Story by: Andy Marquis ~ [email protected]

Altamahaw, NC(October 13, 2012) – Scott Hall held off Gary Ledbetter in the closing laps of Saturday’s 74-lap Mischa Sell Memorial at Ace Speedway.  Ledbetter started on the pole after a random draw inversion and led the early laps, but Hall got by him and held off several challenges for the lead to score the win.

“It was pretty awesome,” Hall said on his victory.  “We had a great car.  I really enjoyed it.  Thanks to David Sell for putting on this race.  Thanks to Ryan Robertson for letting me drive his car and work on it.  I enjoyed it and I enjoyed winning.  The car stayed consistent the whole race.  We had a little issue there with the battery at the end.  I couldn’t run any fans or anything.  The battery was going dead.  If there would’ve been 75 laps, I don’t know if we could have made it but we held on until the end.”

“(Hall) was pretty strong,” Gary Ledbetter, who finished second in the race, said after the race.  “He’s got a good car… we just got beat.  We tried, we gave it 100 percent.  The car fell off and when it fell off, I wanted to park it but we stayed out and finished second.”

Controversy erupted after the race during post-race technical inspections.  Because many of the cars that raced in Saturday’s race would also race on Sunday, the track had decided they would do postrace technical inspections on the heads in the cars after Sunday’s race.  Ledbetter volunteered to have his car inspected on the spot.  Due to a miscommunication, Hall was summoned back to the track to complete technical inspection.  After a long night of phone calls and disagreements, Hall’s car was inspected and did pass inspection.

Ryan Robertson, who normally drives the no. 31 Sheetz car, could not attend the race or compete in it but said during RACE22.com’s Five Star Race Car Bodies Live Coverage, “Damn, give the keys to Scott and look what he does. Hate I’m not there. Salute to David Sell. That’s awesome. He and the team deserve it… Congrats to Scott and the team. Hate I can’t see the smile on their faces.”

Hall, Ledbetter and Boo Boo Dalton raced for the win throughout much of the race.  At times, the three cars were separated by such little distance that all three cars could be covered with a comforter.  Hall took the lead on lap 11 and, even though he had to hold off several challenges from Ledbetter and Dalton, he never looked back.

“The car was good all the way through the race but it got extremely free there at the end,” Dalton said.  “The car was so loose that I couldn’t get back on the gas.”

29 cars started the event that saw a countless number of cautions and was stopped twice for red flags for pile-ups.  The most significant wreck came when Ziggy Zimmerman, Kyle Dudley, Reggie Doub and Jason Turner wrecked in turn one on lap 59.  Zimmerman’s car needed two wreckers to be transported back to the pits.
Proceeds from the Mischa Sell Memorial went to benefit families who are affected by late stage cancer through the Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation (JAJF).  The race honored late stage breast cancer warrior, Mischa Sell, the wife of Limited Late Model competitor David Sell, who completed a six year battle with breast cancer earlier this year.

The limited late model feature paid $2,000 to win.  A dirt late model race was scheduled but only one car showed up for that event.

Results

1) 31 – Scott Hall
2) 70 – Gary Ledbetter
3) 50 – Boo Boo Dalton
4) 4 – Randy Simpson
5) 9 – Jason Payne
6) 86 – Taylor Branch
7) 72 – Tommy Neal
8) 12 – Harrison Burton
9) 84 – Kyle Dudley
10) 57 – Barry Helms
11) 91 – David Adams
12) 03 – Kenny Mitchell
13) 21 – Travis Hurt
14) 55 – Kirk Sheets
15) 13 – Bethany Stovall
16) 2 – Jason Turner
17) 3 – Michael Nichols
18) 75 – Kyle Barnes
19) 81 – Zack Clifton
20) 52 – David Sell
21) 15 – Brandon Atkinson
22) 23 – Ziggy Zimmerman
23) 09 – Reggie Doub
24) 19 – Tony Ramsey
25) 01 – Willie Chilton
26) 08 – Wesley Thomason
27) 04 – Kyle Edwards
28) 35 – Chris Lewis
29) 32 – Craig West