Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Altamahaw, NC(June 30, 2011) — Twin 50’s once again for the Late Model’s this week at Ace Speedway and once again two former track champions and Martinsville Speedway champions were in victory lane. With that kind of talent at the front of the field it makes it hard on the rest of the drivers…….but they are right there with them.

In the first race it was once again Dustin Rumley sitting on the pole for the 50 lap event, his time of 15.821 besting Tony Keen, Dean Fogleman, Stacy Puryear and Jeb Burton in the 17 car field. Times were very tight as the top seven were only separated by less than half a tenth of a second, a good sign of things to come later on.

Rumley would set sail as the green waved pulling out to a six car length lead over Fogleman and Jeb Burton before they complete the first lap. Back in the pack cars were going everywhere with Thomas Scott rooting Jason York out of the groove and letting the freight train come by on the inside. It would finally come to a halt on lap nine as Elliott Jewell gets on Coy Hedrick and never let’s off, spinning him down the frontstretch to bring out the first caution. Hedrick would let him know that he didn’t appreciate it, by the end of this race though there were lots of driver unappreciative of each other.

With the cone restart cone coming into play we could safely bet on who would be going to the outside for the restart as Jeb Burton and Barry Beggarly have made it pretty clear this season, if they aren’t leading they are going to the outside. They are joined by Jason York as Rumley takes the lead but not before Burton tries a crossover move, the crowd remembering their scuffle a few weeks ago and coming to their feet in anticipation of more drama.

There would be no drama on this night between Rumley and Burton though, as the two raced each other hard but very clean. Burton had other things to worry about as Rumley pulled away slightly, Beggarly was now on his bumper giving pressure for second. John Moore would spin on lap 19 and the race up front would change also.

Beggarly would be the first to jump outside of Rumley to try and take the top spot, although the outside is not the preferred “fastest” way around. It didn’t seem to matter though as they raced into the corner and down the backstretch even, as they got to turn three Beggarly shot ahead by two car lengths looking like he simply over-drove the corner, most thought he would spin. But he did not, matter of fact he held it perfectly and took the lead off turn four, a move not often seen at the 4/10’s mile track.

After a few cautions, most involving John Moore getting beat around like a ping-pong ball and Tony Keen running into Fogleman under caution, we get back to racing with Beggarly simply killing the field on the restarts but he now had Burton in second as he gets by Rumley on lap 26. The top few cars were racing good but back in the pack it was getting rough as it does each week at Ace, it finally came to a head on lap 28 as the cars come into turn three missing half the field.

As the middle of the pack came off turn two Thomas Scott got sideways, Fogleman cuts a tire, all hell broke loose at once pretty much with the cars of Scott, Brad Kurth, Matt Bowling, Fogleman, Ryan Robertson and Elliott Jewell getting wadded up off the corner. All would make repairs but Robertson and Jewell, their cars destroyed for the evening. Last week it was calm for the first 50 lapper and exciting in the second, this week it looked like they wanted to change it up.

Beggarly once again easily goes to the lead with Burton and Rumley fighting for second as Rumley gets by on the outside with York following in fourth. Just like before back in the pack they are beating and banging each lap with Kurth, Scott and Fogleman going at it hard scattering cars nearly every lap. It would calm down until lap 46 with Kurth spinning off turn four setting up a four lap dash to the finish.

Burton would try his luck again to Beggarly’s outside making it work somewhat as he does manage to get by Rumley and slip into second spot. With two to go Burton is there and gets to the inside of Beggarly moving him up the track but Beggarly hangs on, barely. They continue to race side-by-side as they take the white flag with York banging by Rumley for third. Down the backstretch for the final time still two abreast and Beggarly does the exact same move he did on Rumley to take the lead diving hard into the turn on the outside, sticking it once again.

Beggarly would come off turn four with the lead as Burton gets loose and loses ground, Beggarly wins over Burton with Rumley coming back on the outside of York to take third at the line by three feet in an exciting finish by the top cars. The second race would be hard-pressed to beat this one.

In the second 50 lapper we only had one problem, nearly the entire field had damage from the first race with the cars of Robertson and Jewell not starting at all. Thomas Scott would start from the pole after the invert from race one in a car that resembled and open-wheel modified with York to the outside.

It got bad from the beginning as Scott jumps the start with Beggarly missing a shift backing the field up. They would pile up in turn one with Fogleman going off on two wreckers, his night done. The next restart wasn’t much better as Scott went and York didn’t backing up the outside line putting Burton hard into the rear of York closing up the duct-work on the Burton machine, his race ending from overheating just a few laps later. Matt Bowling would also get into the back of Burton doing considerable damage to his car also, this was just rough.

We finally get to racing with York taking the lead, Scott would surprisingly hang on rather well with his battered car but eventually gives way to Rumley and Beggarly as they give chase to York who had gotten away a bit.

Rumley and Beggarly would catch York, but this was evident that it would be a three car race to the end as the top three leaves the rest of the damaged field. Nose to tail they ran, lap after lap, none of the top three seeming to have anything for the car in front of them.

Ultimately, that was the race for the second 50 lapper, not in recent memory have we seen three cars be that even for the entire 50 laps of a race as York wins over Rumley and Beggarly in a extremely clean race, well, after the first two laps that is.

The Late Models will be off this week as the PASS series has the spotlight this weekend but will return to weekly action on July 8th. The point battle has come down to two drivers at this point as Beggarly leads by a mere two points over York, this means nothing though at Ace as the drivers seem to have the points being the furthest thing on their minds, It’s simply GO GO there.

Race 1:
1. Barry Beggarly
2. Jeb Burton
3. Dustin Rumley
4. Jason York
5. John Moore
6. Dean Fogleman
7. Thomas Scott
8. Matt Bowling
9. Cole Apple
10. Brad Kurth
11. Bobby Griffin
12. Stacy Puryear
13. Coy Hedrick
14. Tony Keen
15. Ryan Robertson
16. Elliott Jewell
17. Keith Perry

Race 2:
1. Jason York
2. Dustin Rumley
3. Barry Beggarly
4. Thomas Scott
5. Brad Kurth
6. John Moore
7. Stacy Puryear
8. Matt Bowling
9. Tony Keen
10. Cole Apple
11. Keith Perry
12. Bobby Griffin
13. Coy Hedrick
14. Jeb Burton
15. Dean Fogleman