Donna Solesbee/Clarendon Citizen
Manning’s Kiri Way finds her way to Winner’s Circle
After a string of heat race wins and second place finishes, Manning driver Kiri Way finally made it to the Rourk Plumbing Winners Circle Saturday night at Sumter Speedway by capturing the win in the Stock Four class.
Way, starting from the pole, was able to open a lead on Ritchie Dennis when the green flag waved. On lap two Dennis tangled with Raymond Hodge sending Hodge hard into the front stretch wall. As Dennis headed to the pit for repairs, Jody Truett’s crew got his mechanical problems solved and Truett joined the field a lap in arrears.
Dennis’ woes continued as his Nissan broke a tie rod in an incident on the back stretch involving the cars of Donny Roberson and new comer Dave Sivar.
After the restart on lap three, once Way shook off a challenge for the lead by Johnny Weeks, it was clear sailing for Way and her Honda. Jody Truett made his way to the back bumper of Way and shadowed her the rest of the race. Weeks finshed second, Sivar third and Truett took fourth. Truett’s team mate was scored fifth, Justin Ardis’ “Pinto Bean” special sixth, and Hodge seventh.
Not to be upstaged by daughter Kiri, Kurt Way fought tooth and nail with Daniel Morris and L. E. Mooneyham to take the win, and another trophy came home to Manning with his Honda in Bomber Six.
Morris was able to get by Mooneyham on the third lap of the feature and hounded Way for the rest of the event making several runs at he lead. With four laps to go, Donald Roberson spun on the front stretch with the cars of Grant Hill and Justin Hurst getting collected in the crash.
Way was able to maintain the lead and take the win, Daniel Morris was second, Mooneyham third, Manning’s Angela Logan was fourth and Billy Ray Watford fifth. Wayne Hodge, Hurst, Hill and Roberson rounded out the finishing order.
Pat Davis took the Street Stock event by virtue of being the last man standing as attrition took its toll on the rest of the field. Davis, who started from the pole, and Timmy Kimsey were fighting for the lead on the opening lap when they made contact and spun in turn four. This moved Billy Collum and Jason Potts to the front row on the restart.
A miscue by Collum on the restart and a simple lack of speed on Potts’ part, Davis was able to regain the lead by lap three. Potts fell out of the race early and Kimsey and Collum wrecked in turn four with three laps to go.
With either car unable to continue, flagman David Duke waved the checkered as Davis passed under the flagstand. Kimsey was scored second, Collum third and Potts fourth. Collum’s performance earned him a Danny’s Trophy Shop Hard Charger Award.
Terrell Holloway, after a few laps of dueling with Craig Hall scampered off from the rest of the field to take his second Ridge Runner win of the year. Hall took home second place honors, Cody Truett was third, Joey Ayers fourth and Curt Lee fifth
David Rourk posted a fast lap of 17.475 seconds to take the pole and brought his GRT chassis car home for his first GM Crate Late Model win. Rourk was the third first time winner in as many weeks in the Late Model class. Tommy Bell was second.
Mikey Driggers of Summerville powered his Volkswagen by Heather Welch on the opening lap and cruised to his first feature win in the Young Guns class. Cameron Holloway took second in his first start of the year and along with it a Danny’s Trophy Shop Hard Charger Award. Welch took third, Ray-Ray Fagin fourth, and Terry Caples, Jr. fifth.
Adam Hill glued himself to the bumper of Andy Driggers and made his run at the lead stick on the third lap and taking the win in Bomber Four. Chris Scott got past Driggers in the closing laps of the race to take second, dropping Driggers to third. Landon Jefferies finished fourth, and Marty Horne took fifth. Clay Roberson, Gary Ames, Ace Casten finished out the field.
The clock was turned back to the 1950s as the CAARA and Cape Fears CARS vintage modifieds took to the track. Bob Courtwright won the eight-cylinder modified portion of the event with Doug Meyers second, and Shallotte, N. C., driver Bobby Williams bringing his Chevy coupe home third. Bill Tripp won the six-cylinder sportsman event with Sherman Garris second, and the 1937 Chevy Coach of Jim Wilmore of Fayetteville third.
Racing resumes Saturday night with gates opening at 5 p.m. with racing action starting at 7 p.m. Active duty military members receive free grandstand admission with a valid ID and ages 65 and older area with proof of age are admitted to the grandstands for $5.
