Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Winston-Salem, NC(June 14, 2012) — They may not be the feature division at most tracks, but they tend more times than not to be the most exciting. The Mini-Stock division, also called “Stadium Stocks” at Bowman Gray Stadium, offer the fans some of the best racing anywhere with side by side racing and exciting finishes. Last Saturday at the Stadium was their time to shine as they took to the bullring for their annual “Stadium Stock 50”, and the King of the Stadium Stocks showed them once again that he is the man to beat.
Even as the 4-cylinders were the featured event, the Modifieds grabbed the headlines early in the day, real early, as in three o’clock early as John Smith and Chris Fleming continued their rivalry from the week before with an all-out brawl in the pits. The two would race that night as no law enforcement was around and everyone played hush hush promoting the feud to continue. With that done it was time to get things going.

With over 40 cars on hand and the Stadium Stocks actually qualifying (they usually draw for positions), we knew time trials would be tight. They were so tight that we almost needed extra numbers as the top four drivers were seperated by less than one thousandth of a second. Former champ Charlie Curry would grab the pole but with a redraw it would put defending champ Chris Lawing on point followed by Curry, Derek Taylor, AJ Sanders and Chase Hunt.

As the race got underway we had a battle on our hands up front, and we knew it would be like this. On regular nights they simply draw for spots out of a bag, putting fast cars throughout the field and less experienced or slower cars in the front, which in turn causes wrecks more times than not. But with the Stadium Stocks qualifying, it was a nice change of pace as the fast cars were where they should be, and the slower ones with their own kind. Curry would go door to door with Lawing for two laps before the outside groove finally gave up letting Lawing, Taylor, Sanders and Hunt slip by putting Curry back to fifth.

The first yellow on the night would fly on lap seven for debris, and for the first time ever in the Stadium Stock division the “choose” cone was brought into play. The first cars to take their chances in the outside lane was Andrew Durham, Drew Moffitt and Jason Keaton. Lawing would bring the field down to nearly a crawl on the restart and would try to run away but it didnt fool Durham as he hung to the outside. As they dive into turn three with Lawing and Durham still side by side for the lead, Taylor sticks it inside of Lawing making it three wide for the lead entering turn three……yeah that doesnt work well at Bowman Gray.

Taylor makes contact with Laswing, Lawing pushes up into Durhan and runs him at a pretty sharp angle into the wall with his right front doing extensive damage. Durham would make the caution a lengthy one as he enters the pits at a high rate of speed he clips the water barrell at the end of the pit wall spilling water everywhere, we would take quite a while to clean this one up. Taylor would take over the top spot with Moffitt, Lawing and Keaton in tow.

On the restart Taylor would easily grab the top spot while Moffitt disposes of Keaton who had took to the outside. Now, we have Keaton right in front of Lawing who had their own personal demolition derby in the infield a few weeks ago so things start to get interesting. It wasn’t interesting very long as Lawing made quick work of what we all knew was coming, Keaton goes for a spin off turn two on lap 18 but gets it going with no caution. He would get saved a lap later as Tyler Burke gets creamed after getting turned in front of the field collecting a handful of cars, he would be the only one that goes off on the hook though.

The green waves on lap 25, halfway and one of the veterans decides it was time to go. AJ Sanders had been riding around sixth spot till now, but he sticks it to the outside of Taylor for the restart and pretty much let’s Taylor go. It was all a setup for the next corner though as Sanders eats him up down the backstretch and takes the prefered inside line away moving into the lead and opening the door for Moffitt and Lawing to come past also.

After some more carnage towards the back of the pack, including one that collected a piece of Keaton’s car, just enough to bust his radiator and put him out of the race, we get a restart with ten laps to go. Taylor had been hanging tough with Sanders on the outside, but the combination of having a veteran and him being in the inside lane proved to be too much to overcome each time. Sanders would pull Moffit and Lawing with him past Taylor with Taylor getting hung up with Charlie Curry making it a three car breakaway up front.

As the laps click off it doesnt look as if Moffitt can do anything with Sanders, but Lawing is about to do something with Moffitt for second. He inches closer and makes the move with six laps to go, Taylor looked to be too far behind to make it through the hole but he drives it deep into the corner and muscles by Moffitt for third. Charlie Curry would also bypass Moffitt before the end as his car looked to be fading as the laps wore on.

Up front it was all Sanders, as they fought behind him he simply made laps and pulled away earning the biggest win of the year for the division. It’s nothing new to Sanders, as he averages about 30 wins a year for as long as one can remember but this one was a little more emotional. A year ago he was not in this race as he he was clinging to life in the ICU after getting hit by a passenger car while helping a friend load up a race car.

The doctor told him a time to sit out after while healed, of course he didnt listen and was back in a car two weeks later en’route to the championship at Ace speedway. But this was special, to do it in front of 10,000 people and to beat out over 40 of the best cars around, it’s one all Stadium Stock drivers look forward to. As long as AJ keeps racing they might have to look forward to him retiring before they even get the chance.

Craftsman Stadium Stock 50
1. AJ Sanders
2. Derek Taylor
3. Charlie Curry
4. Drew Moffitt
5. Andy Southern
6. Zach Staley
7. Kevin Hedgecock
8. Joseph Swanson
9. Rik Newsome
10. Shane Tuttle
11. Wesley Thompson
12. Daniel Yates
13. Billy Cameron Jr.
14. Shane Southard
15. Roger Vogler
16. Jason Tutterow
17. Ted Michalowski
18. Stephen Sanders
19. Chase Hunt
20. Jason Keaton
21. Chuck Wall
22. Rob Young
23. Philip Wright
24. Tyler Burke
25. Andrew Durham