Bragg is Back, Petty and Estes Winners at KSP!
By Neal Palmer
   Full Moon Follies
   It was the “Full Moon Follies” at KSP Saturday Night! Track Officials dread seeing the race schedule fall on a Full Moon Night! Those particular nights are notorious for weird, wacky and sometimes downright evil actions among the otherwise peace lovin dirt track denizens! Well, the “peace lovin” might be stretchin it a little! In fact, that might just fall under the heading of “embellishing”!
   I was unaware that it was a Full Moon until I saw its ominous presence hovering above the trees over behind Turn 2! In fact, Zac brought it to my attention and remarked that things could get a little weird tonight! Boy, was he ever right!
   I’ve noticed that as the “temperatures” rise, so do the “tempers”! Things have been getting a little dicey on the area tracks here of late! In fact, it seems like some of them got a head start on the “Full Moon Follies” and got them out of the way last weekend!
   Now, I’m not too keen on talkin about the negative side of racin, and I don’t want to start now, but… I reckon I could give a brief synopsis of what we saw! I’ll just add them in the recaps.
   It started with the Street Stocks!
   Yeah, I know, those boyz are pretty wild even on a good night! But tonight, well… They started their race with a 4-wide run on the first lap! Ron Palmer, Paul Jones, Cody Parker and Dylan Petty looked like the Defensive Line of the Dallas Cowboys as they headed down the backstretch and into Turn 3! Somehow, they made that work and got 1 lap on the books before a caution flew for Tim Murray who stopped in Turn 1.
   Back under way, they didn’t get a lap in before half of the field piled up in Turn 4! The cars just kept stacking up in one big mass of metal and mayhem! Duain Pritchett was settin behind me and made the remark, “Stack ‘em deep and sell ‘em cheap”! Well, by my calculations they were about 5 cars deep and almost as many wide when everything came to a halt! Needless to say, it took a little time for the ‘Grim Reaper” to clear that mess!
   But, that’s not the only strange thing I saw with that incident! No, after they dug several of those cars out of that pile, Randy Buttery came driving out of the midst of that pack, seemingly untouched! His girlfriend was settin next to me when that happened and she was sure he was done for!
   The next thing that struck me was the lineup in the Hot Pit! The cars were lined up from the Hot Pit all the way around back of the Pit Stands! They were changin tires in the dirt while folks standin at the top of the bleachers watched from above! A real bird’s eye view indeed!
   Amazingly, 20 of the original 24 cars took the green on the restart! Paul Jones had the point and led all the way to lap 8 where Dylan Petty got by him for the lead! Chris Kent got by Jones on lap 10 to chase Petty around in 2nd!
   Things really heated up on lap 15 when Kent got inside of Petty to challenge for the lead! Remember that Defensive Line I mentioned on the first lap? Well, “defensive” action came into play as they headed down the frontstretch! With all of the blocking and tackling that went on for the next 5 laps, you might have thought you were at a High School Football Game!
   Petty “blocked” Kent’s charges and held on to win the Feature with Kent, Ryan Powers, David Ray Gossett and Jeff Copeland rounding out the Top 5!
And Back By Popular Demand! The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Ryan Powers for his charge up to 3rd from an 11th place start! 
   Bryce Pritchett; Back in Black!
   Bryce Pritchett’s had to set out the past few weeks after totaling his car in a wreck at RPM! But, he was “Back in Black” this weekend and really lookin good! Back in Black in that he was in the KSP1 owned by Tony and Rachel Hernandez!
   Now, if you’ve never seen this car, well… you’re in for a surprise! It’s a Black Pinto Station Wagon with solid panels in the back! I kept hearing the term “Grocery Getter” as the cracker jacks settin behind me talked about it! And… I reckon that just about describes it!
    If you send Bryce to get some groceries in it I can guarantee that he will be back in a flash! He was a rocket in that Black Grocery Getter and put the car in Victory Lane in his first out with it! Garryt Bayles, Teryn Pritchett and Austin Theiss round out the field in the Jr. Mini Feature!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Bryce Pritchett for advancing the most positions!
   Keith White Rolls On With Another Sport Mod Win!
   Dustin Sprouse was among the field of IMCA Southern Sport Mods tonight! He brought his Good Lookin “Car with the Star” out to play with the KSP regulars! From what I saw, he’s got some speed in that ride of his! He started the Feature in 10th and was up to 3rd by lap 4! However, his night came to a premature end when he “let the smoke out” of that power plant on lap 8! I hated to see that! Looked like he may have had somethin for the Boyz!
   As it was, polesitter George Gafford took control of the race from the start and had a firm grip on it for 8 laps! When Sprouse blew up and brought out the caution, the restart saw Gafford fall to Keith White who made the pass high in Turn 3 to take over the lead!
   There was a good battle for 2nd between Gafford, Terry Pritchett, Gary Fox,  Jim Bird and Steven Abbey! That was settled before they got to the finish with White stretching out his lead over Gary Fox, Pritchett, Gafford and Bird to round out the top 5!
