For the first time in 2016, East Carolina Motor Speedway ran twin late model races, and boy did it turn out to be a success.

With one of its biggest turnouts, 18 late models stormed into Robersonville, drawing an even bigger crowd. In qualifying, Brenden Queen’s fast lap of 15.482 seconds grabbed him his second career pole and second at East Carolina. Thomas Burbage, Rusty Daniels, Kenneth Mercer, and Tyler Matthews made up the remainder of the starting five for race one.

On the initial start of race one, Thomas Burbage got a good start on the outside, allowing him to take the lead from Queen in the early laps. However, Queen was relentless in not letting Burbage get away.

Queen hung with him as the first 35 lap feature was drawing to a close, and with just a few laps to go, Queen made his bump and run move on Burbage. Coming to the checkered flag, Burbage tried to return the favor, but ultimately was unsuccessful, and Brenden Queen went on to win his second career late model race in his last three starts. Burbage finished second, followed by Tyler Matthews, Rusty Daniels, and Kenneth Mercer.

“I kept getting to him, and I wasn’t going to wreck him,” Queen said about the incident. “I was just trying to move him.”

Queen was a class act in dealing with his heated opponent. “Thomas is a great racer, I have a blast racing with him,” Queen added. “He’s got a great group of guys and they’re as nice as can be.”

On the other side of the debacle, Burbage was not only upset with the race winner, but his teammate, Cameron Bowen, as well.

“I could tell that his teammate was out there helping [Queen] out,” Burbage added.

Queen didn’t agree.

“When we get to the track, it’s a one man operation,” Queen added. “I know [Thomas Burbage] is mad, but hopefully we can talk it out.”

Despite issues with scoring at the beginning of the race, Tyler Matthews came home third in race one.

“The night started off on a bad note. After qualifying outside pole we were told we were scored in fifth. They counted our dead lap so are final lap didn’t count which put us 5th,” Matthews commented. “We missed it a little on set up in the first race, but salvaged a 3rd out of the deal.”

Based on his win in the first race, Brenden Queen was on pole for the second race, leaving Burbage to his outside followed by Tyler Matthews, Rusty Daniels, and Kenneth Mercer. Once again, Burbage shot out of a cannon on the initial start, leaving Queen to trail behind him as they separated from the others. No fault was found in either starts by race officials, leaving Queen to battle for the lead that he started with.

Coming to the line to complete lap 9, Queen managed to get his nose under Burbage’s #9. Going into the first corner of lap 10, the two made contact, turning Burbage into the wall and leaving Tyler Matthews with nowhere to go.

“I got inside of him off of four and he tried to hold the position,” Queen said about the incident. “I had just enough nose to be there when we got to the corner. That’s not the way I wanted to pass him but I feel like it was a racing deal fighting for the spot.”

Thomas Burbage pulled his car into the pits following the incident, ending his night and taking a decent blow in the points battle. Burbage declined to comment on the incident.

The race officials sided with Queen that it was just a racing deal, but from Tyler Matthew’s view, that was not the case.

“The second race is when things went from bad to worse,” Matthews commented. “The leaders were settling some unfinished business which ended with Thomas getting dumped and we got sent right into his car. It was a hard hit, and it bent several things with the rear end. We made some repairs and got back out there but it didn’t have the speed it needed.”

On the next restart, Louis White also took advantage of the outside, and was able to sail away from Queen. In his first Late Model starts, Thomas Marks methodically worked his way to the front, finishing second in the second race.

“We had some brake issues in the first race, but thankfully those settled down,” Marks commented. “In the second race, I was able to go into the corner and come off the corner a lot harder.”

After a successful, yet eventful night, Brenden Queen finished third in race two.

“We have to figure out what the deal with these restarts is, because it seems like the leader has no say anymore,” Queen described. In regards to the incident with Burbage in race two, Queen explained, “I have never seen him get that low all season until I get under him on the straightaway.”

The winner of race two, Louis White, was happy with the results, but knew that a lot of work lies ahead.

“We weren’t too good in qualifying,” White commented. “My crew chief made a great call with the changes we made in between the races.”

The track’s points have not yet been updated, but Saturday’s races have completely changed the top four. Based on my calculations, Queen will be the new points leader, just three positions ahead of Louis White, who both entered the evening two positions behind then point leader Thomas Burbage. Tyler Matthews falls back a spot, and will be seven positions between Queen. Burbage suffers a net loss of eleven positions, placing him in fourth and nine positions between Queen.

Racing returns to East Carolina next weekend for the Late Models before breaking for the Memorial Day weekend.

Results:

Race One:
1. #03 Brenden Queen; 35
2. #9 Thomas Burbage; 35
3. # #63 Tyler Matthews; 35
4. #16 Rusty Daniels; 35
5. #25 Kenneth Mercer; 35
6. #7 Louis White; 35
7. #54 Michael Fose; 35
8. #01 Jeff Shiflett; 35
9. #12 Wesley Johnson; 35
10. #88 Thomas Marks; 35
11. #29 Melvin Langley; 35
12. #77 Malik Koonce; 35
13. #51 Doug Warren; 35
14. #19b Cameron Bowen; 34
15. #28 Tyler Horne; 23
16. #6 Evan Horne; 15
17. #29b Chet Christman; 2
18 #03b Mike Queen; 1

Race Two:
1. #7 Louis White; 35
2. #88 Thomas Marks; 35
3. #03 Brenden Queen; 35
4. #54 Michael Fose; 35
5. #16 Rusty Daniels; 35
6. #01 Jeff Shiflett; 35
7. #12 Wesley Johnson; 35
8. #77 Malik Koonce; 35
9. #63 Tyler Matthews; 35
10. #19b Cameron Bowen; 35
11. #29 Chet Christman; 35
12. #25 Kenneth Mercer; 13
13. #9 Thomas Burbage; 9
14. #51 Doug Warren; 9
15. #6 Evan Horne; 2
16. #03b Mike Queen; 1