The return of racing to Motor Mile Speedway had been highly anticipated and a field 24-cars strong didn’t disappoint a great crowd on hand to watch the event. After being shuttered for over a year, Motor Mile Speedway returned to racing on Saturday night and in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car division it was two veterans coming out on top.
Much change was met head-on by the competitors, staff, and fans and one of the biggest things that brought anxiety to the racers heading into the new season was qualifying or a lack of and the redraw that came with it. For 2019 traditional single-car qualifying was scrapped in favor of a practice/qualifying session similar to Euro-qualifying used at other region tracks. After qualifying the top ten would redraw for position.
In the practice/qualifying session Philip Morris captured the pole after being the fastest car all day long. Morris turned a lap of 15.920 just edging out Mike Looney, who turned a 16.033 and Kres VanDyke (16.058). Brandon Pierce (16.059) and Ryan Repko (16.107) completed the top five qualifiers. CE Falk, Kyle Dudley, Bryan Reedy, Ryan Wilson, and Jake Crum completed the top ten on speed.
The top ten redraw left Morris on the pole with Dudley, Reedy, Wilson, and Crum the top five. Pierce, Repko, Looney, VanDyke, and Falk would start sixth through tenth. It worked in some racers favor but others not so much. Morris with seemingly the fastest car and starting from first appeared to be all but guaranteed to win the race, however, there were still 50-laps to be run and nothing would be guaranteed in this first race of the night.
Dudley got the lead on the outside right away but Morris was the leader by the time they got back to the stripe with Dudley riding second. Behind them, the field is shuffling up and racing hard for position. Morris by lap five had a huge lead over Dudley but the caution would wave on lap seven erasing the lead.
The caution and a subsequent red flag would wave after Crum’s car goes up in smoke. He would be done for the night and many cars would spin behind him in the oil that came along with the smoke but no one would be much worse for the wear. With Crum racing inside the top ten, this could have been a huge crash but somehow the field avoided any major damage.
Up front Morris, Dudley, Wilson, Pierce, and Reedy would make up the top five as they went back green. Morris grabs the lead again right away after the restart as the field behind him scrambles to sort out the running order. Reedy, VanDyke, and Falk battled hard for fifth while Pierce was setting his sights on third and battled for the position with Wilson.
Pierce took several laps but eventually gained third over Wilson, who found himself under fire from Looney immediately after. Looney would take the spot and then set his sights on Pierce, who would fall in line and follow Looney as he chased after Dudley. Meanwhile, Morris was pulling away and has a 1.4-second lead but Looney was closing on Dudley and eventually took second away.
Behind them, three cars battled hard for fifth as Wilson had it and VanDyke and Falk wanted to go by. Up front, Morris led but Looney now gets by Dudley, who falls into the clutches of Pierce for third. Pierce and Dudley make a little contact as Pierce gets by. The field came around for seven to go and Morris sees the caution wave over the field and eliminating his lead.
This caution is for Reedy, who had contact with Repko and backs his car into the wall. Reedy was very upset with Repko as his car was done for the night and would need significant repairs. Reedy gestured to Repko under the caution and again after the race as Repko came down pit road. The teams and drivers otherwise avoided one another.
Morris was just seven laps away from going to victory lane but this restart would prove pivotal with Looney on his outside and Pierce right behind him. Pierce would make the restart interesting as he got into the back of Morris turning him sideways but allowing him to gather his car back up. In the meantime, Morris saw Looney driving away from him and gave chase as soon as he could get away from Pierce.
Morris would run Looney down and would get alongside him but would be unable to get by him. Looney would take the checkered flag with Morris just to his inside at the line. Pierce would finish third with Falk, Dudley, Wilson, VanDyke, Repko, Adam Lemke and Jamie Byrd the top ten.
Looney knew he had a little help getting the lead but was happy to be back at his home track in victory lane.
“Probably had a second-place race car,” Looney told RACE22.com following the race. “We qualifying second and drew eighth on the invert. We clawed our way through the field, I think once we got to second Philip turned it loose and started driving off.”
“I couldn’t run him down but we got a late race caution and I think I got some help. They got to racing behind me and got him stuttering. I got the lead and he was better than me but I guess there’s some mutual respect and he didn’t run over me. We raced hard and I got the W.”
Morris said his car wasn’t great on restarts and once Pierce got into him it allowed Looney to get away just enough.
“We were a little snug on the restarts there, took a couple of laps to get going,” Morris told RACE22.com. “I thought we had a pretty good line getting into one and two but I just got picked up there a couple times into one and it gave Looney a pretty good run. He did a good job holding me off there. Many guys couldn’t take that pressure but Mike’s got as many laps here as I do and my hats off to him.”
Pierce for his part in the final restart said that Morris wasn’t going and he wasn’t going to give any that late in the race.
