Magnolia, MS (November 9, 2002) - Mike Boland won the battle but it was his protégé Rodney Wing winning the war. Mike Boland, who started seventh, took over the lead on lap 67 and then went on to take the $5,000 victory at the Sixth Annual Jambalaya 100. Boland assumed the lead when Kenny Merchant
fell victim to lapped traffic, tangling with the spinning Tony Lawson, and dropped out with a busted radiator. Boland then led the remaining 33 laps to take his first Jambalaya 100 victory in his Ware Construction/Xtreme Graphics/Boland Performance Keith Craft-powered Ford Mustang Warrior.
Rodney Wing started on the outside pole, ran in the top five all night and in the process he clinched the 2002 O'Reilly SUPR Late Model Championship. Wing claimed the title by 35 points over 1999 O’Reilly SUPR Champion David Ashley. After the race, Wing was relieved to have the title in hand and the season complete. “It feels pretty good, I’m just glad the season is over. This whole weekend has been pretty nerve-wracking ever since Baton Rouge I’ ve just been on my toes watching what I do. The car was a little off but with my tire selection I couldn’t really take any chances on trying to get aggressive and trying to win. I just set up conservative tire wise and everything just to make sure I could make it to the end. If I could have won I sure would have tried but it worked out okay.”
Wing was quick to thank everyone who made his title possible. “I definitely want to thank Billy McDonald and B&K Underground, he’s the money man that makes everything happen. Mike Boland sure has helped me a lot; we keep the car and everything at his shop and keep it up. Styling Signs & Decals, Hossier Tires, Dryslick.com, just everybody that’s been a part of it, all my crew especially: William Hodges, Jeremy Bunyard, Tim Dees and Bodie McDonald.
Ashley tried his best, running up front from lap 15 until lap 38, when Merchant took over the lead. Ashley hung tough and finished second but was unable to overcome Wing’s point lead. “(Wing) did what he had to do, be patient and finish. We went out there, we tried to win it. We knew we weren’t going to necessarily win the war but we wanted to win this battle. We fought hard and come out second so it wasn’t too bad.”
Merchant clearly had the field covered prior to his untimely end. Merchant started the race in 18th and quickly worked his way forward moving in to the top five on lap 13. With a racy track to work with, Merchant was inside the top three by lap 25 and in to the lead on lap 38. By the time he tangled with the spinning Lawson, Merchant had built up a sizeable lead and appeared to be on cruise control headed for the victory. Still, Merchant was stoic in defeat, chalking it up to one of them racing deals.
Boland was glad to finally secure his first Jambalaya 100 trophy after several runner-up finishes in the past. And as it turned out, this one was no cakewalk. “We had a bad week up until the feature race. Our car just really wasn’t that good. We had an oil leak and had to put a rear main seal on the motor in practice, then the stud bolt broke on the back of the oil pump. Just deals like that. Then we go out and the car was too tight all weekend up until the feature. Then we finally put it on the scales this afternoon and got it where it would be close. I hate it for Kenny Merchant, he was really cream of the crop but we’ll take that. We’ve given them away like that before. I’m glad Rodney won the championship, good gosh, now I’m never going to get any work out of him. I’m going to have to work for him now.”
The race started with Rodney Wing out running David Ashley to turn one. Wing then held the lead until lap 15 when Ashley shot by coming off of turn 2. The two leading contenders for the 2002 SUPR title ran nose-to-tail for several laps until Mike Boland snuck by Wing on lap 24 to grab second. Lapped traffic began to impact the battle for the lead with Merchant joining in on a four-car battle for the lead. Six cars would be lapped over the next 12 laps by the time Merchant took the lead on lap 38. The 50-lap fuel stop did little to slow Merchant’s momentum but in the end it was the lapped traffic that would end Merchant’s night.
