Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Dublin, VA(April 7, 2011) — Rain. Wind. Snow? That’s what we had on Saturday at Motor Mile Speedway as some of the craziest weather we have ever seen in April was at full force. While we did get the Limited Late Model race in, as the checkereds waved it became a blizzard and the rest of the racing was canceled till Sunday. It didn’t really matter what day they ran it, as good as Lee Pulliam looked picking up the win I’m sure he would be fine with racing there every day of the week.

On Saturday for the opening race of the year at Motor Mile, the biggest surprise was the car count. Motor Mile has always been tops in the Southeast for many years on the cars entered, but with 21 on the grounds instead of the usual 27-30 that they have throughout the season, it has become obvious that the economy has hit everyone. They would manage to get qualifying in with 14 year-old Michael McGuire picking up the pole followed by Davin Scites, Lee Pulliam, Peyton Sellers and Kris Bowen. The rain and snow would then come forcing the drivers back on Sunday, but not all of them made it back, and one was turned away.

On Sunday only 16 cars returned for the race, but Frank Deiny Jr. was there with his car ready to go also, he had ran at South Boston the night before and made the trek over to Radford to have some more fun. The track quickly ended that fun though as Deiny was told he couldn’t race because he wasn’t there the day before, so the legendary driver was forced to be a spectator from the pits. In all my years of racing, and especially now that car count is down everywhere, I have never seen a track turn away a car until this past Sunday. To add to that, if Deiny had done well he said he would more than likely run he full season there for the championship, so the track lost a car for the entire year.

With Deiny on the sidelines we would roll off with the young McGuire leading the field to the green, but how long would he stay there? McGuire has shown flashes of brilliance in his limited starts last season in the Late Models, but it seemed that bad luck or wrong setups would knock him towards the back. McGuire would hold his own and pull away early, but Pulliam slowly began to reel him in.

As we get to lap 18 of he 150 event, Davin Scites begins to do what he usually does, run better as the race goes, and gets by Peyton Sellers for the third spot. Scites had faded from him outside front row spot but usually gets it going after 20 laps or so. McGuire and Pulliam were gone up front, but Pulliam begins to put the pressure on McGuire and slips to the inside to take the top spot on lap 24. This was the last time the leaders would see the number three of Pulliam for the rest of the day.

After a quick caution for a spin by Rusty Skewes, the battle for second heats up as Scites scoots by McGuire for second on lap 36. Behind them the guy on the move was Josh Berry, after starting seventh he was steadily making his way towards the front in his Jr. Motorsports machine and gets by Kris Bowen for fifth on lap 38 and sets his sights on his teammate Richard Boswell.

Right before the halfway mark Berry would catch Boswell and make the pass as Sellers gets by McGuire for third. It looked as if what had plagued McGuire for some races last season was back again as his #22 machine had lost the handle on the track. He would still hang tough and come home fifth showing that they are making great strides, if this race was any indication it looks as if McGuire is only a couple of adjustments away from finding himself in victory lane quite regular.

As the race ran the field got strung out and other than Tommy Lemons Jr. and David Latour driving each other like bumper cars back in the pack, not much was going on. Berry would get by Sellers for third on lap 89 but the leaders had checked out by then. Pulliam had his car set on kill, it was noticeably getting through the corners with ease, much better than any other car on this day. Scites would give chase, we had seen this story before, Scites gets better and better and at the end he charges to the lead. But not on this day, Pulliam was just too strong and cruised to the win to open the season at Motor Mile.

It looks as if the point battle this season will be a good one, with Pulliam now full-time from South Boston, Berry finally having the financial backing to run the entire season like he wants, and the veteran Scites looks to be tough as ever. But Pulliam has already established himself as the hottest young driver in Late Model Stock Car racing and from the way he ran Sunday, the rest of the field should be sweating.

Results:
1 – Lee Pulliam
2 – Davin Scites
3 – Josh Berry
4- Peyton Sellers
5 – Michael McGuire
6 – Richard Boswell
7 – Rusty Skewes
8 – Tommy Lemons Jr.
9 – Daivid Latour Jr.
10 – Andrew Thomas
11 – Kris Bowen
12 – Nate Montieth
13 – Kenny Brooks
14 – Hunter Devers
15 – Derrick Lancaster
16 – Forrest Reynolds