Poole Dominates at Kingsport

Poole Dominates at Kingsport for Fourth UARA Win

Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Kingsport, TN(August 17, 2010) -- The UARA was once again on the historic concrete of the Kingsport Speedway, and while the event took an extra day because of Mother Nature, the results at the top of the board were the same. Matter of fact the same as four other times this year as point contender Brennan Poole put on a dominating performance.

Rain washed out the race on Saturday, but qualifying was able to be completed putting Kyle Grissom at the front of the field. The winner in the first trip to Kingsport this season, Clint King, was able to secure the second spot with Poole third, Tri-County winner Matt Kurzejewski, and Myrtle Beach winner Michael Rouse falling in behind. The big story was point leader Coleman Pressley who had a dismal performance timing in at 15th. Pressley had blown a motor in practice Friday, and some teams were throwing around the "sandbagging" term as the UARA awards passing points for positions gained during a race, and Pressley has started deep in the field many times this year. Pressley assured us that he just simply wasn't that good to begin with and messed up in qualifying. Starting in the back is not where you want to be for the chance of accidents in traffic, and we would soon see what kind of ride Pressley had.

In the opening laps it became obvious that this was going to be a two man show between Grissom and Poole as the two sprinted away fromt he rest of the field. Grissom has had troubles this year, and was looking to bounce back after qualifying on the pole but Poole was too much in the early going and pestered Grissom until he took the top spot in the first 30 laps. Michael Rouse was able to get by King for third, and started to catch the leaders, he was a factor all day until late when mechainical problems cut his day short.

Everyone thought the tight track in Kingsport would cause all sorts of carnage, but none of that ever really materiaized. There was some beating and banging going on all around the track, and two of those involved were Garrett Campbell and Lee Tissot. The two have seemed to find each other each race with some contact, and Sunday was no different as the two went after it once again. They raced side-by-side until Tissot eased back ahead, only to have Campbell dive into turn three and make contact spinning Tissot out of the top five. Campbell would be given a rough driving penalty ultimately ruining his day, and Tissot would go to the back of the field. But Tissot was not done, he knew had a car to win with.

While Poole and Grissom were cruising out front, two things were developing behind them, attrition and Coleman Pressley. The usually cool TN mountains were anything but, as the temperatures soared near triple digits, putting a strain on people and equipment alike. Ronnie Bassett Jr., Brian Blevins, Wayne Hale, Stephan Gahagan, Zeke Shell, Kaleb Pressley, Garrett Campbell, Micheal Rouse, Brandon Knupp and Dakota Sledge all had their days cut short for either overheating or brake problems, and at the end nearly all the leaders were out of brakes.

On the other end of the spectrum, Pressley was doing his usual thing, and as we hit the 50 lap mark he starts his stroll through the field. Right after the halfway mark, Pressley makes his way into sixth around John King and begins to work on Matt Kurzejewski for fifth. Kurzejewski would be one of the hardest cars to pass on this day, as his car ran the outside just as good as it did ont he bottom, and after 12 laps of being side-by-side, Pressley regroups. He would finally take the spot away, but his run thru the field would be an uphill battle from there on out.

As we get down in side of 25 laps to go, a rash of yellow flags became a concern for the leaders. While Poole was hating them, Tissot was making up lost ground on every restart as he now found himself back in the top ten. As we get another start with around 15 to go (no way of really knowing, as the scoreboard didn't work), Tissot jumps to the inside of Kurzejewski and takes away the fifth spot, while getting under Pressley for fourth to take that away also. The laps were winding down and it looked as if Tissot would run out of time when another caution comes out setting up a green-white-checkered. Tissot's car owner Mitch West was very happy as he watched from inside turn one, "If we aren't careful, we're going to end up winning this thing", said West with a smile.

The final caution was brought out for an incident with Kurzejewski and Danny O'Quinn Jr., as O'Quinn had made contact with Kurzejewski for numerous laps until the youngster simply had enough, and just dumped him. It was now time to go, and to see if Poole could hold off the bumping that Kingsport produces.

As the green waved Poole was gone, he never gave Grissom a chance to bump him as he drove away from the field. Tissot gave Grissom all that he had for second, but he simply needed a few more laps, and Pressley and Clint King beat on each other good until Pressley prevailed with fourth.

In victory lane once again was Poole, picking up his fourth win of the season. It seems that he has hit his stride, and led by Jamie Yelton, the Fathead racing team is coming after Pressley with all they have to win the championship. It looks like the point battle could very well go down to the last race of the year.

Results:
1 - Brennan Poole #5
2 - Kyle Grissom #32
3 - Lee Tissot #27
4 - Coleman Pressley #59
5 - Clint King #07
6 - Matt Kurzejewski #10
7 - Scott Turlington #48
8 - Jon King #21
9 - Robert Johnson #11
10 - Randy Hawkins #03
11 - Danny O'Quinn Jr. #01
12 - Julia Dawson #1
13 - Brandon Knupp #15
14 - Michael Rouse #23
15 - Dakota Slagle #13
16 - Garrett Campbell #12
17 - Zeke Shell #97
18 - Royce Peters #37
19 - Stephen Gahagan #47
20 - Wayne Hale #19
21 - Kaleb Pressley #54
22 - Ronnie Bassett #04
23 - Brian Blevins #40