MTRN

By Robert Walden

BULLS GAP, Tenn. (June 23) — Kerry Jones of Bristol, Tenn., won three “Gateway Ford” Super Late Model features in 2006 at Volunteer Speedway and narrowly lost out by only four points of winning his second track championship. Having finished in the top-five in all weekly points races so far this season, Jones still was searching for his first feature win.

Bringing the total-package to the track with him for A & L RV Sales Night at the Races, Jones unloaded quick in practice and then proceeded to set fast-time at 12.945-seconds to earn the pole position for the 35-lap, $2,000-to-win main event.

Jones jumped out to the lead at the drop of the green over Jeff Maupin, Shanon Buckingham, Shane Roberts and Greg Burchett. Mike Smith, who started on the outside of the front row, got out of shape between turns one and two up high in the banking to drop back outside of the top five in the running order.

While Jones was setting a blistering pace out front, he pulled out to an eight car-length advantage over Maupin by the fifth circuit. Also on lap 5, Randy Davidson dropped low racing off the fourth turn to pass Burchett and move into fifth place. The event’s first caution flag waved on lap 15 when Travis Greer spun down to the inside of the track in the fourth turn.

The top five going back green were Jones, Maupin, Buckingham, Roberts and Davidson. Getting settled into a steady rhythm following his first-lap issues, Smith worked around Davidson to take over the fifth spot racing off the fourth turn on lap 17. But misfortune lurked just around the corner, as Smith spun on lap 23 to bring out the caution and put him at the tail of the field to restart.

Maupin was riding on the rear bumper of the race leader Jones poised to get back under green flag racing conditions. But Jones, driving the Kerry Jones Trucking/ Bigfoot Enterprises - Used Trucks & Parts//VP Racing Fuels/Ohlins Shocks/Signs by Roach/Custom Race Engines/Scott Bloomquist Race Cars/No. 6 Monte Carlo, was not going to be denied his first victory of the season as he cruised to the flag-to-flag win over Maupin, Buckingham, Roberts and Bryan Hendrix.

Completing the top-10 finishers at the checkers were Herman Goddard, Davidson, Dan Tipton, Marty Calloway and Smith.

“Man, you don’t know how sweet this win is tonight,” said a smiling Jones after climbing from his car in victory lane. “I’ve been through a lot over the last eight days. A week ago this past Friday I was in the Bristol Regional Hospital with kidney stones and didn’t know if I’d even be able to race last Saturday. I had it in my mind I was going to be out of the hospital one way or the other in time to race. But to be quite honest, I probably shouldn’t have raced. But once you’ve got racing in your blood it’s just hard to stay away from the track no matter the circumstances.

“This car was unreal tonight, I could drive it anywhere I needed on the track and it was still fast. It didn’t matter if I needed to run the bottom or go up top when lapping cars, the car worked well anywhere I needed to put it. I want to thank Scott Bloomquist for being a good friend and for all of his knowledge about race cars, because this Bloomquist Race Car chassis is the best driving car I’ve ever raced. We’ve been very competitive each night out this year, but yet we hadn’t been able to win. Scott told us some changes to make on the car this past week, and I’m telling you that’s the difference in putting us in victory lane tonight. I also want to than my crew chief John Estes and the rest of the guys on the crew — Buck Snyder, Steve Booher, and Andy McCroskey for all of the hours spent at the race shop this past week working on the car. A lot of people sitting up in the stands probably just don’t even comprehend the amount of ti me it takes during the week at the shop to prepare the car for the next week of racing. All of those guys do whatever it takes. This win tonight is for the whole race team, we’re all in this deal together.”

The special “Lawson Chevrolet” Ultimate Survivor Challenge, a 35-lap event paying $1,000-to-win, began two weeks ago with the seven competitors who had finished on the lead-lap of the “Gateway Ford” Super Late Model feature. One competitor was eliminated in the first round, and two more in round two … leaving four to take the green flag in round three.

Randy Davidson drew the pole position with Michael Jackson pulling the outside front-row starting berth. Lining up in the second row were Shanon Buckingham and Mike Smith. A new twist to round three required all competitors to make a green-flag pit stop to change two tires between lap 10 and 25.