      The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Keith White for his win from a 9th place start!
   Chad Estes Steals The Show in IMCA Stock Car Action!
   Charles Rasor had the Spiderman Mobile back in action here tonight! It was sure good to see him back on the track! The kids LOVE that car!
   Chad Estes was also in the house tonight and the Texan who represented us well with a down to the wire battle for the checkers at Boone last fall was in Champion Form here tonight as well!
   Polesitter Rodney Franklin led the 1st lap but gave it up to John Morris on lap 2! Morris battled early on with Aaron Ferrell, but by lap 6 when Estes made his way to 2nd, Morris had a good lead over the field!
   However, as Mike Taylor would say, “He started reelin him in like a carp!” and before long, Morris had his hands full as the 2 silver cars battled for the lead! They were door to door by lap 10 and though Morris put up a valiant effort, he finally succumbed to the attack by Estes and fell to 2nd! That put him in the clutches of Daniel Parker who seemed intent on catching Estes as they came up to 5 to go!
   Parker got inside of Morris on lap 15 and left him to deal with Duain Pritchett as he set his sights on Estes!  The New Moon Follies overtook Morris and Pritchett as they battled for the 3rd spot!  They finally tangle on the last lap and pushed a tire out onto the track in Turn 4 to bring out a caution!
   They pull alongside each other and demonstrate the cunning moves they use when called upon to do so, or else they were trying to straighten the bent metal that resulted from the incident… whatever they were doing, they had to interrupt their demonstration to finish the race, but were able to continue it while on the scales after it was over!
   Estes checks out once he gets to the front and takes the checkers with Parker, Morris, James Potter and Dennis Bissonnette rounding out the top 5!
   Speaking of Potter! This is a great finish for this team who’s been struggling to dial their car in to run well at KSP! From the looks of their run tonight, they’ve just about got it dialed in!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Estes for his 1st place finish after starting 9th!
   Eric Winnett Continues to Dominate in Crate!
   The early laps were led by Zach Manry and Rowdy Holbert, but Charlie Wilson came to play on lap 6 and was in the lead a lap later! Charlie got by Holbert for the lead but soon had to deal with Ronnie Davis who followed him thru the field!
   Ronnie went to work on Charlie and the pair swapped the lead back and forth several times thru lap 12. That’s when Davis got loose and spun in Turn 4 handing the spot over to Winnett! A flurry of no starts and cautions delayed the race some but once back under way, Winnett wasted no time getting the lead and went on to win over Wilson, Charles Armstrong Jr., John McNeil and Ronnie Davis!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Winnett for picking up 9 spots for the win!
   Chris Bragg Is Back! Back in Victory Lane That Is!
   IMCA Modified Action was so exciting that it was hard to keep up with it all! Yes! There was action both ON and OFF the track! Let’s start with that ON the track action!
   Dillon Smith started on the pole with Chris Bragg on his outside! The first start was short lived, however, due to an incident between Nicholas Littlejohn and Justin Fowler! They tangled on the start going into Turn 1 and both ended up in the wall!
   Littlejohn clambered out of his crippled racer and ran over to Fowler, presumably to compare insurance policies! All I could see was him reaching around Fowler’s window net for something where he apparently got his hands stuck! He started trying to jerk them away from the net, but required assistance from Ricky to get free! A gentle “Bear Hug and Tug” freed Nicholas from his trappings and he was able to leave the track! 
   With that incident cleared, the field lined back up for a full restart minus the cars of Fowler and Littlejohn. Polesitter Dillon Smith grabbed the lead as they took the green with Bragg falling into 2nd. Damon Hammond, Darryl Campbell and Jason Ilich took out after them.
   Things came to a quick halt just a lap later when the 27 of Robert McKinney spun in Turn 4! No damage, though, so things got back under way pretty quick! Smith has the lead as they resume and fends off Bragg for 3 laps. He and Bragg are side by side as they come around for lap 7 with Bragg leading the lap by a nose! Smith hangs tough and stays with him stride for stride as they continue to swap the lead back and forth thru lap 10! Smith gets clear of Bragg and retakes the point, leading 2 more laps. On lap 13… (Imagine that), the 40 car of Jeff Long spins in Turn 4 bringing out another caution!
   Well, it’s during this delay that Darryl Campbell and Jason Ilich decide to hold a “Tough Car” contest to pass the time during the caution laps!  I believe they were testing the strength of their door panels or something! Anyway, they finally gave each other a thumbs up and fell back into line! (Maybe those weren’t thumbs…)
   Anyway, once the green dropped on the restart, Smith and Bragg resume their battle for the lead! Bragg gets the lead on lap 12, but Dillon continues to harass him on the inside as the laps wind down! They also have Keith White to deal with toward the end! Keith has quietly made his way up to 3rd and patiently stalks them, waiting for one or the other to slip up and open the door for him to get by!
