On a hot sunny day the
UARA-STARS delivered a performance for the fans to remember with action to
keep them on the edge of their seats for the entire performance at Bristol
Motor Speedway Saturday 8-11-07.
The weekend began with
an open practice session on Friday. Saturday began early and with the
fastest practices times on the board qualifying began. Brandon Dean
who had posted the quickest practice times shocked everyone by failing to
qualify for the feature event. It was
16 year old Payne
Pickles who claimed the Sunoco Pole for this event followed by UARA former
champion Matt McCall, Mikey Kile Mark Setzer and Alex Yontz for the top
five.
McCall showed his
muscle early by taking the lead for the first 18 laps. Lap five has
Wade Day driving behind the wall ending his hopes for a good finish at this
time. Caution one flew on lap 12 as the machine of pole sitter Pickles
erupts into smoke. Pickles was heading down the front stretch into
turn one when the bottom fell out of his engine figuratively speaking.
This caution will be changed to a red to clean up all the fluids left in the
wake of Pickles car.
The field went back to
green on lap 18 and it is Mark Setzer who shows his force at this point
taking the lead from McCall followed by Jake Crum, Alex Yontz and Mikey
Kile. Back in the pack Clay Greenfield is hot, hot, hot having moved
from 23rd starting position to 15th in just 27 laps.
Clint Mills and Junior
Franks make contact coming out of turn four on lap 30. Franks has hard
contact with the front stretch wall and the Josh Hale machine spins to avoid
the crashing car of Franks. This will be caution number two and the
end of Franks Bristol experience. The wrecker drops his cargo turning
into the pits but hooks it back up and carries it on to the backside of the
wall.
On the restart the Josh
Hale car is slow to start but gets back into momentum. The Kevin
Leicht car however appears to have problems as he slows going down the
backstretch and he will loose a lap to the leaders before getting back up to
speed. It appears that Leicht was having ignition trouble or something
of that sort. Leicht however will come home with the Tri County
Graphic Solutions ‘Smooth Move of the Race” award after capturing 4 lucky
dogs during the event.
Josh Hale continues to
have minor problems as he spins in turn four on lap 48 bringing out caution
three. Hale makes no contact but his day will end at this time. Wayne
Hale will fall victim to the day pulling to the garage area on lap 52.
On a good green run the
front runners appear to be a freight train on a string. After a spell
Setzer gets going and gaining a small lead over the pack. Lap 70 finds
Mikey Kile having the run of his life with a very impressive race going on
for him. Kile is putting the moves on Alex Yontz for fourth position
but Yontz will hold the spot for now. Kile will come home as the
Melling Select Rookie of the Race.
Debree on the
backstretch brings out caution four on lap 83. The race continues and
the Matt DiBenedetto car attempts to make the move on the Tommy Lemons, Jr.
machine. DiBenedetto gets loose and has to back down at this time.
With Setzer setting the pace out front Clay Greenfield is still going strong
and has moved to position 7 on lap 102. Greenfield has done some
serious rubbing on his way to the top ten using his bumper a minimal amount
to let the drivers in front of him know he is there and fast.
Greenfield will be the Holley Performer of the Race for all his efforts.
Early leader Matt
McCall spins in turn four on lap 104 bringing out the fifth caution of the
day.
The field goes back to
green and coming out of turn four onto the front stretch the fans see some
heavy wrecking taking place. The car of Andy Johnson spins hard into
the inside wall followed by the spinning machines of Roger Lee Newton,
Jeffrey Earnhardt and Lucas Ransone. There could have been contact between
Newton and Johnson to set off this chain of events. Newton is spinning in
front of Earnhardt when the Ransone car hits Earnhardt hard in the rear
getting Earnhardt airborne between Ransone and Newton. All three of
these machines are a tangled mess when the action stops with Earnhardt
looking like the meat in a sandwich stuck between Ransone and Newton.
The grandson of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and son of Kerry Earnhardt did not have
a run or finish in a way he would have hoped for on this day. The
field is once again red flagged to clean up this tangle of metal.
Luckily all drivers in this mishap are ok.
There is serious racing
going on all through the field when the green flies again and Mark Setzer is
turning times close to his qualifying time to get a lead on the pack.
Lee Tissot finds his car going every way but straight on lap 135 but he
regains control and continues on without a caution coming out. The 7th
and final caution will fly on lap 148 as the John Gottsacker car hits the
inside wall on the front stretch and comes to a stop in turn one. By
the time Gottsacker gets stopped all four tires on his car are flat and the
roll back truck is summoned to pick him up. The field is once again
red flagged after a few caution laps to clear up this accident. The
track is checked over good by the speedway track crew to make sure it is
clean for a green white checker when they go back to green on lap 155.
During this red flag situation Keith Stiltner runs into the stopped car of
Jason York. Stiltner was checking his temperature gauge on his car
because it had been running hot and when he looked up the York machine was
there and Stiltner was too late to make a quick stop. No serious
damage done there however as York will come home with an 8th
place finish.
In the end it is Setzer
who has set the pace most of the day. At the checker the Stiltner car
makes contact with the Tissot machine causing Tissot to spin under the
checker. Stiltner will have a flat tire and ends up spinning in turn
two bringing a conclusion to this event.
