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SAS Media
MARYVILLE, Tenn. (June 12) - In the 2009 version of Mountain Raceway Park's Southern All Stars sanctioned King of the Mountain 50 Randy Weaver made an exciting last lap pass to take the win. On Saturday night the defending Series Champion made repeating as the event winner seem almost effortless as he set fast time and led all 50 laps en route to the $5000 payday and his second Series win in a row. "We are seriously considering running for these points again. We had planned to go to Eldora for the Dream but we didn't get our motor back until this morning so it just didn't happen. We started off kind of slow this year just getting used to this new (Bloomquist) cars so we have stayed close to home for the most part and that has put us in a pretty good position in the points." Weaver said after the event. June 12 Race Photos
Twenty-two cars signed in for VP Race Fuels Race for the Pole Qualifying with twenty taking their timed laps. Weaver established himself as the early favorite when he laid down a blistering 15.415 second lap. In doing so Weaver established a new Mountain Raceway Park track record, eclipsing the mark set two years ago at the same event by Ivedent Lloyd. Following Weaver in time trials was Bobby Giffin, Billy Ogle, Jr., Tommy Kerr and Mike Weeks. Giffin was piloting an entry normally driven by Tennessee veteran Skip Arp however Arp injured his back earlier in the week and was unable to compete. Hall of Famer Freddy Smith was unable to make the call for time trials after suffering radiator damage. Smith made the trip back to his Seymour, Tennessee shop to grab the necessary parts to make the repair just in time to tag the tail of the feature.
Heavy rains over the last several weeks have wreaked havoc on the historic half mile facility's surface. Promoter Kevin Coffey appeared on the speedway several times with track prep equipment throughout the night to attempt to smooth the very tacky but rough surface. But in spite of Coffey's best attempts the track just wouldn't cooperate leaving the twenty-two car starting field to fight it out on the choppy high-speed red clay. But as current Southern All Stars point leader Scott Creel pointed out before the green flag, "it will probably get pretty rough but we are all racing on the same track. They have done the best they could considering the circumstances so the rest is up to us. We will just have to take what we have and do the best we can to give the fans a good show."
When the green flag appeared Weaver stormed away to the lead. Giffin and Kerr tagged after Weaver. Contact between several of the front runners sent Kerr high out of the groove and against the outside retaining wall causing him to stop and negate the start. The field reset for a complete restart and once again Weaver surged ahead to take the point. Over the ensuing laps drivers throughout the field jockeyed their machines around looking for the fastest way around. Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth put his mount up on the very top of the speedway and made his way into the top five shortly after the halfway point. Hollingsworth looked to have a machine equal to that of Weaver but his night came to an end when he lost an engine while running third.
Meanwhile at the front Kerr had reeled in Weaver and began to look for a way to make the pass. Before the cautioned waved for Hollingsworth, Kerr had nosed alongside on at least two different occasions only to have Weaver slam the door shut. When the field went back to green flag racing Kerr stepped up to the top of the speedway to continue his assault on the leader. Kerr had his hands full as he wrestled his Rocket Chassis through the ruts on the top of turns one and two. Kerr pulled even with Weaver in turn two with six laps remaining but caught a rut on the exit of the turn which allowed Weaver to slip away. A late caution with just five laps remaining seemed to set-up a showdown run for the finish between Weaver and Kerr.
However Kerr's machine suddenly slowed while still under caution. As Kerr's car came to a stop on the back straightaway smoke and steam billowed from beneath indicating the end of Kerr's charge. Weaver was now left to fend off David Payne over the final laps. Payne was the lone car left on the lead lap. Payne took a shot at Weaver on the final restart but was unable to make the pass. Weaver rolled on to lead the final three circuits and take his 13th career Southern All Stars Racing Series victory and his second this year. Weaver joined Jonathan Davenport as the only other repeat series winner in 2010.