Davin Bates made a surprisingly strong run, starting 19th and running inside the top ten from the early stages of the race. Bates took a gamble and selected soft tires for the feature and this appeared to do the trick for him, as Bates was able to rocket past cars on the restarts, slowing only on long stretches of green flag racing. “I was good on the starts, that’s what we gambled on. Starting 19th, we didn’t have much to lose.” Bates was in fifth place by lap nine and stayed amongst the lead pack for the remainder of the race, peaking on lap 69 when he pulled even with David Ashley for second. Bates would eventually settle for fourth place as Sam Patrick worked by him for the second time in the late stages of the race. Bates’ 19th to fourth place run earned him the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award
Patrick, who set the third fastest time in qualifying, made a solid late race charge to garner third place, overcoming one final charge by Bates to secure a podium finish. “Davin had 11’s and we were on 28’s and he would be like a rocket ship on the restarts so we really didn’t need that last caution. Third fastest qualifier, I was tickled pink.”
Another driver putting in a strong performance was the 1999 SUPR Rookie of the Year Diamond Dave Siegert. Siegert was driving the #58 of Heath Culp and parlayed a tenth place starting position into an apparent sixth place finish that became a seventh place finish on the last lap as his right rear tire went flat allowing Bill Frye to move up to sixth on the final circuit. Siegert also entered his own Modified in the UMP Modified portion of the show and recorded a third place finish for a solid weekend.
51 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand with David Ashley setting fast time at 17.32 around the big 3/8th mile oval. Ashley, Wing, Robbie Starnes, Scott Slay, Jay Blair and James Ward won the heat races with Rob Litton and Marlon Wild taking the Last Chance victories.
Official Results:
1. Mike Boland
2. David Ashley
3. Sam Patrick
4. Davin Bates
5. Rodney Wing
6. Bill Frye
7. Dave Siegert
8. Lee Davis
9. Odie Green
10. Jay Blair
11. Rob Litton
12. Jon Mitchell
13. Kennith Crowe
14. James Ward
15. Tommy Surrett
16. Kenny Merchant
17. Tony Lawson
18. David Knight
19. Ronny Adams
20. Ryan Plaisance
21. Marlon Wild
22. Robbie Starnes
23. Kevin Watts
24. Scott Slay
fell victim to lapped traffic, tangling with the spinning Tony Lawson, and dropped out with a busted radiator. Boland then led the remaining 33 laps to take his first Jambalaya 100 victory in his Ware Construction/Xtreme Graphics/Boland Performance Keith Craft-powered Ford Mustang Warrior.
Rodney Wing started on the outside pole, ran in the top five all night and in the process he clinched the 2002 O'Reilly SUPR Late Model Championship. Wing claimed the title by 35 points over 1999 O’Reilly SUPR Champion David Ashley. After the race, Wing was relieved to have the title in hand and the season complete. “It feels pretty good, I’m just glad the season is over. This whole weekend has been pretty nerve-wracking ever since Baton Rouge I’ ve just been on my toes watching what I do. The car was a little off but with my tire selection I couldn’t really take any chances on trying to get aggressive and trying to win. I just set up conservative tire wise and everything just to make sure I could make it to the end. If I could have won I sure would have tried but it worked out okay.”
Wing was quick to thank everyone who made his title possible. “I definitely want to thank Billy McDonald and B&K Underground, he’s the money man that makes everything happen. Mike Boland sure has helped me a lot; we keep the car and everything at his shop and keep it up. Styling Signs & Decals, Hossier Tires, Dryslick.com, just everybody that’s been a part of it, all my crew especially: William Hodges, Jeremy Bunyard, Tim Dees and Bodie McDonald.
Ashley tried his best, running up front from lap 15 until lap 38, when Merchant took over the lead. Ashley hung tough and finished second but was unable to overcome Wing’s point lead. “(Wing) did what he had to do, be patient and finish. We went out there, we tried to win it. We knew we weren’t going to necessarily win the war but we wanted to win this battle. We fought hard and come out second so it wasn’t too bad.”
