By: BRODY JONES
Special Correspondent for Inside Dirt Racing
There was plenty of action to go around on Saturday night at Wartburg Speedway as the grass-roots stars of the 3/10 mile bull-ring did battle once again for the loyal congregation of area race fans that frequently flock to the track every Saturday night.
In Pony Stock action, Bradly Frost and Ryan Wade led the field to the green flag of the feature as Frost and Wade finished one-two in the lone heat of the evening for the division. But Ryan Wade jumped out to the early lead and had a near straight-away lead nine laps into the race when a costly solo spin sent him to the rear of the field and collected Bradly Frost and Taylon Overton. On the restart, Overton took off like a shot out of a cannon and led the last six laps for his first career win. Frost soldered on to a second place run even with a damaged car. Wade recovered enough from his spin to finish third. Kenny Lemons, Stephen Russell, and John Stout Jr. closed out the field.
Brad Adkisson and Derrick Meadors won their respective heat races in the Sportsman class. Meadors got the hole-shot on the start to lead lap one, but he was no match for Brad Adkisson, who took the lead on lap two and never looked back en route to the win. Meadors came home a strong second with Gary Lively, Ted Lowe, and Bo Willis all surviving the war of attrition to earn top five finishes. Jeremy Shannon, Calvin Brown, Bryant Idles, Anthony Conley, and Wayne Braden closed out the field after all exiting early from the race for varying reasons.
After a hiatus of several weeks, “The Dirty White Boy” Anthony White returned to the familiar haunts of Wartburg Speedway and made his presence known with a quick time of 12.717 to take the pole for the evening’s feature race. White set a torrid pace and had the car to beat in the first half of the race before hopes of adding another Wartburg Speedway winner’s trophy to his vast collection went up in smoke as the engine expired in his race car and Dan Tipton took the lead and led the remainder of the race to take his first checkered flag of the season at Wartburg Speedway. Tim Dameron had his strongest run of the season, finishing second with Eddie King Jr. in third, Mike Weeks, and Chris Marcum rounding out the top five. Sixth through tenth in the highly competitive race was Darrick York, Michael Courtney, Josh Henry, Jeff Hamby Jr., and Andy Williams. Chuck Freels, Tim Ladd, and Anthony White rounded out the field for the evening.
Pete Wright asserted his dominance in the heat for the Super Street class, starting on the pole for the feature and going wire to wire en route to another win on the season for the Morgan County native. Skyler Douglas, Pat Lackey, Scotty Atkins, and Terry Duncan closed out the field.
Robert Russell and Dwayne Wilkerson each won their heat races in the gritty Thunder division, but after Russell broke a driveshaft in the initial lap of the feature, Wilkerson had no one within striking distance of him the rest of the way as he earned back-to-back wins in the Thunder division. Barry Wilson, Crawford Stephens, Bucky Nance, Dustin Bean, and Robert Russell rounded out the running order. Stephen Potter and Daniel Daugherty were bitten by mechanical gremlins early in their heat races and were unable to start the feature.
Todd Duncan and Jacob Sharp started the Front Wheel Drive feature on the pole after finishing one-two in their heat race. Duncan led the first ten laps before coming into turn three with slightly too much momentum and bashed in the front of his car, puncturing his radiator and spoiling his bid for victory. Jacob Sharp would fend off the hard-charging Cody Rector the rest of the way to capture the victory. Rector had to settle for second with Chris Morrison, Ryan Maston, Todd Duncan, and Casey Crane closing the field out.
Next week is the much-ballyhooed Dylan Kennedy Memorial 37-lap, $4,370-to-win Steelhead Late Model race. This is going to be one of the highest-paying Steelhead Late Model races in the Southeast all year and a high number of steelhead stars from various tracks around our region are expected to do battle for a hefty pay-day.
