Lake Cumberland Speedway
July 7, 2012
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Rattliff Dominates in Firecracker 40 Win at Lake Cumberland Speedway

by Michael Despain
Burnside, KY-July 7, 2012- Lake Cumberland Speedway returned to action on Saturday evening with the Firecracker 40 for Super Late Models and Justin Rattliff would lead all 40 laps in route to a $3,000 payday.  Other feature event winners included Ben Petrey of Corbin, KY in Modifieds, Keith Decker of Somerset, KY in Super Dirt Stocks/Sportsman, and Johnnie Adams of Somerset, KY in Front Wheel Drives.

Justin Rattliff and Johnny Wheeler would bring the Super Late Model feature to the green flag, with Rattliff jumping to the race lead, while Wheeler, Michael Chilton, and Skylar Marlar would slug it out for second.  As Rattliff pulled away setting a rapid pace at the point, Chilton would eventually settle into second, with Marlar in third, and Wheeler fourth.  Rattliff would work the middle of the racing surface to perfection throughout the race, with Chilton only able to close in on Rattliff when Rattliff had a bit of trouble lapping a slower car, but Rattliff would roll away again over the final 11 laps of the contest to take the victory.  Rattliff’s win came in the seat of the James Rattliff owned MGL Auto Sales/On Time Courier/On Time Construction/AFCO Race Products/Peterson Fluid Systems/Dragon Race Fuels/Hoosier Tire South sponsored #16 Bloomquist Race Cars, Estes Race Engines powered machine.  Chilton, Marlar, and Wheeler would finish second through fourth, while Joey Daniel completed the top five.  Eleven entries saw Chilton be the overall top qualifier at 13.434 seconds, while heat race wins fell to Rattliff and Wheeler.

The Modified main event would see Ricky Arms lead the first 18 circuits of the 20 lap distance only to pull up slow with a flat right rear tire on the final restart of the race, handing the lead to Keith Denny.  However, Ben Petrey would make a hard move to the bottom of the track off of turn two coming to the white flag and hang on to take the feature event win in the Wendy and Logan Petrey owned Dino’s Italian Restaurant/Don Franklin Family of Dealerships/Langford’s Hillbilly Recycling/Petrey Motorsports sponsored #43 Lightning Chassis powered by Bullock Race Engine by Tye.  Denny would nip Tommy Bailey for second, while Jeff Rawlings and Tim Patrick completed the top five.  The remainder of the top ten would be John Smith, Lonnie Gregory, Verneil Mills, Billy Meredith, and Mike Daut.  Seventeen entries saw Arms be the top qualifier at 14.705 seconds, while heat race checkered flags fell to Arms, Bailey, and Ben Petrey.

Keith Decker would take the lead and never look back at the start of the Super Dirt Stock/Sportsman main event and fend off the repeated challenges of Goble Bertram to score another feature win in the division aboard his unsponsored #2 machine.  Bertram would finish second, while Chad Spradlin, Tim McMullin, and Roy Petrey rounded out the top five.  Six entries saw Decker as top qualifier at 15.537 and also win the heat.

Johnnie Adams would lead all 10 laps of the Front Wheel Drive feature event that saw only three cars start due to a pair of flips in the heat.  Adams would score the victory in the Barron Cabinets sponsored #7 mount over Rusty Light and Charles Burton.  Six entries would see Adams also be the heat race winner.

SUMMARY-Lake Cumberland Speedway-Burnside, KY-July 7, 2012

Super Late Models (11 entries)
Top Qualifier- Michael Chilton 13.434
1st Heat- Justin Rattliff, Michael Chilton, Joey Daniel, Todd Coffman
2nd Heat- Johnny Wheeler, Skylar Marlar, Tommy Gregory, Danny Hatcher
Firecracker 40- Justin Rattliff, Michael Chilton, Skylar Marlar, Johnny Wheeler, Joey Daniel, Tommy Gregory, Danny Hatcher, Todd Coffman, Nick Claborn, Shelby Johnson, Michael Coontz

Modifieds (17 entries)
Top Qualifier- Ricky Arms 14.704
1st Heat- Ricky Arms, Keith Denny, Stacey Decker, Billy Meredith
2nd Heat- Tommy Bailey, Jeff Rawlings, Lonnie Gregory, John Smith
3rd Heat- Ben Petrey, Mike Petrey, Tim Patrick, Mike Daut
Feature- Ben Petrey, Keith Denny, Tommy Bailey, Jeff Rawlings, Tim Patrick, John Smith, Lonnie Gregory, Verneil Mills, Billy Meredith, Mike Daut, Ricky Arms, Mike Petrey, James Jones, Jared Reams, Virgil Parriman, Stacey Decker (DNS- Monty Perdue)

Super Dirt Stocks/Sportsman (6 entries)
Top Qualifier- Keith Decker 15.537
Heat- Keith Decker, Chad Spradlin, Goble Bertram, Roy Petrey
Feature- Keith Decker, Goble Bertram, Chad Spradlin, Tim McMullin, Roy Petrey, Richard Price

Front Wheel Drives (6 entries)
Heat- Johnnie Adams, Rusty Light, Jayson Henderson, Stephen Cain
Feature- Johnnie Adams, Rusty Light, Charles Burton (DNS- Jayson Henderson, Stephen Cain, Scott Tomlinson)