Cook Opens Ace Speedway Season with a Win

Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Altamahaw, NC(March 31, 2011) — Opening night at one of the tracks that a lot of people were looking at, Ace Speedway. The track itself was still in It’s resurrection period, and by the excitement and drama that unfolded last year on the track, the fans and drivers were excited to be back. Rodney Cook was excited too, as he won the last time out in the Fall in the biggest race of the year at the track. He left on opening night happy once again.

A beautiful crisp night was met with 16 Late Models lined up and ready to go. Some new faces, lot’s of old ones, but a very strong field of cars all together. Some of the new faces were former Ace regular RD Smith, Motor Mile Speedway competitor Dennis Holdren, Orange County driver Melvin Langley and former Ace champion Jason York. When qualifying was all over, it was the old guard at Ace shining through as Barry Beggarly picked up the pole followed by Scotty Warren, Rodney Cook, John Moore and Robert Turner. 2010 Ace champion and the man who won nearly every pole last season Dustin Rumley would roll off seventh.

Ace does a redraw where the pole sitter picks a card, Beggarly picked the “5” card putting Turner on the pole for the 100 lap event. Turner had been racing and being a tech official the past few years, but this year he is strictly racing, as the role of both came with too much controversy. He is the winningest Late Model driver at Ace and looked right at home as the green fell and he jumped out to the quick lead.

Two drivers not in the mix at the start was RD Smith and John Moore. Smith, who was making a special trip to Ace as his team prepares for the season at Motor Mile, never found the speed they needed and loaded up before the race even started. Moore was one of the faster cars all day but his race ended before it started, as on the hot laps to get heat in the tires before the race starts, other drivers radioed in that their windshields were getting covered in oil. The cars were stopped on the front stretch and the culprit was found, it was the Moore machine leaking rear-end grease. He would make repairs but joins the action several laps down.

Back to the cars that were on the track, and it wouldn’t take Cook long at all to get going. On lap two Cook would slip by Warren for second as they both began to reel Turner back in for the lead. Third through sixth was a hornets nest as Brad Kurth had it but Jason Payne, Beggarly and Rumley were there trying to take it each lap. This little group of cars wold get involved in some more significant action later on.

We make it to lap nine when Cook finally gets a run under Turner to take the lead, Warren would follow through the same hole two laps later to put Turner back to third. The real charger in the field was Jason York though, as he had a dismal qualifying run starting 11th but quickly found his way into the top seven as he gets by Rumley. A few laps later the entire group of Payne, Beggarly, York and Rumley would freight train Kurth on the inside dropping him from fourth to eighth.

Lap 17 sees Beggarly slip under Payne for fourth and the next lap it all breaks loose. York is next in line to try the pass on Payne, they race hard into turn three, York gets under his fender, they race through turn four and make contact with Payne spinning off the front of he York machine. Dustin Rumley takes evasive action and gets hard into the wall, both sides of his car tore to pieces as he comes to a rest in turn one. Kurth also gets heavy front damage as does York on the right front fender but he continues on. Payne finally gets his car fired and limps back to pit road, unbuckles and heads to the York pit before he is held back by his crew members. But this little skirmish wasn’t over yet.

Under the caution Turner jumps from his third spot to hit pit road to make adjustments, as he says his car is just way too tight in the center of the corner. As Cook and Warren stay to the inside with the one to go signal, Beggarly and Dennis Holdren jump to the outside of the cone to restart in the high line. The cone was introduced last season and has made the racing spectacular, it gives drivers a chance to race with the leaders after a bad qualifying run, or if a top driver has a mistake or problem they still can have a chance for the win.

Cook would jump to the lead on the restart but he wouldn’t have it long. Beggarly would fall into second in front of Warren, but the all-time winningest driver in Late Model Stock Car history simply doesn’t like second. He let Cook know it a lap later as he moves inside and moves Cook up the track to take the lead with the crowd going wild. For the next 15 laps the two drivers would put on a show at the front of the field with Cook retaking the top spot on lap 29 but not before Beggarly fights back but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the rest of the field has dropped back, but York was coming once again as he makes his way past Tony Keen for fourth and then starts to pester Warren for third. Before he gets a chance to try Warren, York has another problem to worry about as the Payne car has made repairs and is slowly limping around the track. Could he be looking for payback? You know it.

York laps Payne many times, but on lap 38 the timing is perfect for Payne and he gases it up in the middle of the corner and goes up the track just barely clipping the left rear bumper of the York car. York gets sideways all the way down the front stretch but saves it, and Payne is ordered to the pits. As Payne pulls into his pit box the head tech official stands in front of the car and tells him his night is over……….Payne doesn’t see it that way though. Payne continues to inch forward pushing the official slightly, then gets tired of him blocking his way forward, he turns around and goes down pit road the wrong way to head to the back pits and get out that way on the track. Stopped back there also, he returns to his pit and finally gets out, but vows that the rivalry between he and Jason York will continue each and every week.

For the next several laps the racing on the track begins to calm down as Cook and Beggarly ride comfortably in their positions with York way back in third and Warren starting to come under attack by Holdren. Holdren, driving a car prepared by the FDJ Army led by Frank Deiny, was coming up nicely and makes the move past Warren for fourth on lap 62. Holdren would have his great night come to an end just a few laps from the finish as he drops off the pace, a broken motor to blame.