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Luke Matheson
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 3) - West Monroe Louisiana's star late model driver Kenny Merchant earned his 9th win of the 2009 racing season, after chasing down Ronny Adams late in the race, Saturday night at I-30 Speedway.
The feature race fielded 21 cars from across the Mid South, and went flag to flag as the field put on a spectacular show for the fans in attendance.
Adams who started on the outside pole, shot out like a rocket once the green flag dropped, taking nearly a straight-a-way lead over pole sitter Bill Frye by time he completed his second lap. It would take Adams just six laps to move into lapped traffic, as he began to pick them off one by one.
As the race progressed, Adams would lap up to the 13th place car of Dewayne Hottinger, giving Merchant the chance to close in.
Merchant would take the lead on lap 27 of the 30 lap feature event with the help of lapped traffic holding Adams up. He would go on to power his Trak-Star chassis powered by Wall 2 Wall Performance Engines to his 9th feature win of the 2009 season.
Merchant spoke about his victory, and his thoughts on running down Ronny Adams late in the race.
"At first I was thinking oh no." said Merchant. "We had on a harder right rear tire that Ronny and when he started getting gone, I just thought to myself to keep my head on my shoulders because I felt like our tire was going to be better at the end. I just tried to keep my car straight and and save my stuff as long as I could. Once I got past Bill Frye, he was in heavy lapped traffic and I felt like I could catch him. If this had been a longer track, we probably would not have caught him. He probably would have been gone, but the lapped traffic helped us pick up this win tonight."
With his win tonight, Merchant tied his record for the most wins in a single season. Merchant is sponsored by J.D. Caver & Company, Hoosier Tire, Bayou Fabricators, Henry's Auto Salvage and J & J Motorsports.
The 30 lap feature race had zero cautions and only one lead change, when Merchant made his pass over Ronny Adams on lap 27.
Race Results: C28 Kenny Merchant, 1A Ronny Adams, 20S Kevin Sitton, 88 Wendell Wallace, 66 Bill Frye, 5M Jon Mitchell, 93 Ray Moore, 68 Rob Litton, 28H Chris Hoyt, 10 Jody Prince, R5 Kyle Cummings, 5R Josh Danzy, 65 Dewaine Hottinger, 58X Gary Christian, 21B Chris Brown, 86 Kyle Beard, 3T Jason Trevatha, 2E Allen East, U2 Terry Henson, 11K John Kirby and 71A Allen Tippen
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