O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series
Saturday Night, June 26, 2004
Soggy Bottom Speedway-Morgantown, KY
James Essex – NARA PR
MORGANTOWN, KY--In one of the most competitive O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series presented by Arizona Sport Shirts events of the 2004 campaign Victor Lee of Stanford, KY emerged as a first time winner as the 24 year old racer scored his first career O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series win and the biggest of his racing career worth $3000. Lee becomes the seventh different winner this year on the series tour which is in its third year of sanctioning dirt late model events. Lee was the third different race leader in the 40 lap Lucas Oil A-Main as he drove the Team Barber Racing, Barber Truck Repair, Zig Zag Tattoos, Quick Stop, American Racer Tires, Pro Power Engines, C.J. Rayburn Pontiac Grand Prix to victory circle. Aaron Hatton of Mt. Sterling, KY was second in the Hatton Racing/Draime Race Engines/MasterSbilt Grand Prix. Finishing in third was Mike Jewell of Scottsburg, IN behind the wheel of the Morgan Foods/Cornett Engines/MasterSbilt Grand Prix. Taking fourth was Johnny Wheeler of Campbellsville, KY in the Clayton Homes/Cornett Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo and rounding out the top five was series newcomer Brian Maynard of Benton, KY in the Mike Lowery Racing/Coors Light/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo. Lee becomes the third different winner in three appearances at Soggy Bottom for the series.
At the start of the Lucas Oil A-Main it was outside polesitter Steve Cornelius grabbing the lead with Aaron Hatton going to second followed by Racing Optics fast timer, Brian Maynard. Cornelius who had never led a O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series event in his career would lead the first nine circuits of the race with constant pressure coming from Hatton. As Cornelius and Hatton would go door to door on several occasions in the early going, the race for third was getting cranked up with Maynard, Johnny Wheeler and Mike Jewell sometimes going three wide for position. Hatton would pull ahead of Cornelius for the lead on the 10th lap after several heart thumping laps dueling it out around the ultra fast 3/8ths mile dirt track. At this point Victor Lee would start getting his act together as he would enter the top five past Jewell on the 13th lap. Wheeler would displace Maynard from third two laps previous to that as he started to head to the front. Hatton and Cornelius would start to enter lapped traffic by the 18th lap. Cornelius would stay close to Hatton approaching traffic in his attempt to retake the lead. At the halfway mark of the race the lineup stood with Hatton in front followed by Cornelius, now Lee in third with Wheeler and Jewell in the top five. As Hatton would go by another car putting him a lap down Cornelius was not fortunate because on the 24th lap while running second Cornelius would slide into turn three too close to a car he was trying to lap and his race car turned around on him causing him to stop on the race track bringing out the only caution of the race. Cornelius was deemed the person who brought out the caution and he would have to restart on the tail end of the lead lap cars.
With double file restarts in order behind the race leader Hatton, it would be Lee who would take full advantage of the restart rocketing to second and then on the 28th circuit he would motor around the outside of Hatton to take over the lead of the race. Lee would then pull away from Hatton as the race for third would get interesting once again. Jewell would now race into third in front of Wheeler and Maynard with Tyrel Todd advancing from his 13 starting spot up to sixth at this point of the race. In the remaining 10 laps of the race it was all Lee as he would build his advantage over Hatton, who was suffering the effects of a left front ball joint breaking. But Lee would not be slowed in the closing laps as he would go on to post the biggest win of his racing career. Hatton would finish second followed by Jewell, Wheeler and Maynard.
"I just want to thank all of family, crew, sponsors and fans for making this dream come true, we have been close a couple of times to win a O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series race and it feels good to finally break through," said the winning driver afterwards. Lee who finished second in the Rookie points for the series in 2002, almost won the final event of 2002 at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, KY, but Timmy Yeager passed him coming off of turn four to the checker. "The car worked real well in the last half of the race, the double file restart worked out really good, because I was able to get a good run on Aaron because he stayed low and I decided my car worked better up topside, so I was able to drive around him to take the lead,"
Rounding out the top ten drivers in the finishing order was: Tyrel Todd, Shawn Negangard, Randle Sweeney, Dennis Selby and Steve Cornelius.
In preliminary events before the large audience of hand Brian Maynard in his first appearance with the series took the Racing Optics Fast Time with a lap of 15.053 seconds. The three Crown Spray Power Heat Race winners were Maynard, Hatton and Cornelius.
The next O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series event will be this Saturday Night, July 3 at the 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY paying $3000 to win.
