Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Radford, VA(August 5, 2010) -- Motor Mile Speedway had a rare Sunday afternoon full of racing this past weekend, as Mother Nature would not cooperate with the activities the day before. All that attended were treated to some of the best racing of the year, as beating and banging were the norm, and in the end of the twin 100 lappers we had the returning "King" of Motor Mile and the "New" kid in victory lane.

"Sunday School"

Philip Morris has been in the headlines a lot lately, and not because of his usual winning ways. After a controversial decision by the track to add weight to drivers who won two races in a row, Morris and his Jim Dean team vowed not to return. After missing quite a few races he finally came back a few weeks ago and fell out early with mechanical problems. Without the added weight he was back this week with a vengeance, and simply "whipped" the field.

While all eyes were on Morris, Davin Scites had his own plans and was able to wrestle the pole away from the defending champion. Mike Looney, Tommy Lemons Jr. and Nate Montieth rounded out the top five. Montieth was the odd man in the bunch, as the Lonesome Pine regular has seemed to make a new home at Motor Mile after leaving his home track while being the point leader.

At the green it was Morris jumping to the lead, as he had a five car length lead before they entered turn one. Scites was the early car on the move, but it was just in the wrong direction. After starting on the pole, Looney and Rusty Skewes got by on lap three, and two laps later Montieth put Scites back to fifth. Skewes time up front would be short lived as he was put back to the bottom end of the top ten before lap 35.

While Scites and Skewes were falling back, Brandon Dean was the man on the move. After lining up eighth, the youngster was on a tear thru the field and on lap 28 he was able to bypass Looney for the second spot. It was a stellar run, but at this point Morris had already checked out on the field. As good as Dean's car was, we were all wondering if he had used the good out of it to get to the front, as passing Morris was going to take something special, and more than likely the help of a caution.

The field got strung out a bit during the middle portion of the first race, but it worked out well for Scites as his car seemed to come back to him as he moved back around Montieth to retake the fourth spot. Behind the leaders, the real car coming to life was South Boston regular Stacy Puryear as he seemed to get better each lap. Puryear had not raced at Motor Mile in over five years, and had just ran South Boston the previous night where he is currently second in the point standings.

Without much preparation and a less than stellar qualifying effort timing in 17th, Puryear looked to be the fastest car on the track the last 30 laps as he carved through the field. After a fierce battle with Derrick Lancaster where the two made contact for numerous laps, point leader Wayne Ramsey was the last car on his radar before the checkers. Puryear would let Ramsey know he was there nearly every lap off the corners, and finally made his move with five laps to go to pick up the sixth spot and started to work on Lemons for fifth before he simply ran out of laps.

At the head of the field was Morris, and he cruised to the victory in dominating fashion. After being the man on top, then the man talked about for NOT being there, he was back where he had been so many times before, in victory lane. Dean would come up short, but he had another chance to redeem himself on this day, and he took full advantage.

"Long Time Coming"

As the field lined up for the second 100 lap event, a random draw of the top six finishers from race #1 shook up the lineup. Looney would start from the pole, with Dean to his outside. Morris would line up fifth, and we had already seen how good his car was in clean air, now we were going to see how good it was in traffic. Starting fifth isn't that bad at most tracks, but with the competition at Motor Mile it's almost like starting tenth, these are the best of the best racing weekly.

At the start Looney and Dean put on a show as they raced side-by-side for three laps before Dean would take the lead, but not before Looney did a cross over took it right back on lap five. Dean was finally able to establish himself back in front just two laps later as he dove back to the inside to take the spot for good. Morris was having his own problems, as Scites car seemed to not be very good on the start, and Morris tried three wide off turn two under Scites and Lemons. The early evasive moves and being trapped in traffic put Morris back to ninth when the first caution came out on lap nine. Did he drive the car too hard in the first race and use it up? It looked that way for nearly half the race, but it turned out to be all part of the plan.