While battling for the lead with Davidson, Jackson’s race went up in smoke on the fifth circuit and he slowly coasted into the pits. Buckingham roared his way into the lead with a pass of Davidson before the race reached the 10-lap mark. After settling into the lead Buckingham led Davidson and Smith, all three cars at the same time into the pits on lap 14 for their green-flag pit stop.

Quick work by the Buckingham Motorsports crew led by crew chief Tom Buckingham got the Starrette Trucking/R.W. Powell Construction/Randy Clary Race Engines/MasterSbilt Race Cars/No. 22 Monte Carlo back out onto the track well before the Davidson and Smith crews. By the time Davidson and Smith made it back out of the pits, Buckingham had already put each a lap down.

All Buckingham had to do was keep it between the walls and he would be parking in victory lane celebrating his first-ever Super Late Model feature win. He easily outdistanced Smith and Davidson to capture the victory and the $1,000 paycheck.

Allen Champ and Shanon Buckingham of Morristown battled side-by-side for the lead over the first three laps of the “Ramey Ford” Crate Late Model feature before Buckingham moved to the point. With Buckingham riding out front, closely followed by Champ, Bobby Mays, Rusty Fox and Jerry Broyles were in tow running third through fifth, respectively.

The caution waved on the fourth circuit when Shane Roberts and Anthony Arnwine spun between turns three and four. With the field accelerating coming to the green, Fox looped his machine and spun in the fourth turn to quickly bring the yellow back out.

Back under green Buckingham began to flex his muscle with a clear track ahead of his S & S Millwright/Starrette Trucking/R.W. Powell Construction/Volunteer Chevrolet/Malar Lighting/Volunteer Performance Racing Engines/Swaggerty Farm Sausage/Lakeway Auto/Vietnam Vets MC/Randy Clary Race Engines/Barry Wright Race Cars/No. 44 Monte Carlo and his closest challengers Champ, Mays and Broyles.

While Buckingham was setting sail out front, Mays had his hands full trying to hold off Broyles. Broyles dropped to the inside of Mays racing off the fourth turn on lap 5 to take over third in the running order, and working the sixth circuit racing off the second corner Warren McMahan passed Mays to move into fifth, dropping Mays out of the top five. McMahan’s strong run with the lead-pack ended on lap 11 racing down the front straightaway nearing the entry into the first turn when the rear wheel came off his car, sending him spinning and forcing the oncoming cars into evasive action to avoid the bouncing wheel and McMahan’s race car.

With Buckingham followed by Champ and Broyles back under speed, Broyles was pressuring Champ for the runner-up spot. Racing door-to-door into the first turn on lap 14, with Broyles to the inside of Champ, Broyles looped his mount to bring out the caution.

Buckingham had a rearview mirror full of Champ going back green, but that’s as close as Champ would get on the final run to the checkers, as Buckingham rolled out to a comfortable lead. While Buckingham was checking out, making a strong run up through the field from his 11th-place starting spot was Kelly Glass. After passing Jensen Ford and Mays to move into third, Glass began working on Champ.

But up front all eyes were focused on Buckingham as he captured his third feature win over Champ, Glass, Mays and Ford. Completing the top 10 finishers were Chris Chandler, Brian Grumbles, Josh Henry, Tony Trent and Brad Kenyon.

Chuck Johnson of Bulls Gap chased down race leader Phillip Nichols to make the pass for the lead racing off the fourth turn on lap 7 of the “Rusty Wallace Toyota” Hobby Stock feature. But with the front-running duo encountering slower cars as they attempted to put them a lap down, Nichols pulled alongside of Johnson and they raced side-by-side for the next four circuits before Johnson powered into a lead he would never relinquish, en route to his first-ever feature win at “The Gap.”

Johnson was trailed at the checkers by 17-year-old divisional point leader Jesse Helton, who charged his way to the runner-up finish after starting from outside of the seventh row. Mike Mays, Dale Reed and Nichols finished third through fifth, respectively.

