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"Ghost Rider" Takes Victory In Round Three

April 6th, Hudson, NC - Keith Bumgarner entered Round Three of the ARA All-Star Series having earned the nickname "Ghost Rider" by threatening race leaders during the waning laps of the season's first two events. Friday night at Tri-County Speedway, No. 5 Westley Huffman would have preferred that Bumgarner was only a figment of his imagination, as the series' newest young gun drove his Country Chair No. 95 to his first victory of the 2001 season.

Bumgarner, who started on the outside pole, stayed outside through the race's first few laps, beating pole sitter Chevy White, in the No. 54, to the stripe each trip around. Huffman, gunning from his outside second row starting spot, split the two cars coming out of Turn 4, taking the leaders three wide on the third lap. Bumgarner would seize the opportunity to settle in front of White for good by Turn 1. Huffman had given the leaders, and the fans, a taste of things to come.

On lap 9, Huffman took the outside around White in Turn 4 to fall behind Bumgarner, who had opened up a comfortable early lead. Kenny "Wild Wild" West followed suit, slipping into third. For most of the night there was a battle for third on back, and there was a battle for the lead.

By lap 40 Bumgarner had a rear view mirror full of the Iceman, Huffman, who had pulled to within a bumper of the 95 machine. Lap after lap Huffman stuck hard and fast to Bumgarner's tail, awaiting the opportunity to move to the inside where Huffman had found a favorable racing groove. The Ghost Rider held. The Iceman stuck.

"I thought we were riding and going to pull another Peach State on them," said Huffman. "He was really good at the end and I wasn't. I thought I was saving something until about two restarts to go but then he just started getting real loose right there in the center of the corner and he just pulled me up off. There was nothing I could do."

On prior restarts following the race's halfway point, it looked like Huffman would have enought to overcome the game Bumgarner, working his way inside in and out of the corners. Bumgarner would prove too strong on the outside, though, and was able to hold the Iceman at bay.

"I got up front right there at the first and kind of rode it a little bit, seeing if Westley could make a run on me," said Bumgarner. "I had a pretty good feeling there at the end. He stayed pretty hot there on my back bumper most of the race, but he run me clean and I thought we could hold him off, which we did."

For Bumgarner, who trailed the leaders by only two points coming into Tri-County, the win puts an exclamation point on his stature in the 2001 series.

Series points leader Scott Kilby, in the A & H Windows No. 30, began the night giving up his third qualifying spot for eighth, in search of the charger bonus. In a field where the top 31 cars were separated by less than 4/10's of a second covering a 4/10's mile, the decision would pay off points wise as he worked his way through the field for a third place finish, though it prevented him from seriously challenging Bumgarner and Huffman down the stretch.

"We probably sacrificed a shot at the win to points race," said Kilby. "It doesn't make you a happy camper right now, but hopefully we will be at the end of the year.

Separated from Kilby by only a finishing position tie-breaker prior to the race, defending All-Star champion Greg Marlowe began the night eleventh, and had worked his way towards the top five by the race's midway point. Challenging Scott Hall for sixth, Marlowe stuck his Southern Pride No. 07 underneath Hall's No. 25, who had seemed to turn his luck around from the two DNFs to start the season. Entering Turn 3, Marlowe stuck his ground and the two connected in the turn's center, turning sideways. Briefly, it appeared that Marlowe and Hall both would correct their cars, but fate would prove otherwise as the two collided again, heavily damaging both. Tim Weaver in the No. 79 car would fare worse than all, hitting the wall and destroying the car's front end, ending his night.

A long caution allowed both Marlowe's and Hall's crews time to repair the cars and get them back in the race before the restart on lap 73. Marlowe would recover to finish where he started, while Hall, who had earlier turned in a top five qualifying time, would finish the night 30th, the victim of a collision on the frontstretch with a lapped car 10 laps later.

No. 43 Kenny West turned in another valiant effort, converting a sixth place start to fourth place by lap 10, eventually finishing there after running third for much of the night. No. 32 Randy Porter made up 7 spots in the first 60 laps, working his way into the top five, where he would go on to finish.

Andy Loden and Frampton Ferguson posted solid finishes after shaky starts in the opening rounds, finishing 6th and 7th. 16-year-old Danny O'Quinn, Jr. turned in another impressive round, finishing 8th after a top ten qualifying run, while Keith Stiltner and Bob Saville rounded out the top ten finishing order.

The drivers and crews gets a much needed rest next weekend, returning for Round Four Saturday, April 21st, at Lonesome Pine Raceway.