Beckley Motor Speedway PR 5-17-2014

May 18, 2014- An unexpected surprise may be the best words to describe a race happening at Beckley Motor Speedway yesterday. As we woke up yesterday morning to find many of the tracks in the area canceling and many including us had also canceled on Friday the discussions began about the possibilities of us having a race. We put a feeler out on the web and calls came in like crazy. So, in less then an hours time we had decided we were going to race and announced around 11:30 that we were going to be putting on a race in about 8 hours time. With all other tracks Rick and his family wanted to give the fans and drivers in the area at least one place to race this weekend. We learned that a lot wanted to race to as in the 8 hours time we had a total of 81 cars pile in the pits for the nights racing events. As you’ll find as you read on we had an awesome night of racing action!

The Super Late Models brought a strong 16 car field for the fans to sit on the edge of their seats and watch. Wayne Hughes continued his fast time dominance. He set a blazing fast time of 13.137. The heat races were very competitive and racy as the fast times stuck even during race time. Ricky Williams won heat 1 and Harold Redman Jr. dominated heat 2. In the feature time were still quick as the drivers were still running 13.5’s! Harold Redman Jr. had his car on a rail and went on to lead the whole feature. Wayne Hughes who started in the 3rd place seemed like he may have had something for him but ran out of time. As they do every week, Hughes and Williams put on an awesome show battling side by side for a long time. The car to watch watch Travis Brookover’s 12B who started way back in the 14th place after a problem in the heat race. He battled his way side by side all the way to a high of 4th at once before falling back and finishing 6th. The top 5 were the #28R of Harold Redman followed by #1H Wayne Hughes and #12 Ricky Williams, 4th was #17N of Kenney Newhouse and rounding out the top 5 was the #115 of Zack Dohm with his 525 crate motor! All in all a great show with 16 very strong late models on hand!

The Modifieds were the first show after intermission and raindrops fell for just a minute. Before we get to the feature though we must mention that the other Hughes, Tate Hughes, continue his dominance in qualifying too. He set an amazingly fast time of a 14.432. Almost breaking Keith Bills track record. Tate went on to win heat 1, heat 2 was taken by Joe Cox and heat 3 by Joe Meadows in his #33. The modifieds had the biggest turn out of the night with 18 cars. In the feature as stated before raindrops fell just as we were getting ready to start. The race even with the rain falling went caution free! Tate Hughes dominated the show early, but lap traffic proved difficult and caught Cox and Meadows up to put on a heck of a show to the finish. Tate was blocking and Cox and Meadows were trying everything they could to figure out how to get around Hughes. Coming to the checkers they would be 3 wide at the line for first, but who would come out on top? It would be Tate Hughes leading the whole race followed by a gap of .210 the #41 of Joe Cox and the #33 of Joe Meadows ended up 3rd only .719 off the win. Rounding out the top 5 were the #11G of David Godfrey and the #17 of Jason Cochran. This was one amazing race that was one for the ages for the open wheel modified class.

The Crate class had 16 strong cars in attendance and Aaron Barley would set the fast time at a 14.419. The #33G of Shane Greco took heat race 1 putting him on the pole for the feature and the #68 of Tyler Cox took heat race 2. The feature was one that Tyler Cox took the lead and never looked back. Tyler would go on to win with Shane Greco finishing 2nd followed by Chris Meadows. Rounding out the top 5 were Tim Dohm and Aaron Barley who raced a very good clean hard battle.

The Outlaw Streets continue to grow week in and week out. This week we were up to 8 cars in the class. Freddie Mooney was on a rail last night and won the heat race. In the feature Mooney had a couple challenges, but did go on to win a very wild feature event for the outlaws. Finishing 2nd and the only other car finishing the race was David Ferreira. Round out the top 5 were Kevin Woodall, Kevin Fitzwater, and the rookie Timmy McBride.

The street stocks had 16 cars in attendance. After a warning in the driver’s meeting over rough driving it seems most listened. Heat 1 was won by George Pierce and heat 2 by Robert Richardson. In the feature the green team would continue their dominance, but it looks like a challenger may be emerging for them. Robert Richardson would win over a hard challenging Gentry Cline. Rounding out the top 5 were Hank Stover, George Pierce, and Bradley Richardson.

The hornets brought out their biggest field of the year so far last night with 7 cars. Brandon Adkins won the heat race. The feature was a very good show between DJ Critchley and Brandon Adkins. They ran side by side through the whole show. Coming out on top at the end was DJ Critchley followed by Brandon Adkins. Rounding out the top 5 were Blake Ellis, Jesse Raynes, and John Durrett.

All in all it was an amazing night of racing in all classes. We thank all of the drivers, teams, and fans who came out to support us on such short notice and for the amazing night of racing from the drivers! We also thank all of our sponsors who help make the show go!

Remember this Friday May 23rd will be the Gold Rush!