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Ghost Rider in the Pines

April 22nd, Coeburn, VA - Young gun Keith Bumgarner, aka the "Ghost Rider", is now officially taking names, turning in another dominant performance Saturday night at Lonesome Pine Raceway in the ARA All-Stars Pepsi-Cola 125.

Driving the No.95 Country Chair Ford Taurus, Bumgarner claimed the Wide Open Racing Collectibles Pole position, declined the charger bonus challenge to stay on the pole, and led 125 laps for his second consecutive win of the 2001 ARA All-Star season, holding off a valiant charge by series points leader Scott Kilby in the A&H Windows No.30 Chevrolet over the final 25 laps.

"They really worked on the car real hard," Bumgarner said about his team. "The car was gettin' real loose there at the end, but we held him off and I guess that's the main thing."

Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel...

Kilby earlier had qualified outside of Bumgarner and elected to trade his position for a seventh place start, confident he could reclaim the positions over the race's 125 laps. By lap 100, with the last 25 "mean and green" laps remaining, Kilby had overcome Stacy Vicars and "The Iceman" Westley Huffman, who had battled each other 80 laps for second, positioning himself to challenge for the top spot. The Ghost Rider would hold steady and make it two in a row, the first repeat winner of the season.

"I thought we had him," said Kilby. "He made a couple of mistakes but I couldn't take advantage of it. I'm a little disappointed. I thought we had the car to win the race."

Behind the four leaders, Keith Stiltner, Frampton Ferguson, Andy Loden, J.R. Robbs and Stephen Lite were putting on a ferocious battle for a top five finish, a collection of each running three wide out of Turn 4 on numerous laps. Ferguson, the 2000 series points runner-up, started fourth thanks to a Stephen Lite invert and held his ground for most of the event.

Robbs had started second with Kilby's invert but had trouble keeping his car low and slowly lost position throughout the night. By race's end, it was Stiltner that jolted from the pack, making a charge on Huffman, who had lost his brakes by lap 75, running fourth. The checkers would fly with Huffman holding fourth and Stiltner fifth. Ferguson pulled in a sixth place finish, with Loden in seventh.

Greg Marlowe, who qualified seventeenth, was sent to the rear for the start due to a post-qualifying part switch. "The Gunslinger" managed to slowly weave his way back into contention, eventually claiming the eighth spot. Stephen Lite took ninth while Tim Weaver rounded out the top ten.

The Pepsi-Cola 125 will air on The Outdoor Channel Sunday, May 13th, at 5:00pm Eastern Time. The ARA All-Star Series returns to Hickory Motor Speedway this Saturday, April 28th, for Round Five in the 20-race series. It is a 125 lap event.

Results, April 21st, 2001, Pepsi-Cola 125 (Lonesome Pine)

1 95 Keith Bumgarner 
2 30 Scott Kilby 
3 24 Stacy Vicars 
4 5 Westley Huffman 
5 22 Keith Stiltner 
6 19 Frampton Ferguson 
7 29 Andy Loden 
8 07 Greg Marlowe 
9 99 Stephen Lite 
10 79 Tim Weaver 
11 59 J.R. Robbs 
12 26 David Messer 
13 54 Chevy White 
14 15 Kres VanDyke 
15 53 Butch Jarvis 
16 2 Steve Blackburn 
17 25 Jay Godley 
18 18 R.J. Stanley 
19 25H Scott Hall 
20 4 Eric McClure 
21 32 Robbie Ferguson 
22 72 Brian Rose 
23 44 Nate Monteith 
24 43 Kenny West 
25 01 Danny O'Quinn