Rural Retreat drivers win at Wythe Raceway

Rural Retreat Drivers Fred Riley and Randy Kincer Win at Wythe Raceway.

By JUSTIN GREER/Correspondent

Rain passed through the valley very early Saturday night, but that did not dampen the action at Wythe Raceway. If you were not there then you missed some of the most exciting sideways, bumper-to-bumper action. To make it even better it was double points.
Highlighting the night’s events was the 20 lap Cook’s Clean Center Super Streets Division.
Mike Keith of Rural Retreat and Eddie Bentley of Sugar Grove led the field to the green flag. A quick caution was displayed for a spin at the end of the front stretch entering turn 1 involving Guy England, Max Meadows and Aaron Hopkins of Chilhowie. When green flag racing resumed, Keith had a fuel pickup problem forcing him to retire from the race after a few laps.
This handed the lead to Bentley and Teddy Tate of Rural Retreat. The next caution waved on lap 11 when Michael Deskins of Tazewell spun. One lap was completed after the restart before the next 2 cautions were displayed. Michael Hedrick of Wytheville spun on lap 13, and then again on lap 14, both in turns 1 and 2.
From there it was a shootout to the finish. Coming off turn 4 the field received the to go sign from flagman Don Widner. Tate was in front and Bentley was making his move. Duke Bare of Meadowview sat quietly in third. As they approached the flag stand for the white flag, Bentley had rallied enough so that he was dead even with Tate at the line. Coming off turn 2 Tate and Bentley begin to do a little rubbin, which continued down the backstretch.
Then the fireworks began to go off. Coming of turn 4, Tate and Bentley’s cars locked together. Bentley’s front bumper was slightly ahead on the front stretch, but where the cars were hooked they lost a little speed. Bare took advantage of this. He saw the opening up high and he took it. All three cars crossed the finish line together. Less that one-half a car length separated the three.
Bare only led for 20 feet in a stunning upset as he pulled out the victory over Bentley, who was declared the second place finisher, and Tate who finished third. Keith Griffitts of Sugar Grove and Guy England of Max Meadows rounded out the top five. With the win Bare also received a $100 bonus for leading the last lap and the Hard Charger award that was presented by Cook’s Clean Center.
The Pro Mini line up was set by two heat races, which began the night’s activities. Heat 1 saw Randy Kincer of Rural Retreat take the win, Andy Jolliffe, Chilhowie in second, and Brandon Farris, Marion in third.
In Heat 2, Gary Rudolph, Fries took the win, Doug Monday, Max Meadows was second, and Brad Ball of Abingdon was third. These made up the first three rows for the feature. Kincer lead flag to flag en route to the first victory of the 2008 season in a very strong showing. The event was only slowed by two cautions a spin on lap 1 involving 2 cars, and another spin on lap 12 involving 1 car. R K Dix, Rural Retreat was third with Jerry Dillow, Bluefield, W.Va, fourth followed by Rudolph in fifth. The In Town Garage Hard Charger Award went to Dix who advanced 11 positions.
The Berglund Pro Late Models each took one lap to try to lay down the fastest qualifying time. Clinton Cook, Radford, took the pole award after turning an 18.809 second lap averaging 95.7 mph around the 1/2 mile clay oval. The initial green flag waved, but before a lap could be completed a single car spin occurred bringing out a quick caution. This brought the field back for a complete restart. The following restart saw another caution with Jackie Cook, Radford, being turned to the inside wall on the back straight. It was a very hard hit that left the car unable to move off the track. Cook climbed out of the car without injury. Also involved in the wreck was Randy Taylor, Troutdale, and Scott Agee, Christiansburg. Agee was able to drive away with only minor cosmetic damage. Clinton Cook brought the field back to the green flag.
The field settled into a good rhythm for 19 laps when Ron Thomas, Rock Hill, South Carolina, caught lapped traffic while running in second place. While trying to go around two lapped cars, Cody McMahan, Chilhowie, Joey Steele, Abingdon, bumped into each other which collected Thomas.
The three cars came to a stop at the start finish line. Tempers flared just a little bit, but everything stayed calm. All three cars were done for the night. Cook, who had been dominant all night, led the field back to the green and to the checkered flag with David Wikle, Dublin, and Tate Hughes of Beaver, W.Va., followed in second and third.
Justin White of Marion finished fourth with Scott Agee of Christiansburg in fifth. Cook had excellent restarts all night and drove a flawless race. He led flag to flag to capture his first ever Late Model Feature win.
In victory lane Cook was almost speechless. His dad and crew were all there to congratulate him on his win. Cook also won the Berglund Pole award. Randy Kinder of Radford won the Austin-Morgan Hard Charger award by advancing five positions.
The Open Wheel Modified division saw some excitement in the opening laps of their 20 lap feature. Duke Bare, who had just come off a victory in the Super Streets, flipped and landed on the roof of the car on the front stretch on lap 1.
After being upside down for a moment he climbed out of the car and stood on it and gave a wave to the crowd who in returned cheered for him. Bare was unable to continue. Lap 2 brought out a second caution for a spin in turn 4 involving Taylor Hayes of Chilhowie. Michael Davis, Atkins, had a good run going, but Fred Riley, Rural Retreat, came on strong in the second half of the race. Davis was able to hold on for a 3rd place finish after being passed in the final laps of the race by Willie Gibson, Abingdon, who made a good run in the second half bringing him to a second place finish. Fourth and fifth went to Ron Lawson, Austinville, and Will Ferguson of Wytheville.
The Pepsi Hornets and Ucars were the final two events of the evening. 2007 Hornet Track Champion Trevor Cregger of Christiansburg took the first victory of 2008. He will be charging hard for that second track championship and will have some tough competition from Cole Dutton of Chilhowie who led all of the laps but the one that counted. It was a very clean driven race. During interviews Cregger said, “Cole gave me a good run for the money tonight.” Michelle McMahan, Marion, finished a strong third followed by Cody Umberger, Rural Retreat, and Jonathan Gray of Max Meadows.
Pie Short of Abingdon grabbed the lead early in the Ucar 15 lap event and she did not look back. Short led flag to flag; this was her first Ucar race making the victory even sweeter. Short drove in the Hornet Division last year and decided to move up this year. Jake Eaton, Bland, came home in second and Cody Dutton, Chilhowie, was third with Josh Forrest, Mt Airy, N.C., and Cody McMahan making up the top five.
This Saturday’s racing features weekly points racing for all divisions. If it is as exciting as this past week’s racing you don’t want to miss the rock’m, sock’m sideways on dirt. More information can be found at WytheRaceWay.com.

Top 5 recap.
Late Model:
Clinton Cook, David Wikle, Tate Hughes, Justin White, Scott Agee Open Wheel Modified:
Fred Riley, Willie Gibson, Michael Davis, Ron Lawson, Will Ferguson Super Street:
Duke Bare, Eddie Bentley, Teddy Tate, Keith Griffitts, Guy England Pro Mini:
Randy Kincer, Doug Monday, R.K. Dix, Jerry Dillow, Gary Rudolph Pepsi Hornets:
Trevor Cregger, Cole Dutton, Michelle McMahan, Cody Umberger, Jonathan Gray.
Ucar:
Pie Short, Jake Eaton, Cody Dutton, Josh Forrest, Cody McMahan.