Radford, VA(May 2, 2009) — Twin races at any track usually produces a great show, but when more than 30 cars showed up to Motor Mile Speedway on Saturday, May 2nd it was a show few will forget anytime soon especially the players in the two races.

With more than thirty cars gracing the beautiful 4/10-mile Motor Mile Speedway in the mountains surrounding Radford, VA it was going to be a barn-burner of a show. Qualifying was tight and tough with Philip Morris coming out on top being the only car qualifying under 16.000 seconds with a lap of 15.966 and Forrest Reynolds qualifying on the outside pole with a lap of 16.041 seconds.

The start of the first of the two twin Late Model Stock Car races saw the field starting straight up with Morris, Reynolds, Tommy Lemons Jr., Frank Deiny, Brandon Dean, Chad Harris, Dennis Holdren, Shaun Mangum, Rob Fuller and Rusty Skewes completed the top ten starters. With 33 cars in attendance and the starting field being limited to 30 cars three drivers were unable to start the race including Barry Cash, Jonathan Barcena and Bob Davis.

The action started hot and heavy on the initial start of the race as Mangum had a problem shifting his car into gear and the cars started piling in behind him. Mangum had this same problem last week at Concord Speedway in the UARA-STARS Series race after qualifying on the pole. Mangum said that he thought that the problem had been fixed this past week, but unfortunately it bit him and several other cars on the start of the race. Cars piling into the crash that insued included Randy Linville, Doug Williams, Casey Holt, Kenny Brooks, Adam Long and Derrick Lancaster with Linville, Williams and Holt receiving the worst of the damage and the other cars involved being able to continue.

Mangum also was able to continue and had no further issues with his transmission on the many restarts from the race. The next restart saw much of the same with Zeke Shell and Mike Looney getting together on the restart and that would continue Looney’s bad luck. Looney lost his primary car on Friday evening and rolled out his backup car and had a pretty good qualifying effort, but no luck in the two races.

We racked them up for another restart with Morris up front again and that’s pretty much where he would stay as the race rolled on, but behind him a battle ensued as Lemons went after the second position where Reynolds was running. Lemons took the spot, but would soon find himself under fire for the spot as Deiny pushed on his back bumper and eventually got the position.

A long green flag run to the finish would keep a hard charging Deiny from being able to challenge Morris despite the help of lapped traffic that closed the gap significantly. Morris would win with Deiny second, Lemons third, Dean fifth and Harris rounding out the top five. Reynolds would hold on to finish sixth despite slipping through the field which would be significant for him as he would be involved in the top six redraw for positions for race two. Dennis Holdren was seventh in an impressive run for him with Jason Merriman, Lynn Phoenix and Mangum completing the top ten.

Race #1
1 – Philip Morris #26
2 – Frank Deiny Jr. #4
3 – Tommy Lemons Jr. #27
4 – Brandon Dean #99
5 – Chad Harris #3
6 – Forrest Reynolds #04
7 – Dennis Holdren #2
8 – Jason Merriman #30
9 – Lynn Phoenix #14
10 – Shaun Mangum #5
11 – Mike Looney #47
12 – Rusty Skewes #41
13 – Kres VanDyke #31
14 – Lee Blaker #32
15 – Kyle Steffens #77
16 – Ryan Truex #56
17 – Adam Long #20
18 – Jody Cahall #7
19 – Dewayne Howard #37
20 – Brad Foy #50
21 – Jordan Pennington #55
22 – Derrick Lancaster #25
23 – Scott Lancaster #29
24 – Zeke Shell #97
25 – Kenneth Brooks #54
26 – Rob Fuller #17
27 – Andy Farve #39
28 – Randy Linville #8
29 – Casey Holt #22
30 – Doug Williams #77

28-cars would start the second race after attrition took it’s toll on the 30 starters from race number one with Rob Fuller loading up after falling out of the first race early driving the same car that Richard Boswell piloted to a fourth place finish in the UARA-STARS 150 at Concord Speedway. The other car not to make the starting grid for race two was Linville.