The caution was for the Nate Montieth machine running in third, as he threw a gear thru the rear-end and put fluid all over the track. After a lengthy caution period for 14 laps, we were racing again with Dean pulling away. Looney had all he could stand with Ramsey on his rear bumper for second, when Stacy Puryear's good run would come to an end bringing out the caution once more. Puryear was again in a tight battle with Derrick Lancaster for sixth, when Lancaster got loose and Puryear checked up, but not enough time for Morris to check up for him as the two made contact and Puryear went spinning. Puryear was able to continue from the back, and later said the the contact was unavoidable, "It was just hard racing with no where to go" said the veteran.

After another caution for the spinning car of Kris Bowen after he had clutch problems and got tagged by Josh Berry on the restart, Morris now looked to be turning it on. It all started on lap 63 as Morris went by Lancaster for sixth and looked to be in overdrive. Two laps later he went by both Lemons and Looney to move into third. Three laps later and he was on Ramsey for second, it was a drive thru the field you only see every once in a while, but Ramsey wasn't going to let him have it easily. For 12 laps, Ramsey and Morris looked to be in a rolling demolition derby, as contact was made at least five times each lap.

Finally after getting under Ramsey numerous times, hard contact was made as they ran door to door into turn one and Morris moved ahead. By this time Dean was gone, and looked to be well on his way to his first Late Model victory, the only thing that could mess it up now was a caution............well.

The caution waved on lap 94 for the spinning car of Josh Berry off turn two, and Dean started to sweat as Morris breathed a sigh of relief. After nine laps of caution we finally get the green on lap 103, and Morris immediately begins to test the integrity of Dean's back bumper. It was now that Dean really showed what kind of driver he really is.

Dean went to the Kiker Motorsports team in the middle of last year after the departure of Shaun Mangum, and the results were not what they had hoped for at first. This season at Motor Mile, Dean has tuned it on and sits second in the points, but still had not got that elusive first win. Now it was time to show what he was made of, as he had the multi-time track and National Champion on his bumper, and Morris would give him all he could handle. Lap after lap, Morris jacked Dean up all around the track, turning the youngster sideways at some points that other drivers would have simply spun.

But, Dean didn't spin, he did it one better, he saved it each time and held on to the lead while he did it. As the two took the white flag side-by-side Dean was not going to be denied, and as the two hit one final time off turn four, Dean stayed in the gas and came across the line ahead by 5ft, and was now a Late Model winner. He did it in the grandest style possible, beating the track champion while putting on an awesome display of car control. I'd say this win just got the ball rolling for many more.

Race #1
1 - Philip Morris #26
2 - Brandon Dean #5
3 - Mike Looney #47
4 - Nate Monteith #4
5 - Tommy Lemons Jr #27
6 - Stacy Puryear #17
7 - Wayne Ramsey #42
8 - Kris Bowen #80
9 - Derrick Lancaster #25
10 - Joey Mahanes #45
11 - Josh Berry 72
12 - Kelly Kingery #57
13 - Rusty Skewes #41
14 - Jason Merriman #30
15 - Jeff Oleen #48
16 - Zeke Shell #97
17 - Bob Davis #19
18 - Lynn Phoenix #14
19 - Natalie Sather #94
20 - Jamie Byrd #15
21 - Jeff Martin #52
22 - Dewayne Howard #37
23 - Scott Marshall #7
24 - Anthony Barnes #55
25 - Andrew Thomas #96
26 - Wayne Corprew #87
27 - Andy DeFilippis #95
28 - Bobby Gillespie #18

Race #2
1 - Brandon Dean #5
2 - Philip Morris #26
3 - Wayne Ramsey #42
4 - Mike Looney #47
5 - Tommy Lemons Jr #27
6 - Derrick Lancaster #25
7 - Joey Mahanes #45
8 - Andrew Thomas #96
9 - Jason Merriman #30
10 - Lynn Phoenix #14
11 - Jeff Oleen #48
12 - Zeke Shell #97
13 - Stacy Puryear #17
14 - Kris Bowen #80
15 - Scott Marshall #7
16 - Natalie Sather #94
17 - Rusty Skewes #41
18 - Josh Berry #72
19 - Jamie Byrd #15
20 - Dewayne Howard #37
21 - Jeff Martin #52
22 - Wayne Corprew #87
23 - Kelly Kingery #57
24 - Nate Monteith #4
25 - Bob Davis #19
26 - Anthony Barnes #55