Davis and Lee, New Faces in Victory Lane!
By Neal Palmer, 6/5/10
   After spending a couple of Saturdays on the road, I was finally able to get back home to KSP. A lot happened while I was away; Justin Fowler earned his first trip to Victory Lane in the #48j IMCA Modified! Congratulations go out to him for that accomplishment! Keep ‘em comin, Hot Rod! I also saw where Ronnie Davis suddenly appeared back on the scene in the #31 Crate Late Model! Great lookin car Ronnie! Congratulations on your win here tonight! I understand the car owners are Les and Ruth Aiken! Good to see yall join the gang!
   I saw where David Cook and Chris Kent won in the Street Stocks while I was away! Congratulations to those guys for getting to the front in a very competitive class of cars! It looks like Kyle Harrison is on a streak! I see where he’s had that Hobby of his in Victory Lane a lot here lately! Great job Kyle! How about that Austin Theiss! Looks like he’s getting that Orange Hot Rod figured out! Way to go, Austin!
   I noticed that Darryl Campbell was sportin some new colors on his #83 Destroyer XXX Modified! He called it a “Rat Rod Gray”! Great lookin color scheme, Darryl! That car would sure look good in Victory Lane!
   Speakin of new colors! Jason Gore showed up tonight with a brand new body on his #25 after completely refurbishing the chassis! He said it was the same car, but was almost like new after all of the work they did on it! And the color? Remember his Silver, almost Chrome #25? Well, he went to the other end of the color spectrum and chose Black this time! It looks GREAT!
   Damon Hammond sure is stylin in that awesome blue IMCA Stock Car! That’s a tough crowd you’re runnin with! And how about that Cade Lee! I watched him drive an awesome race here tonight in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature! He held off some really tough competitors to get that win! Great job Cade! Keep ‘em comin!
   Well, June 1st, the voting got underway for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational Race to be held during the IMCA Super Nationals. KSP has one of their own listed on the ballot! Keith White qualified for the ballot and is a contender to be one of two drivers elected to represent the South Central Region in that race!
   Keith will be meeting the fans and signing autographs on Saturday. He will be on the lawn behind the grandstands before the races and will return during the intermission. Stop by and meet Keith, pick up some pictures of his car and get his autograph! You can also pick up some information on how and where to vote for him! 
   Rick Barrett will be doing “Candy Call” during intermission as well! Be sure to visit this IMCA Hobby Stock Driver and get an autographed picture of him as well! Rick is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet! He will have that awesome looking #98 Destroyer Hobby Stock on display for the fans too! Rick has one of the best lookin rides out there! OH! And it’s fast too!
   The RaceSaver Sprints have sure been puttin on some great races at KSP! With no one seeming to dominate in that class, it’s anybody’s guess who’ll end up in Victory Lane with that bunch! Jason Howell is the only multiple winner. He sure knows the quick way around KSP!
   Lynn Gibson, owner of Ace Tire Service, made the offer before the Hobby Feature that if the winner had a tire on his car in Victory Lane that was purchased from him, he would give them a brand new one to go along with it! Drivers running his tires include Jeremy Carter, Jeff Kinnaird, Brandon Taylor, Kyle Harrison, Allen Montgomery and Jeremy Montgomery.
   As for the racin… (as they ran)
   Street Stocks: Ryan Powers and Calvin Williams were the heat winners in tonight’s action! And, those 2 were factors in the Feature as well! Ryan led the first 13 laps, battling door to door with Dylan Petty on several occasions to keep the spot! Petty finally got the lead from him on lap 14 and led 2 laps before Calvin Williams showed up and took it away! Williams went on to win with Petty taking second! Powers, Jimmy Parker and Paul Jones round out the top 5!
   IMCA Southern Sport Mods; Jay Bransom and Tom Earl were the heat winners tonight! Bransom led the first 13 laps of the Feature as well! Dean Abbey showed up on his bumper on lap 7 and stayed close to him as they broke away to a 10 car length lead over the field! Abbey kept pace until lap 14 where he passed Jay on the outside to take the lead! Abbey was able to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field, winning this one by several car lengths over Bransom, Keith White, Tom Earl and John Riechard.
