05/24/2021
Shirley's market Triple Double Feature Winners ~ Press Release
Nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains where an oval is carved into a valley is a place many people call a second home. As a thousand people are drawn to Wythe Raceway every Saturday night to watch some of the best racing action around. The drivers in the classes of UCars, Shirley’s Market Super Street and Wythe Eye Modifieds participated in a Triple Double feature this week where they each ran two fifteen lap features hoping to capture some extra cash for winning both features.
Four-cylinder, front wheel drive cars, considered the UCar division was the first to hit the very slick clay for their features. Travis Quesenberry, Atkins took to a quick lead on the start and led the field to caution free single file run with the boys and Kayla trying to get a good handle on the dry track. A pack of three including Tanner Tate, Marion Will Hostetler, Rural Retreat and Daniel Tate also from Rural Retreat arguing over the third position. On lap six Hostetler tapped the wall in turn one falling back one position to Daniel Tate but was able to regain his spot. The finishing order was almost as they started with Quesenberry first, Britt Johnson, Marion second Tanner Tate third Hostetler fourth and Daniel Tate fifth. On the second feature Quesenberry didn’t make the call with mechanical issues leaving Johnson and Tanner Tate on the front row and the two ran door to door the entirety of the feature until lap eleven. Johnson, Tanner and Daniel were the top three all pushing for position when going into turn four Johnson and Tanner got sideways, Daniel smashed into the two turning sideways leaving the fourth running car of Trever Armstrong, Atkins no where to go. He also slammed into the parked cars and started to flip, stopping at the bottom dirt barrier. Johnson and Tanner were able to continue on with the remaining four laps and at the stripe it was Johnson followed by Kayla Surber, Sugar Grove Tanner Tate, Allen Stacy and Ricky Ward, Marion for the top five. Protests followed leaving Tanner Tate disqualified as well as Britt Johnson. Kayla Surber of Sugar Grove takes home the win.
Wythe Eye Modifieds first feature showed Morgan Widener, Chilhowie and Randy Kinder, Radford side by side for the first three laps until Kinder was able to pull ahead. A late race caution came on lap thirteen and on the restart for the green white checkered was a show with Kinder and Widener not giving an inch to another. Widener was able to pull the win out of his hat. Followed by Kinder, Greg Brown, Cody Umberger and Richard Shupe, Bluefield Wv. On the start of the second feature all bets where off as the group bunched together to take the green getting a little out of hand leaving debris of bumpers and sheet metal throughout turn one. A caution came on lap two for Kinder with a flat tire. The next caution came on lap twelve as the leader at the time, Shupe, spun in turn two after working his way through the field. Widener was right behind Shupe at the time of the spin leaving him a clear road to the checkered at the restart. Widener was able to claim the extra money for the night but was not excited as some would have been as he told track owner Fred Brown it “was going back to him for tires anyway”. Behind Widener it was Greg Brown, Cody Umberger, Cody Cook, Newland Nc and R.K Dix, Rural Retreat for the top five
Shawn King and Tanner Cook both from Wytheville was the show of the night in the Pro Minis. The two ran door to door trading pushes trying to gain that number one position. At the line each time King was ahead by just points of seconds. On lap ten Cook took a slide that didn’t go a planned and had to fall back from King but was able to get back to his door by the next lap. On the last turn around the oval Cook once again tried to push harder than his car would allow and got squirrely in turns one and two leaving King to capture yet another victory for this season. Cook would bring home second followed by Shane King, Wytheville Travis Harden, Marion and Kevin Atwell Rural Retreat.
The young men of Kcar, standing for kids can also race, went off without a hitch. Braxton Surber, Sugar Grove Rusty Tate, Rural Retreat and Ethan Jones, Galax ran bumper to bumper for the first four laps into the ten lap feature. Tate and Surber got to close for comfort leaving Surber to squirm and scrape the outside safety barrier taking a step back from the action. At the flag stand it was Jones, Tate, Surber for the top three.
Fan favorite, Shirley’s Market Super Street, is the most anticipated race of the night. This heavy veteran class always put on a show Eddie Bentley, Sugar Grove Jerry Dillow, Bluewell Wv Randy Taylor, Chilhowie, Keith Griffitts, Sugar Grove Michael Deskins, Tazewell and Brian Coake are some of the heavy hitters just to name a few. The first feature started off with a strong line of single file cars. The first caution was thrown on lap six for Brian Peeples, Rural Retreat spinning in turn two with a quick turn around until one lap later when Deskins and Bentley go tangled in turn one leaving Bentley unable to finish his run. On the restart powerhouse Dillow and Griffitts battled until Dillow was able to barley pull away from Griffitts. Taylor and Terry Sharpe from Woodlawn had their own entanglement over fifth place. At the first checkered it was Dillow, Griffitts, Coake, Taylor, Sharpe, Deskins top six. At the next run Dillow started sixth and Griffitts started position one, with the hand in lead Griffitts lost control of his car battling with Coake on lap three and spun coming out of turn two for the first yellow. On lap seven Jacob Thomas, Marion spun for the second caution of the night, the last and final pause in action came from Bentley taking him and Taylor for a small spin in the middle of turns three and four on lap nine. For the next six laps it was all Dillow, after working his way through the field, and Coake pushing for the lead. From the tower they crossed in this order Coake, Dillow, Bentley, Griffitts Taylor, Sharpe.
Please join our Wythe Raceway family next Sunday night for the Memorial Day All-Star Late Models $5000.00 to Win and Mid-East Modifieds. Also racing will be Wythe Eye Modifieds,
Shirley’s Market Super Street, Pro Mini and UCars
As reported by Diamond Anderson
Photo Credits Sara Rose Photography
