Story by: Andy Marquis ~ [email protected]

Manassas, VA(June 14, 2011) –Everybody beat Mother Nature on Saturday Night at Old Dominion Speedway, but it was Mike Darne and Adam Brenner who would beat the whole field respectively in twin 50 lap races. The rain came early enough in the afternoon and, even though it poured, track officials were able to get qualifying in and managed to start the races on time.

Brandon Brown dominated much of the first race, leading the first 32 laps over Dustin Storm. Both drivers had problems with the lapped machines of Dr. Sheryl Carls and David Stockstill who, with the leaders fast approaching, began racing side-by-side. Stockstill went to the outside to pass Carls holding up Brown and Storm. Storm got a run off turn two but wound up turning the slow machine of Carls around as she slowed coming off the corner. Brown drove to the inside of Stockstill and came across the front bumper of Storm. The resulting contact turned Brown in to the wall. Brown would resume the race, but would not be a factor.

“We came in to one and two and the lapped cars were there,” Brown said. “I would think that the lapped car would be smart and go to the inside and let the leaders go but (Stockstill) tried to contend with the other lapped car and went to the outside so I went to the outside because if I know he’s going to try to pass (Carls), that means he’s faster. Dustin went to the inside and that’s going to happen because his guy goes faster than he gets the advantage. When I came off the corner, the lapped car slowed way up and I nearly got in to him. He turned up in to the wall and when I went down, Dustin was there.”

Storm was black flagged for aggressive driving and ordered to the end of the line, but Storm would have no part of that. He stopped his car on the front straight, walked back to his hauler and left his car parked for safety crews to tow off the track. Storm would not rejoin the race or compete in the second race. Sam Beaty and Joel Brown, team cars for Storm under the Beaty race team, also elected not to run in the second race.

“Bottom line is the track will do what they want here,” Storm said. “We run up on two lapped cars and got real tight. Both lapped cars started getting loose and the 68 got behind the one on the outside and next thing I know, he came across my hood and everybody spun out. We kept going and they wanted to put us to the rear.

“We put too many hours in to this thing and too much money to run for $800 a week to more or less just get screwed out of a position. If that’s how they want to do things, they can be stuck with eight cars next week.”

The incident between Dustin Storm and Brandon Brown handed the lead, and the win, to Mike Darne. Darne got the lead on the restart and never looked back, holding off Adam Brenner to score the win.

“It feels great to be back in victory lane,” Darne said. “These aren’t easy for us; we have to earn every one of them so sometimes we need a little luck to win one. I think we had a little tonight. I think we could’ve got by those guys but I don’t know but we never had that chance.”
“I think I had a little bit more,” Brenner said about his second place finish. “I probably could have given him a bumper but I really like Mike Darne and he races me clean so I’ll return the favor. I just want to thank the good lord for getting us through this week with no sponsorship.”Brenner, the defending track champion, is currently looking for sponsors for his late model stock car.

Willard Lawrence came home third while Doug Liberman and David Polenz rounded out the top-five in the first race.

Doug Liberman brought the field to the green flag in the second race and held on to the lead in the early portion of the event, but Brenner managed to get around him on lap 20 and checked out.

“‘We had a great car tonight,” Brenner said in victory lane. “I’d like to thank Brandonbilt Foundations for helping me out with everything and all the individuals that pitched in to get me here this week. We really need some sponsorship.”

When asked how long he could realistically run without sponsorship, Brenner said “We’ve got to keep winning, that’s realistic right there.” Brenner also went on to say they found a lot of problems with the car and had it back to winning form.

Doug Liberman recorded his best finish of the season, holding off Brandon Brown to finish second in the second twin 50.

“The past couple weeks have been really tough on us,” Liberman said. “We found some things in the car that just weren’t where they should be so we got that all worked out. Hit the wall in qualifying, but the crew worked through it and we stayed after it. We finished fourth in the first race, led a bunch of laps in the second, just got tight in the long run. Overall, it was real good night for us.”

“The car was great,” Brown said. “It was better than the first race and everything just came together way better than in the first race. We were able to come from eighth to fourth in one lap, and then to third in the whole race. We really put the car together and kept it in one piece and now we get to bring it home in one piece and make it better for next week.”

By virtue of his win in the second race, Adam Brenner took over the points lead in the late model division. Brenner gained 19 points on the evening, giving him a 13 point lead over David Polenz.

The wildest crash of the night occurred on the main straightaway on a lap one restart. One car had a slow restart and bottle necked the field which resulted in Paul Green driving up and over Billy Ingle’s car. Green was able to get the car back on all four wheels and finish the race. The damage to Ingle’s car was extensive. The entire driver’s side of the car was torn up and there were even tire marks on the roof of Ingle’s car.

When asked how Ingle reacted when he saw Green’s car on top of him, Ingle said, “Well, try and get him off, come on, let’s get going, let’s get back in the race. It’s just unfortunate circumstances. (Green) hit me, busted me sideways and then ran over top of me like a monster truck. That’s the way these twin 50 races usually go here. We had a good car, started ninth and I was running up in fifth in one lap. We saved our tires from the first race, unfortunately, somebody got a little impatient and ran over top of us literally, all the way over the top, over the front. He was all the way on top of the roof, got a couple marks on the helmet apparently from the window net getting caved in from his tire. I’m glad he got to go on but he managed to tear the car up pretty good.”

“We were coming to the green and all in ‘go’ mode,” Paul Green said. “Someone, I don’t know who, up front didn’t go. I’m not saying they brake checked the field, they just didn’t go. Everyone from me back did go. It happened really fast, but I specifically remember getting hit hard from the rear and the next thing I saw was the track out my window net.

“After thinking about it, If I wasn’t shoved over Billy’s car from behind I would have just run into the back of him or possibly gone under the back of his car. I think the car behind me may have clipped my left rear quarter panel which lifted my right front tire up off the ground and over Billy. The most important thing is no one got hurt. I’m sorry Billy’s car was torn up. It definitely wasn’t done on purpose.”

RESULTS:
Twin 50 #1
1 Mike Darne
2 Adam Brenner
3 Willard Lawrence
4 Doug Liberman
5 David Polenz
6 Paul Green
7 Les Miranda
8 Brandon Brown
9 Billy Ingle
10 Dave Daniels
11 Steve Jenkins
12 Mike Southard
13 Davey Callihan
14 David Stockstill
15 Dr. Sheryl Carls
16 Dustin Storm
17 Sam Beaty
18 Joel Brown

Twin 50 #2
1 Adam Brenner
2 Doug Liberman
3 Brandon Brown
4 Willard Lawrence
5 David Polenz
6 Les Miranda
7 Davey Callihan
8 Dave Daniels
9 Mike Darne
10 Steve Jenkins
11 Paul Green
12 David Stockstill
13 Dr. Sheryl Carls
14 Billy Ingle
(Mike Southard did not start race number two because of damage received to his car in the first race. Dustin Storm, Sam Beaty and Joel Brown all parked their cars and did not start in the second race.)