Joey Allen grabbed the lead over Shawn Henry of Newport on the opening lap racing off turn two in the “Century 21 Masengill-McCrary Realtors” Mini Stock feature, but his run out front proved to be short-lived as he slowed with mechanical problems just three laps in and slowly coasted into the pits … thus moving Henry to the point. With a clear track ahead of him Henry rolled to his second consecutive victory, as he was trailed at the finish by John Broce Jr., Scotty Thornton, Toby Jones and Brent Hensley.

“GATEWAY FORD” SUPER LATE MODEL (35 laps) $2,000-to-win

1. Kerry Jones #6-Bristol, TN

2. Jeff Maupin #0-Greeneville, TN

3. Shanon Buckingham #22-Morristown, TN

4. Shane Roberts #32w-Bluff City, TN

5. Bryan Hendrix #5-Knoxville, TN

6. Herman Goddard #22-Knoxville, TN

7. Randy Davidson #28-Morristown, TN

8. Dan Tipton #12-Lenoir City, TN

9. Marty Calloway #7-Maynardville, TN

10. Mike Smith #4-Rogersville, TN

11. Greg Burchett #17-Church Hill, TN

12. Brandon James #j1-Newport, TN

13. Dwight Sams #54-Marshall, NC

14. Jackie Hughes #27-Johnson City, TN

15. Larry James #04-Newport, TN

16. Travis Greer #11g-Marion, VA

Did Not Start: Michael Jackson #Q

“LAWSON CHEVROLET – ULTIMATE SURVIVOR CHALLENGE (35 laps) $1,000-to-win

1) Shanon Buckingham #22; 2) Mike Smith #4; 3) Randy Davidson #28; 4) Michael Jackson #Q

“RAMEY FORD” CRATE LATE MODEL (25 laps)

1) Shanon Buckingham #44; 2) Allen Champ #11c; 3) Kelly Glass #01; 4) Bobby Mays #19; 5) Jensen Ford #83; 6) Chris Chandler #8; 7) Brian Grumbles #84; 8) Josh Henry #B00; 9) Tony Trent #18; 10) Brad Kenyon #98; 11) Rusty Fox #25; 12) Warren McMahan #33; 13) Jerry Broyles #72; 14) Shane Roberts #17s; 15) Van Lester #50; 16) James Cole #5; 17) Anthony Arnwine #11; 18) Logan Hickey #16; 19) Clint Solomon #36; 20) Greg Burchett #17; 21) Ricky Moore #75; 22) Larry Rowe #R0 – DNS: Chris Manning #03, Joe “Dirt” Good #911, Hugh “Wishbone” Scalf #56, Todd Brooks #T1, Travis Trent #5, Gerald Smith #12

“RUSTY WALLACE TOYOTA” HOBBY STOCK (20 laps)

1) Chuck Johnson #17; 2) Jesse Helton #28; 3) Mike Mays #30; 4) Dale Reed #52; 5) Phillip Nichols #33; 6) Dustin Shaver #7; 7) Jamie Whitt #1; 8) Bobby Reed #54; 9) Rick Fillers #21; 10) Robbie Jones #29; 11) Robbie Wood #16; 12) Roger Hunter #7-11; 13) R.J. Mayes #6m; 14) Terry Cobb #14; 15) Jim Canning Jr. #31; 16) Jason Light #5; 17) Tyler Smith #32; 18) Ken Orton #33; 19) Chris Gregg #9; 20) Emery Harvey Jr. #74; 21) Jason Long #15; 22) Shorty Ledford #41 – DNS: Ricky Shipley #20, Ray Jarnigan #31, Jesse Wilder #79, Jon Cook #0z, Patrick Flannery #38, Dennis Metcalf #55

“CENTURY 21 MASENGILL-MCCRARY REALTORS” MINI STOCK (20 laps)

1) Shawn Henry #B00; 2) John Broce Jr. #44; 3) Scotty Thornton #T15; 4) Toby Jones #66; 5) Brent Hensley #70; 6) Greg Stitt #1; 7) Brandon Johnson #B01; 8) Jonathan Ward #77; 9) Kevin Atwell #95; 10) Joey Allen #A00 – DNS: Terry Dean #17