“Philip just didn’t seem like he was going on any of the restarts,” Pierce told RACE22.com. “I had a heck of a run and it’s five to go and I’m not going to check up. I didn’t wreck him, I got into him a little bit down there on the apron but I had a run. As soon as I saw I had him crossed up, I let him go and let him and Looney duel it out.”
The invert for the second race was an eight as mandated by NASCAR Whelen All-American Series rules and that put Repko and VanDyke on the front row. Pierce, Morris, and Looney would start sixth through eighth respectively. VanDyke took the lead away pretty quick on the start and would lead his first laps of the season at Motor Mile.
Morris and Looney went to work on the six cars in front of them right away with Morris taking a fast line to the front of the field. By lap 16, Morris was in second with Looney still mired back in sixth and Pierce had been in a hard battle with Dudley for seventh but still sat eighth. By lap 19, Morris moved to the inside of VanDyke and took the lead.
Lap 21, the caution waved as Ricky Gillespie looked to have cut a tire and stopped in turn one. Morris led VanDyke, Repko, Falk, and Looney was now up to fifth. Falk got moved up to the outside line on the restart and lost several positions as Looney continued to make his way back to Morris and quickly went after Repko for third.
VanDyke’s run near the front of the field quickly came to an end as a problem with a hub would sideline him for the rest of the race. Looney then inherited second, where he’d ride until a late race caution for Gillespie spinning in turn three. This restart would be a huge hiccup for the track as the Pace Truck forgets to hit pit road and the caution immediately waves again as the Pace Truck tries to avoid the cars as they come up to speed alongside.
Now Looney would have his chance at Morris but on the restart, Morris proved to be too good. Morris would drive off to the victory while Repko would get bounced from third to seventh under this final run to the checkered flag. Pierce would find his way back to third behind Looney and Morris at the finish.
Dudley grabbed a fourth-place finish after battling hard with Pierce for third with Wilson fifth behind him. Falk, Repko, Lemke, Derrick Lancaster, and Gillespie would complete the top ten finishers.
Morris was all smiles after getting the victory but he admitted he was worried about having something similar happen from the first race when the final caution waved.
“Same thing was going through my mind from the first caution right there with five to go,” Morris told RACE22.com. “Is this going to get swept away from me? I was trying to do everything I could for my crew to get this W, really needed it pretty bad. Losing that first race there, I thought we had the best car but couldn’t get it to victory lane. I hate to take a fast car and finish second with it.”
Looney was excited with the way the whole night went but says he knew that Morris would be harder to beat in the second race.
“Yeah, what a great night for Billy Martin Racing,” Looney told RACE22.com. “We started eighth in both races and got to pass some cars. Had fun racing with a lot of good guys. The King whooped us again, he drove the wheels off of it there. I seen him in the bathroom and he had an icy stare on his face and I knew he was going to be hard to beat tonight.”
Unofficial Results:
Late Model Race #1:
1 – Mike Looney #87
2 – Philip Morris #01
3 – Brandon Pierce #2
4 – CE Falk #02
5 – Kyle Dudley #4
6 – Ryan Wilson #12
7 – Kres VanDyke #15
8 – Ryan Repko #14
9 – Adam Lemke #98
10 – Jamie Byrd #7
11 – Kyle Barnes #15
12 – Derrick Lancaster #25
13 – Matt Elledge #9
14 – Wayne Hale #19
15 – Brian Sutphin #11
16 – James Sweeney #1
17 – Bryan Reedy #17
18 – Vernon Landreth #0
19 – Ricky Gillespie #18
20 – Jake Crum #12
21 – Stacy Terry #26
22 – Parker Retzlaff #42 (DNS)
23 – Nik Williams #32 (DNS)
24 – Chad Ricker #31 (DNS)
Late Model Race #2:
1 – Philip Morris #01
2 – Mike Looney #87
3 – Brandon Pierce #2
4 – Kyle Dudley #4
5 – Ryan Wilson #12
6 – CE Falk #02
7 – Ryan Repko #14
8 – Adam Lemke #98
9 – Derrick Lancaster #25
10 – Ricky Gillespie #18
11 – Jamie Byrd #7
12 – Matt Elledge #9
13 – Wayne Hale #19
14 – James Sweeney #1
15 – Brian Sutphin #11
16 – Kres VanDyke #15
17 – Kyle Barnes #15
18 – Vernon Landreth #0
19 – Stacy Terry #26
20 – Bryan Reedy #17 (DNS)
21 – Jake Crum #12 (DNS)
22 – Parker Retzlaff #42 (DNS)
23 – Nik Williams #32 (DNS)
24 – Chad Ricker #31 (DNS)
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Cover photo by Jaden Austin.