Merchant clearly had the field covered prior to his untimely end. Merchant started the race in 18th and quickly worked his way forward moving in to the top five on lap 13. With a racy track to work with, Merchant was inside the top three by lap 25 and in to the lead on lap 38. By the time he tangled with the spinning Lawson, Merchant had built up a sizeable lead and appeared to be on cruise control headed for the victory. Still, Merchant was stoic in defeat, chalking it up to one of them racing deals.
Boland was glad to finally secure his first Jambalaya 100 trophy after several runner-up finishes in the past. And as it turned out, this one was no cakewalk. “We had a bad week up until the feature race. Our car just really wasn’t that good. We had an oil leak and had to put a rear main seal on the motor in practice, then the stud bolt broke on the back of the oil pump. Just deals like that. Then we go out and the car was too tight all weekend up until the feature. Then we finally put it on the scales this afternoon and got it where it would be close. I hate it for Kenny Merchant, he was really cream of the crop but we’ll take that. We’ve given them away like that before. I’m glad Rodney won the championship, good gosh, now I’m never going to get any work out of him. I’m going to have to work for him now.”
The race started with Rodney Wing out running David Ashley to turn one. Wing then held the lead until lap 15 when Ashley shot by coming off of turn 2. The two leading contenders for the 2002 SUPR title ran nose-to-tail for several laps until Mike Boland snuck by Wing on lap 24 to grab second. Lapped traffic began to impact the battle for the lead with Merchant joining in on a four-car battle for the lead. Six cars would be lapped over the next 12 laps by the time Merchant took the lead on lap 38. The 50-lap fuel stop did little to slow Merchant’s momentum but in the end it was the lapped traffic that would end Merchant’s night.
Davin Bates made a surprisingly strong run, starting 19th and running inside the top ten from the early stages of the race. Bates took a gamble and selected soft tires for the feature and this appeared to do the trick for him, as Bates was able to rocket past cars on the restarts, slowing only on long stretches of green flag racing. “I was good on the starts, that’s what we gambled on. Starting 19th, we didn’t have much to lose.” Bates was in fifth place by lap nine and stayed amongst the lead pack for the remainder of the race, peaking on lap 69 when he pulled even with David Ashley for second. Bates would eventually settle for fourth place as Sam Patrick worked by him for the second time in the late stages of the race. Bates’ 19th to fourth place run earned him the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award
Patrick, who set the third fastest time in qualifying, made a solid late race charge to garner third place, overcoming one final charge by Bates to secure a podium finish. “Davin had 11’s and we were on 28’s and he would be like a rocket ship on the restarts so we really didn’t need that last caution. Third fastest qualifier, I was tickled pink.”
Another driver putting in a strong performance was the 1999 SUPR Rookie of the Year Diamond Dave Siegert. Siegert was driving the #58 of Heath Culp and parlayed a tenth place starting position into an apparent sixth place finish that became a seventh place finish on the last lap as his right rear tire went flat allowing Bill Frye to move up to sixth on the final circuit. Siegert also entered his own Modified in the UMP Modified portion of the show and recorded a third place finish for a solid weekend.
51 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand with David Ashley setting fast time at 17.32 around the big 3/8th mile oval. Ashley, Wing, Robbie Starnes, Scott Slay, Jay Blair and James Ward won the heat races with Rob Litton and Marlon Wild taking the Last Chance victories.
Official Results:
1. Mike Boland
2. David Ashley
3. Sam Patrick
4. Davin Bates
5. Rodney Wing
6. Bill Frye
7. Dave Siegert
8. Lee Davis
9. Odie Green
10. Jay Blair
11. Rob Litton
12. Jon Mitchell
13. Kennith Crowe
14. James Ward
15. Tommy Surrett
16. Kenny Merchant
17. Tony Lawson
18. David Knight
19. Ronny Adams
20. Ryan Plaisance
21. Marlon Wild
22. Robbie Starnes
23. Kevin Watts
24. Scott Slay