Starting from the pole after the redraw would be Tommy Lemons, Jr. with Chad Harris on the outside and Frank Deiny third. Forrest Reynolds would start fourth with Philip Morris fifth and Brandon Dean sixth followed by Dennis Holdren, Jason Merriman, Lynn Phoenix and Shaun Mangum. The start would again be exciting with cars crashing just off turn two.

Deiny would lose control of his car in front of the field and a huge crash ensued with Derrick Lancaster getting the worst of the damage as he spun around and got airborne down the backstretch crashing hard. Lancater was uninjured, but he was done for the night and the only driver out of the race from this crash, which could have been much bigger. Deiny would be buried deep in the field for the restart, but would make it very exciting as he raced up through the field.

As the green flag dropped Deiny was on the move, but all eyes were at the front of the field as Lemons led the field with Harris in tow behind him. Harris would hold second until Morris knocked him up out of the way as they battled hard for a couple of laps. Harris would get kicked back to sixth after the contact and Morris set his sights on Lemons for the lead. During the long green flag run that took place next Morris was closing in on Lemons hard, but an ill-timed caution for Morris would keep him from pouncing on Lemons and taking the spot he’s held all season.

Joey Cahall driving for Sam Beatty was being lapped and slipped in front of top ten running Holdren, Merriman and Looney with all four of them getting damage, but Cahall came out the worst in the end with damage all the way around his car. The crash knocked Holdren out of contention for his second straight top ten finish after claiming seventh in the first race. For Looney it was just another example of how bad his weekend could be after destroying his primary car on Friday in testing and getting swept up in a crash in race one as well.

Lemons kept his Bailey’s sponsored Marlowe Racing Chassis car out in front of Morris through several late race cautions including one where Morris was up alongside Lemons when Mangum’s engine expired and Ryan Truex went for a spin in his oil. In the meantime Deiny was making his way up through the field and was in seventh and was battling fellow FDJ Motorsports team driver, Rusty Skewes for sixth, but Skewes didn’t give up easy. Deiny eventually got around Skewes and set his sights on getting a top five finish.

Lemons through three late cautions that eventually set up a green, white, checkered finish held off Morris to score his first win at Motor Mile Speedway and his first win in three years in a Late Model Stock Car. Morris was second with Reynolds third, Harris rallying back to finish fourth and Deiny completed the top five. Sixth went to Skewes with Looney driving back to seventh in his backup car and Dean finished eighth with a tire going down which robbed him of yet another top five finish. Lee Blaker and Kenny Brooks completed the top ten in race number two.

For Lemons it was the finish he’d been waiting for since making the move to Motor Mile Speedway in early 2007 and it was worth the wait for the young driver, who had been a consistent top five runner since late last season when he got some engine troubles straightened out. Congratulations goes out to Lemons for his win as well as Morris for his continued domination over the 4/10 mile track.

Race #2
1 – Tommy Lemons #27
2 – Philip Morris #26
3 – Forrest Reynolds #04
4 – Cahd Harris #3
5 – Frank Deiny Jr. #4
6 – Rusty Skewes #41
7 – Mike Looney #47
8 – Brandon Dean #99
9 – Lee Blaker #32
10 – Kenneth Brooks #54
11 – Dennis Holdren #2
12 – Dewayne Howard #37
13 – Adam Long #20
14 – Brad Foy #50
15 – Zeke Shell #97
16 – Jordan Pennington #55
17 – Shaun Mangum #5
18 – Ryan Truex #56
19 – Jason Merriman #30
20 – Casey Holt #22
21 – Jody Cahall #7
22 – Kyle Steffens #77
23 – Doug Williams #71
24 – Andy Farve #39
25 – Kres VanDyke #31
26 – Lynn Phoenix #14
27 – Scott Lancaster #29
28 – Derrick Lancaster #25