   I watched with bated breath as they ripped thru Turn 3 and 4 time and time again, Bragg on the outside and Smith diggin on the bottom! They would open the door just enough to let White poke his nose in between them, but would close it before he could get anything done! The 3 of ‘em were racin closer together than 3 teenage girls on a facebook profile! You couldn’t have driven a wedge in between them! BUT, they never touched! Just raced each other hard and fast to settle who would win!
   Bragg was able to hold off Smith in those closing laps and White just never got an opening! Bragg earns a trip to Victory Lane with Smith, White, Hammond and Ilich rounding out the top 5!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to the car that finished 8th! Gary Fox started the race in 16th and worked his way up to 8th to advance the most positions in the race!  
   As Bragg was heading to Victory Lane, a couple of cars stopped in the claim area! Now that got some attention, especially when you consider that Bragg was claimed the previous week! Ricky went over to see what they wanted, but one driver simply had a difference of opinion regarding his DQ and the other one just wanted to get directions out of the infield!
   While that was going on I heard Arty say, “All of those boys that claimed Duain are still ridin around in the back”! Now, that’s funny right there!
   OH! And Campbell was nice enough to give Ilich a push down the pit road toward his trailer once the cars were back in the pits. He even made a loop and circled back by his pit to make sure he was OK! I guess everything looked good, because he made his way back to his pit and loaded up! Boy, the crowd in the pit stands was sure interested in the interaction between Ilich and Campbell! They were on their feet and had their eyes riveted toward the action the whole time!
   Harrison Continues to Win in Hobby Stock Action!
   Kyle Harrison is having a banner year in the IMCA Hobby Stocks here at KSP! With 4 Feature Wins under his belt already, Harrison continues to add to the list on a regular basis! He started 6th tonight but was already battling Cade Lee for the lead on Lap 2! He took the lead on that lap and led every one after!
   Lee gave him a run for it early on, but never was able to get a solid run on him. He hung tough, though, and went on to finish 2nd! Lee’s first Victory came just a couple of weeks ago and I look for this young man to be a force to reckon with from this point forward.
   But, tonight, it was all about Kyle Harrison! These boyz were so busy racin I guess they never looked up and saw the Full Moon! They ran a pretty smooth race with lots of passing and action, but not much in the way of crashes, well… except for a wild ride that Brandon Williams took over in Turn 4! It looked like his steering broke and the car was just going where it wanted to, kinda like a “Herbie” movie where Herbie took over and drove all over the place! Somehow, he regained control of the runaway car and straightened her out to continue on!
   Like I said, Harrison won this one in grand style with Cade Lee, Jeff Kinnaird, Brandon Taylor and Allen Montgomery round out the top 5!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Kevin Rutherford who started in 17th and advanced 8 positions to finish 9th!
     Though the racing was fast and furious in this event, perhaps the most excitement was generated during a caution when the 51 Modified was spotted driving thru the pits in the general direction of the 48 pit! This was during a caution for the Hobby Stocks and it’s a good thing because most of us would have missed the racing while we were watching this unfold in the pits!
   I guess he was just driving by to say “Hello” because he turned and went past the 48 pit, turned around and went back by the 48 pit, then turned around and went back again! I really couldn’t see what happened after that due to a building blocking my view, but I understand they discussed their plans for the future! Not sure what that was all about, but I do understand the 51 car driving down there instead of walking, it’s a pretty long haul from one end of KSP to the other! It wears me out just walking half that distance!

   Beechler Blasts the Competition in RaceSaver Sprint Feature!
   Although the RaceSaver Sprints were the first to run a Feature, they went flag to flag with no cautions and no drama! I have to assume that the wings those guys run blocked their view of the Full Moon and they just weren’t aware of its presence!
   Brian Fielder starts this one from the pole and grabs the lead with the drop of the green! He held that lead for 7 laps, fending off the challenge of Ryan Beechler who was on him like Scissortails after a Red Tailed Hawk! The pair were able to break away from the field by several car lengths early on, leaving Ryan to focus solely on getting past Fielder!
   He was able to pull alongside Fielder on his outside on lap 8 where they ran neck and neck for a lap before Beechler finally cleared the 69 car of Fielder and took command of the lead!
   It was all about Ryan Beechler from that point on! By lap 13, Beechler had opened up a straightaway lead over Fielder who had by now fallen into the clutches of the 3rd place car of Ryan Hall! While Beechler was busy puttin on a clinic out front, Hall was able to pass Fielder on lap 16 and concentrate on catching Beechler!
   Beechler was havin none of it though and crossed the finish line a straightaway ahead of Hall! Fielder was locked in a hard battle with Kenny Elwood in those closing laps, swapping the lead back and forth as first one, and then the other would get the advantage! Fielder finally prevailed and brought the 69 home in 3rd with Elwood and Kerry Rush rounding out the top 5!
   The “Racin With Neal Hard Charger Award” goes to Ryan Hall who advanced the most spots in this Feature!
   That about wraps it up for this evening’s Dirt Track Racing Action from Kennedale Speedway Park! Next week has the Trailer Race on the schedule! You don’t want to miss that! Be there or you’ll always wish you would have been!