Race night was worth the wait after two straight rainouts

After two weeks of rainouts, 411 Raceway was back up to full speed Saturday night. The drivers could not wait any longer to hit the track once again, they started showing up around 10 am. By 2:30 the pit was packed with cars and practice started at 3 p.m.: the waiting was almost over. The drivers could once again get into that seat, buckle up and hit the track. There’s nothing worse than waiting. So lets get on with what happened. Number 16 Nancy Hardwick took the early lead in the Pro-Challenge, but just could not hang on to it for the whole race. Number 18 Mark Dyer made his way up through the pack to finally grab the lead. Once in the lead Dyer started to pull away. After 25 laps it was Mark Dyer taking yet another win at 411 Raceway. Number 00 Brad Housewright finished second, with #16 Nancy Hardwick right behind him; #5 Marty Arender tried to make it up front, but fell short and finished fourth. In fifth was #33 Gary Barrier. The Super Stocks came out and had a fantastic feature race. Number 11 Dale Watson took the lead with #3 Larry Hurst in second. About half-way through the race, Hurst got loose in turn four and started down across the track. Number 73 Calvin Sise tried to avoid hitting Hurst by cutting down towards the infield, but no one saw #6 Spencer Lemmerman. Lemmerman’s front wheel rolled up on Sise’s driver door and across his hood. No one was injured in the crash. After 25 laps it was #11 Dale Watson crossing the line in first place, with Hurst in second and Lemmerman in third. Number 3B Brad Seagle took a big lead at the start of the Charger feature, but half way through, #88 Harry Cadmus came up from behind and stole the lead away. After 20 laps were complete Cadmus had his third win. Brad Seagle took second, #20 Angie Long finished third. Coming across the line sideways in fourth was #32 Travis Sands and in fifth was #02 Lynn Doane. This is the way the race scored, but there was a protest, and it will not be resolved until late Monday evening. Number 17 Shane Roberts and #2 Fred Hardwick fought it out for first place in the Legends feature. Hardwick tried everything he could to get by Roberts but just could not make it. Roberts took the win with Hardwick close behind. Number 15 Butch Irick was third, #7 Ron Humble came in fourth and #21 Brian Bounds finished fifth. The Classic Feature is 25 hard-fought laps that are always very exciting for the crowd. The Classic races lately have been a little different. There are a lot of drivers that normally are not up in the front of that pack starting to make their presence known and making their way forward. Number 6 Rocky Estes Jr. is one of those drivers. Estes, who took his second win this week, has been gradually making his way up through the ranks. After working through a few setbacks during season, it is finally starting to pay off for Estes. Second place went to #33 Brian Ball, in third place was #87 Robbie Sands, #2 Ron Rudder finished fourth and #15 Wayne Dukes was fifth. The Modified Mini had a special $1000 prize to the car in the lead at the end of 100 laps, and what a show that was. Number 41 John Byers took off at the green and for a while it looked like Byers would have this race completely wrapped up. Everything was falling into place when Byers started having mechanical problems and spun out. He went to the back and two laps later spun out again. He went to the pit and never returned to the track. Number 9 Jason Henry was glad to move up to first place, where he remained until the 50 lap break. As the cars returned to the track at lap 51, #12 Phil Derosia Jr. looked as if he may have gotten a can of spinach from his crew chief. When the green flag dropped to signal a restart, Derosia stayed right on Henry’s bumper but after three laps Henry started to pull away. When the cars crossed the line on lap 100, 10 cars had already left the track due to wrecks, flat tires, an overheated engine and one car fire. Number 9 Jason Henry took the win and the $1000. Number 12 Phil Derosia Jr. finished second, third went to #17 Steve Owens Jr. Number 18 Jim Galloway was fourth and in fifth was #61 David Kitts. The points leader in the Pro-4 division is #24 Todd Pierce. Pierce was running in second place for most of Saturday’s race but found just a little extra throttle and put it to the floor moving around Steve Ritchey. Number 24 Todd Pierce takes the checkered flag, #98 Steve Ritchey was second, #46 Bobby Morgan hangs onto third, fourth went to #3 Byron Ward, and fifth was #01 Brian Gardner. As Larry Sullivan and Scott Dyke fought it out for second in the Wedge Car Feature, #8 Adam Beeler just made sure no one would jeopardize his first place position. Beeler led the race from the get-go. On lap 30 he took the checkered and the win. Second went to Sullivan, third was Dyke, fourth went to Jeremy Broome and in fifth was #66 Frank Emel. On Saturday October 5, 2002 there will be no Racing at 411 Raceway, but fans can come on up to the track Friday the 4th and Saturday the 5th for 411 Raceway’s 1st Car Show and Swap Meet. Check out the web site for more info www.411raceway.com On Monday nights at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. listen to 1470 am radio or listen on the internet at www.blountweb.com/wbcr it’s the Fast talk Racing Show where Mark Bales, Terry Wall, and Buck Buckholtz will talk about Saturday’s racing. Feel free to call in and see ya at the track on October 12th.