Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(August 19, 2010) -- It has always been a wild place, and the rivalries over the years have been tense. It looks like that has hit a whole new high at Ace Speedway this season as the top two dogs, Rodney Cook and Dustin Rumley, have taken their dislike for each other to a whole new level. And while all that was going on, the man on the edge of victory all this year, Jason Payne, was smiling all the way to the winners circle for the first time in his career.

The day started off with drivers from all divisions already steaming, as the track did a total restructure of the point system, letting drivers keep good finishes and throw out a few bad ones. Bobby Griffin was not happy, as he went from second to fifth, and Rumley was pretty smug, as he benefited after missing three races earlier this season and found himself the new man chasing Cook. Speaking of Cook, he did have a 142 point lead, so it's safe to say he was not a fan of it either.

In qualifying, it was the same as it has been the past eight events as Rumley picked up another pole with Brad Kurth, Ryan Wilson, Jason Payne and Tony Keen in the top five. A redraw of the top five would put Rumley in the fifth spot, right in front of Cook at the start.

Before the action even started, the autograph session turned into controversy as all the cars rolled out, all except Cook. After qualifying tech officials questioned whether Cook had a illegal sway bar, and after much confusion told the point leader he would have to start in the rear. Cook was furious and put his street clothes on and refused to race, and after many conversations were had, it looked as if he wouldn't. But in the end he put his suit on just in time, as the situation was explained with everyone in earshot, it was simply a misunderstanding of what was thought to be told and what was thought to be done by the officials and crew alike. It set the tone for the race though as Cook was still steaming as he rolled off. Brad Kurth would break a rearend in the pace laps and be out for the event, and it may have been a blessing in disguise for the AAR Roofing machine.

As the race started, Tony Keen would jump to the lead pinning Payne on the outside with Ryan Wilson slipping into second. Rumley and Cook waste no time keeping Payne on the outside and back to fifth, all before the first lap was complete. Rumley would not stop there as he disposes of Wilson for second, then Keen for the lead on lap three. It then began to show the signs of it being Friday the 13th as all heck would break loose.

On lap five Wilson dives to the inside of Keen for second and has a right front tire go down, putting the #12 of Wilson up hard on the side of Keen ripping the entire right side of the Keen machine off and ending Wilson's night. Thomas Scott and Scotty Warren would take the option around the cone and go to the outside, which turned out to be a bad move with Cook lining up behind Rumley in the lead.

On the restart Rumley and Cook clear the outside cars and as they dive into turn one, Cook gets into the back of Rumley, then chaos ensues. Rumley gets sideways and spins to the right in front of Cook and the rest of the field off turn two, as the track gets bottle-necked and nearly no car leaves unscathed.

When it was over, Dean Fogleman was on top of Thomas Scott, Scotty Warren had his front clip gone, Cook had severe right front damage, Rumley had rear damage, and Barry Beggarly had all his body panels hanging off the rear end. As they came around to sit under the red flag, Jason Payne, Bobby Griffin, Michael Lia, Tony Keen and Elliott Jewel were the only cars to make it through the carnage.

Rumley, Beggarly and Cook would make repairs and head out before the green flag flew, but while they ran under caution Cook heads to pit road, his damage had proved to be too much. With the help of the restart cone Rumley and Beggarly go from wrecked to having a chance to take the lead, Cook had said beforehand that Rumley would not win on this night, we would now see if he could do it with a damaged car.

It got even more wild as Rumley would hang tough with his battered car on the outside before finally giving into Payne and letting Griffin slide into second in the process. Beggarly was the man on the move as he gets by Rumley a few laps later, then by Griffin for second until Griffin gives him the bumper and takes it right back. Not to be outdone, the wiley veteran Beggarly does a cross over move and punts Griffin spinning off of turn four to bring out another caution. You would think that with these battered, bad driving cars they would simply be out to get a good finish, that was not the case, these guys wanted to win.

The first half of the night was filled with a few more cautions, and some great driving by Payne and Beggarly. Payne had the car to beat, but on the restarts Beggarly did everything he could to get around him, inside, outside, thru him, he tried it all. But each time Payne would hang on, and after a few laps his car would come to him and he was able to distance himself a tad from the field.

Did I say it was Friday the 13th? One of the more interesting cautions of the night was when Bobby Griffin came to a stop in turn four, but the "interesting" part wasn't for him. Thomas Scott who had his car destoyed in the lap five "Big One", had came back on the track driving just a chassis with wheels and a motor. No body panels, no bumpers, no roof, not even a windshield, needless to say the officials were not impressed. Scott would put the roof and windshield back on and return, but it became loose once more and for the entire second half of the race he drove with just his right hand, with his left out the window on top of the car holding the roof on.

As we get down to 30 to go, Tony Keen shows that he doesn't need sheet metal on his drivers side to be fast and moves into third around Rumley. After a few more cautions Rumley would go to the outside and fall into second behind Payne, and now had the determined Begagrly all over his bumper.

Payne would drive off into the sunset as Beggarly would get under Rumley numerous times, but couldn't take the spot. It was pretty amazing that the two drivers could race each other the way they did with all the damage they had, but all in all it was just another night at Ace Speedway, nothing there is ever "ordinary" anymore.

Jason Payne rolled into victory lane, after being close so many times and being the car behind Rumley and Cook all year, it was his turn to hold the checkered flag. He and his crew were overcomed with joy as he exited the car, and the crowd acknowlegded it too, as it was a very popular victory.

Behind him, as the announcer Tyler Williams interviewed Rumley, the Cook crew stood on pit road and appluaded as Rumley told the crowd how unpleased he was with Cook's antics on this night, and simply said "Look at where I'm at and look at where he is". This Friday night should be good, who knows what to expect, after Friday the 13th, anybody's guess is as good as mine.
 
Results:
1 - Jason Payne #9
2 - Dustin Rumley #88
3 - Barry Beggarly #82
4 - Tony Keen #99
5 - Bobby Griffin #85
6 - Dean Fogleman #7
7 - Elliott Jewell # 23
8 - Michael Lia #47
9 - Mike Chambers #27
10 - Thomas Scott #8
11 - Rodney Cook #14
12 - Scotty Warren #29
13 - Ryan Wilson #12
14 - Jason Turner #71
15 - Brad Kurth #9