Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Radford, VA(April 27, 2011) — Finally. Mother Nature had been a thorn in everyone’s side to begin this race season as it seems to be wet every weekend with the week looking great.

Motor Mile was no different than the rest, after having the opening race postponed a day later for snow then last week more precipitation canceled a race, we were finally met with beautiful weather for race day. It wasn’t so beautiful for the rest of the field as it looked like a replay of the first race with Lee Pulliam showing dominance once again.

With Motor Mile being the crown jewel of all short tracks with the best facilities and biggest purse, big fields having been the norm over the last few seasons. But, those days are changing it seems as only 15 Late Model Stock Cars made the trek to Radford, VA for the 150-lap event. Those 15 were strong cars though as Pulliam took the pole followed by Davin Scites, Kenny Brooks, Rusty Skewes and Tommy Lemons, Jr.

The day would belong to Pulliam as he took the lead and never looked back, but was pressured throughout the race by Tommy Lemons Jr. After being nearly lapped the first race, Lemons kept Pulliam in sight remarkably well and later in the race by Davin Scites who placed runner-up, the same spot he took in the season opener behind Pulliam.

Behind the front three, the action was a little more fierce throughout the pack. Rusty Skewes had an impressive qualifying run in the top five and was challenging Lemons early for second after outside pole sitter, Scites faded suddenly at the start. His day would go downhill from there though as he and Josh Berry would battle halfway through the race with each driver taking shots at the other before both found themselves toward the back of the field after some serious contact. Berry would rebound to finish sixth but Skewes got into quite a few other cars regulating him back to the ninth spot when it was over.

Michael McGuire had an eventful day after picking up the pole in the opening race, the team worked more on race setup this week knocking the qualifying effort down a notch and started just inside the top ten. McGuire would work his way toward the top five before a restart right past halfway when rookie driver, Hunter Devers went high thinking he was clear off turn four running McGuire into the outside wall.

To add insult to injury after the ensuing caution, McGuire looked to have minimal damage, but once again Devers found his car spinning McGuire off of turn two. Many drivers were unhappy with Devers driving in this race including McGuire’s uncle Tony, a two-time Martinsville winner who simply calmed his youngster down on the radio saying what comes around goes around.

Up front it was no contest as Scites made a late run to get around Lemons for second, but the distance between he and Pulliam never diminished, giving the Semora, North Carolina native his second win in a row by over a full second. Scites would cross as the runner-up followed by Lemons, then a spirited battle between Kris Bowen and David Latour that lasted nearly 20 laps with Bowen edging him out for fourth.

With South Boston Speedway off this week all the talk is about “The King” of Motor Mile, Philip Morris maybe making his return to Motor Mile, a track he has dominated for nearly a decade. But, before people start giving him the trophy they need to worry about the guy who is the new dominator there as Pulliam looks unbeatable so far. Scites is just one adjustment away and with Lemons in a new chassis for the first time since 2005, nothing is for certain. This week should be the most anticipated race of the year so far.

Results:
1 – Lee Pulliam #1
2 – Davin Scites #06
3 – Tommy Lemons Jr. #27
4 – Kris Bowen #80
5 – David Latour #89
6 – Josh Berry #72
7 – Derrick Lancaster #25
8 – Kenny Brooks #54
9 – Rusty Skewes #41
10 – Hunter Devers #48
11 – Daniel Pope #16
12 – Michael McGuire #22
13 – Brad Foy #10
14 – Jeff Martin #52
15 – Bo Howell #77