"I tell you this was tough. I know Kevin Coffey was trying to give us a racy track here tonight but it just didn't work. I know they didn't want it like this. Kevin and the folks here are trying real hard to make this the place to race at in East Tennessee. They just had a bad night. I know they have got a ton of rain over here too and I am sure that had a lot to do with the track. But we will take another win for sure and the place was just bad fast. I think they said we beat the track record by two-tenths and that is really hauling it around this place. I want to dedicate this win and everything we do this year to my good friend and one of my mentors Calvin Cheek. He just did so much for me dedicating one race just isn't enough. So every race we win this year is for him."
Weaver continued to flirt with the idea of making a run at defending his Southern All Stars title. "I don't know. We are about 95% decided to do it. But me and Junior (car owner Weisgarber) will talk about it this week some more and try and nail down a definite decision about running the rest of the series. We have really got our program working right now with the Bloomquist Race Cars and Race Engine Design motors. So we will just have to see what happens here in the next few days." Weaver commented in VP Race Fuels Victory Lane.
Southern All Stars Series
Mountain Raceway Park
June 12, 2010
A-Main
1 116 Randy Weaver Crossville, TN $5,000
2 8 David Payne Murphy, NC
3 2J Jason Welshan Maryville, TN
4 31C Scott Creel Franklinton, LA
5 16 Daniel Baggerly Rural Retreat, VA
6 4T Tommy Kerr Maryville, TN
7 11 Mike Hill Rockwood, TN
8 31 Bobby Giffin Maryville, TN
9 00 Freddy Smith Seymour, TN
10 18 Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth Northport, AL
11 201 Billy Ogle Jr Knoxville, TN
12 45 Doug Smith Somerset, KY
13 22 Mike Weeks Friendshipville, TN
14 7 Robby Moses Bulls Gap, TN
15 c5 David Crabtree Gaffney, SC
16 10 Chad Ogle Sevierville, TN
17 4 Mark Vineyard Powell, TN
18 007 Hunter Best Greenback, TN
19 F4 Sammy Russell Maryville, TN
20 3 Steve Smith Powell, TN
21 49 James Kelso Maryville, TN
22 25 Rodney Kiker Greeneville, TN
B-Main
1 c5 David Crabtree Gaffney, SC
2 2J Jason Welshan Maryville, TN
3 007 Hunter Best Greenback, TN
4 16 Daniel Baggerly Rural Retreat, VA
5 F4 Sammy Russell Maryville, TN
6 3 Steve Smith Powell, TN
7 7 Robby Moses Bulls Gap, TN
8 25 Rodney Kiker Greeneville, TN
9 4 Mark Vineyard Powell, TN
10 45 Doug Smith Somerset, KY
Qualifying Results
1 116 Randy Weaver Crossville, TN 15.415
2 31 Bobby Giffin Maryville, TN 15.807
3 201 Billy Ogle Jr Knoxville, TN 15.810
4 4T Tommy Kerr Maryville, TN 15.838
5 22 Mike Weeks Friendshipville, TN 15.966
6 31C Scott Creel Franklinton, LA 16.114
7 8 David Payne Murphy, NC 16.116
8 10 Chad Ogle Sevierville, TN 16.139
9 11 Mike Hill Rockwood, TN 16.202
10 18 Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth Northport, AL 16.348
11 3 Steve Smith Powell, TN 16.365
12 2J Jason Welshan Maryville, TN 16.537
13 c5 David Crabtree Gaffney, SC 16.638
14 007 Hunter Best Greenback, TN 16.640
15 4 Mark Vineyard Powell, TN 16.726
16 16 Daniel Baggerly Rural Retreat, VA 16.741
17 7 Robby Moses Bulls Gap, TN 16.748
18 25 Rodney Kiker Greeneville, TN 16.976
19 F4 Sammy Russell Maryville, TN 17.271
20 45 Doug Smith Somerset, KY 18.307
21 00 Freddy Smith Seymour, TN 99.000
22 49 James Kelso Maryville, TN 99.000
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