   Crate Late Models; Mike Mason takes the lead on lap 3 of this race and leads all the way to lap 11. John McNeil battles with him early on! Ronnie Davis shows up on lap 8, taking second from McNeil and setting his sights on Mason! He sizes Mason up for a bit before making his move! On lap 12, he gets inside of Mason as they head down the backstretch and takes the lead! Eric Winnett and Mason battle for 2nd right up to the end where Winnett finally settles the duel and takes the spot. Davis goes on to win over Winnett, Mason, Justin McNeil and John McNeil!
   IMCA Modifieds; Keith White and Mike Hathcock won the heats in this class! However, Jeremy Willis was the talk of the town in this one, taking the lead on lap 3 and holding it right down to the last lap! Willis was running “High, Wide and Handsome” as he set a blistering pace that even Keith White found to be difficult to match!
   Willis had a commanding lead over the field by lap 5, but saw it wiped away when a caution flew for a car spinning in Turn 4. They get back underway with Willis leading over Damon Hammond, Keith White, Darryl Campbell and Jeff Long. Willis opens up a good lead over White who gets around Hammond for 2nd on the restart. Willis looks to have things well in hand, that is, right up until lap 16 when he hits lap traffic! Getting around that car breaks his stride and allows White to close the gap! Willis still looks to have White beat, right up to the last lap when he hits a “Gaggle” of lap cars that really cut into his run!
   Willis is runnin high when he catches those cars and gets stalled in that high line as they roll thru Turn 2! White is quick to capitalize on the situation and dives to the bottom as they exit the turn, shooting under the gaggle and out to the lead ahead of a very frustrated Willis! White cruises around to take the win with Willis, Hammond, Mike Hathcock and Chad Estes rounding out the top 5!
   Junior Minis; Austin Theiss gets the heat win in this class but Bryce Pritchett has his car wound up and sets a blistering pace in the Feature! Bryce goes on to win with Austin Theiss, Travis Bailey and Coby Pritchett rounding out the field!
   IMCA Stock Cars; Chad Estes and Damon Hammond were the heat winners! Tommy Williams Jr. took command of this race at the start! But, while he was all alone out front, the battle going on behind him was so intense I had a time scoring the laps! Why, with cars 3 & 4 wide, 2 or 3 rows deep for the 1st several laps, it was anybody’s guess who would be where when they crossed the line!
   It all came to a screeching halt on lap 5 when Duain Pritchett got squeezed into the frontstretch wall as he was trying to effect a pass on the outside of a gaggle of cars! Sparks and dust flew when he made that contact, causing the cars behind him to whoa up a little! Well, on second thought, not really all that much! But it does bring out a caution.
   That sends Pritchett to the pits where Arty and the crew with the 13 car of James Potter pitch in to get him another tire. He makes it back out in time to restart on the back and they are back underway!
   Chad Estes had worked his way up from 9th to take the restart right behind Williams. However, they don’t make it but 1 lap before another caution brings things back to a crawl! The 121 of Roman Garcia took a spin on the backstretch to bring out the caution, but it was a timely event for Dennis Bissonnette who lost power and coasted to the infield while they were sorting the lineup back out. Bissonnette was able to find the problem and get back under way as the field took the green on their second restart.
   Estes gets inside of Williams on the restart and takes the lead as they tear off down the backstretch! That’s when Gore shows up to give him a challenge! By lap 16, Gore is still workin Estes over as they battle door to door for that top spot!
   Meanwhile, Daniel Parker is joined in the battle for 3rd by Duain Pritchett who’s come all the way from the back to do so! Estes sticks his foot in it and holds off Gore as they wind the laps down, but Parker and Pritchett are still locked in a desperate battle for that 3rd spot!
   Estes goes on to win over Gore, Parker, Pritchett and Kirk Martin!
   IMCA Hobby Stocks; This race is all about Cade Lee! He took the lead on the 1st lap and, though he really had to work his tail off to do it, he led every lap! Allen Montgomery came from 5th to second in the first lap and dogged Lee all the way thru lap 11. That’s when Jeff Kinnaird got up to him and took the spot away!
   Kinnaird worked Lee over pretty hard all the way to the end! They were door to door in an all out mad dash for the checkers that was almost too close to call! But Lee held on to get his win and earn a well deserved trip to Victory Lane!
With all of that action, I can hardly wait for next weekend! Maybe I’ll see you there