Race Summary
O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series
Event #11 of 2004
Soggy Bottom Speedway
Morgantown, KY
Saturday Night, June 26, 2004
Racing Optics Fast Time: Brian Maynard 15.053
Crown Spray Power First Heat: Brian Maynard, Mike Jewell, Dennis Selby, Shawn Negangard
Crown Spray Power Second Heat: Aaron Hatton, Victor Lee, Randle Sweeney, Michael England
Crown Spray Power Third Heat: Steve Cornelius, Johnny Wheeler, Timmy York, Spensor Watson
Lucas Oil A-Main (40 Laps): Victor Lee, Aaron Hatton, Mike Jewell, Johnny Wheeler, Brian Maynard, Tyrel Todd, Shawn Negangard, Randle Sweeney, Dennis Selby, Steve Cornelius, Doug Smith, Michael England, Dick Phillips, Timmy York, Spensor Watson, Steven Ashby, David Gentry (DNS)
Saturday Night, June 26, 2004
Soggy Bottom Speedway-Morgantown, KY
James Essex – NARA PR
MORGANTOWN, KY--In one of the most competitive O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series presented by Arizona Sport Shirts events of the 2004 campaign Victor Lee of Stanford, KY emerged as a first time winner as the 24 year old racer scored his first career O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series win and the biggest of his racing career worth $3000. Lee becomes the seventh different winner this year on the series tour which is in its third year of sanctioning dirt late model events. Lee was the third different race leader in the 40 lap Lucas Oil A-Main as he drove the Team Barber Racing, Barber Truck Repair, Zig Zag Tattoos, Quick Stop, American Racer Tires, Pro Power Engines, C.J. Rayburn Pontiac Grand Prix to victory circle. Aaron Hatton of Mt. Sterling, KY was second in the Hatton Racing/Draime Race Engines/MasterSbilt Grand Prix. Finishing in third was Mike Jewell of Scottsburg, IN behind the wheel of the Morgan Foods/Cornett Engines/MasterSbilt Grand Prix. Taking fourth was Johnny Wheeler of Campbellsville, KY in the Clayton Homes/Cornett Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo and rounding out the top five was series newcomer Brian Maynard of Benton, KY in the Mike Lowery Racing/Coors Light/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo. Lee becomes the third different winner in three appearances at Soggy Bottom for the series.
At the start of the Lucas Oil A-Main it was outside polesitter Steve Cornelius grabbing the lead with Aaron Hatton going to second followed by Racing Optics fast timer, Brian Maynard. Cornelius who had never led a O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series event in his career would lead the first nine circuits of the race with constant pressure coming from Hatton. As Cornelius and Hatton would go door to door on several occasions in the early going, the race for third was getting cranked up with Maynard, Johnny Wheeler and Mike Jewell sometimes going three wide for position. Hatton would pull ahead of Cornelius for the lead on the 10th lap after several heart thumping laps dueling it out around the ultra fast 3/8ths mile dirt track. At this point Victor Lee would start getting his act together as he would enter the top five past Jewell on the 13th lap. Wheeler would displace Maynard from third two laps previous to that as he started to head to the front. Hatton and Cornelius would start to enter lapped traffic by the 18th lap. Cornelius would stay close to Hatton approaching traffic in his attempt to retake the lead. At the halfway mark of the race the lineup stood with Hatton in front followed by Cornelius, now Lee in third with Wheeler and Jewell in the top five. As Hatton would go by another car putting him a lap down Cornelius was not fortunate because on the 24th lap while running second Cornelius would slide into turn three too close to a car he was trying to lap and his race car turned around on him causing him to stop on the race track bringing out the only caution of the race. Cornelius was deemed the person who brought out the caution and he would have to restart on the tail end of the lead lap cars.
With double file restarts in order behind the race leader Hatton, it would be Lee who would take full advantage of the restart rocketing to second and then on the 28th circuit he would motor around the outside of Hatton to take over the lead of the race. Lee would then pull away from Hatton as the race for third would get interesting once again. Jewell would now race into third in front of Wheeler and Maynard with Tyrel Todd advancing from his 13 starting spot up to sixth at this point of the race. In the remaining 10 laps of the race it was all Lee as he would build his advantage over Hatton, who was suffering the effects of a left front ball joint breaking. But Lee would not be slowed in the closing laps as he would go on to post the biggest win of his racing career. Hatton would finish second followed by Jewell, Wheeler and Maynard.
"I just want to thank all of family, crew, sponsors and fans for making this dream come true, we have been close a couple of times to win a O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series race and it feels good to finally break through," said the winning driver afterwards. Lee who finished second in the Rookie points for the series in 2002, almost won the final event of 2002 at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, KY, but Timmy Yeager passed him coming off of turn four to the checker. "The car worked real well in the last half of the race, the double file restart worked out really good, because I was able to get a good run on Aaron because he stayed low and I decided my car worked better up topside, so I was able to drive around him to take the lead,"
Rounding out the top ten drivers in the finishing order was: Tyrel Todd, Shawn Negangard, Randle Sweeney, Dennis Selby and Steve Cornelius.
In preliminary events before the large audience of hand Brian Maynard in his first appearance with the series took the Racing Optics Fast Time with a lap of 15.053 seconds. The three Crown Spray Power Heat Race winners were Maynard, Hatton and Cornelius.
The next O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series event will be this Saturday Night, July 3 at the 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY paying $3000 to win.
Race Summary
O'Reilly NARA Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series
Event #11 of 2004
Soggy Bottom Speedway
Morgantown, KY
Saturday Night, June 26, 2004
Racing Optics Fast Time: Brian Maynard 15.053
Crown Spray Power First Heat: Brian Maynard, Mike Jewell, Dennis Selby, Shawn Negangard
Crown Spray Power Second Heat: Aaron Hatton, Victor Lee, Randle Sweeney, Michael England
Crown Spray Power Third Heat: Steve Cornelius, Johnny Wheeler, Timmy York, Spensor Watson
Lucas Oil A-Main (40 Laps): Victor Lee, Aaron Hatton, Mike Jewell, Johnny Wheeler, Brian Maynard, Tyrel Todd, Shawn Negangard, Randle Sweeney, Dennis Selby, Steve Cornelius, Doug Smith, Michael England, Dick Phillips, Timmy York, Spensor Watson, Steven Ashby, David Gentry (DNS)
