. (75n) Ronnie Souders; 231
17. (07n) Matt Lofton; 211
18. (11s) Joe Gaita; 128
19. (28s) Billy Bigley Jr.; 101
20. (73n) Jeff Agnew; 78
21. (1n) Brett Butler; 78
22. (65n) Bryce Walker; 7
Pole: Rogers - via car owner points