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Lopez captures Kingsport NASCAR Late Model Stock victory

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (April 13) - Wade Lopez of Abingdon, Va., passed Mark Ketron for the lead on lap 19 of the 50-lap feature Friday night at Galaxy Kingsport Speedway, and at the finish held off a hard-charging Jeff Berry in recording the NASCAR Late Model Stock victory on "Don Gray Trucking/White's Tire Distributors Night at the Races."

With the roll of the dice, the top six qualifiers were inverted for the 50-lap feature, placing Bill Lane and Jeff Gilder on the front row, Ketron and Kres Vandyke in row two, and Lopez and Wayne Hale in row three.

At the drop of the green flag, Lane got the jump on Gilder to lead the field back to the start/finish line to complete lap 1. Before lap 2 was in the record book, slight contact from Lopez turned the fourth-running Hale between turns one and two to bring out the event's first caution.

The top five on the restart were Lane, Ketron, Gilder, Lopez and Berry. Glued to race leader Lane's rear bumper, back green on lap 4 Ketron grabbed the lead racing off turn four. The second caution appeared for a violent impact with the outside concrete wall between turns one and two when young Adam Dean's throttle stuck wide-open. Although the car suffered extensive damage, Dean fortunately was uninjured.

Going back green Ketron was riding on the point, followed by Lane, Gilder, Lopez and Berry. On lap 5 between turns one and two, both Lopez and Berry passed Gilder, dropping Gilder back to fifth place. One circuit later, Gilder was relegated back to the fifth spot when Reece Milton completed the pass for position racing off (turn) two.

Lopez and Berry continued their climb towards the front of the field, with both drivers overtaking Lane for position on lap 8, dropping Lane back to fourth. Circumstances went from "bad to worse" for Lane on lap 9, when contact from Milton sent Lane for a spin in turn two to bring out the caution.

Ready to restart, Ketron had his hands full with Lopez and Berry in the battle for the lead. With Ketron leading a three-car breakaway, the lead trio put a little distance between themselves, Milton and the fifth-running Buddy Talbert. Talbert's top-five run was negated when he received a black flag stop-n-go penalty for jumping the restart.

After sneaking a peek inside Ketron racing off the corners for several laps, finally on lap 19 Lopez got a good run off turn four to move into the lead, bringing Berry into the runner-up spot in the process. Ketron's backward slide continued due to a slowly deflating tire.

As the race reached halfway, Lopez and Berry had a four car-length lead over Hale, who had worked his way back up through the field into third place after his early race spin, with Milton and Ketron running fourth and fifth, respectively.

>From laps 25 to 40, Lopez led a three-car sprint out front of the pack with Berry and Hale in tow. During the final 10 circuits, Lopez and Berry pulled slightly away from Hale to settle the issue of who would visit victory lane.

Although he would take a peek under Lopez racing off the corners, Lopez would hold off the challenges from Berry repeatedly. Over the final three laps Berry turned up the heat, but Lopez, driving the Refrigeration Services Inc./Food Country U.S.A./Century Control Systems/Buckles Enterprises Heating & Air/Pro Image Graphics/Minter Race Engines/Childress Race Cars/No. 83 Grand Prix, strongly held his ground to capture the win over Berry.

Hale, Milton and Lane rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 finishers were Bill Garrett, Allen Hawkins, Clyde Jones, Rick Pannell and Talbert.

"All I can say is I'm glad it was (Jeff) Berry who was racing me for the win," said the race winner Lopez. "Jeff wanted the win just as bad as we did, but I knew he would race me clean . and I'd like to thank him. They told me over the radio that he was right on my tail, and I told them to 'shut up.' I also turned my rear view mirror up, because I didn't want to get snookered by trying to mirror-drive for the win.

"I'm really glad we could win this race tonight, especially for my crew chief David Roop, who just has undergone surgery for colon cancer. I'd like everyone to remember him during his recuperation, and also to let him know we're right there with him. I also need to thank the rest of the guys on the crew; Glen Mumpower, Tom Sweeney, Mike Ost, Chris Hale, Larry Story, Tommy Spangler and Harry Mull."

Church Hill's Stacy Castle moved under Duke Bare for the lead on lap 17 of the 35-lap "Bill Morton Street Stock Shootout" and cruised to his first victory of the season. Castle was followed by Bare, Billy Babb, Scott Robinson and Kenny Holder.

Showing the young racers he still has the "right stuff," veteran driver Paul Shull of Clintwood, Va., visited victory lane in winning the 30-lap Sportsman feature. Shull was trailed at the finish by Caleb Holman, Roger Neece, Bruce Blessing and Rod Collins.

Greeneville's Jeff Maupin powered to the UMP (Open-Wheel) Modified feature win over Alton Satterfield, Randy Bethea, Chap Slaughter and John McKenzie.

Larry McKnight Jr. of Clintwood, Va., held off "Iron" Will McKnight, Linton Perry, Bill Coleman and Elmar Nicely in winning the 15-lap Charger feature.

Kingsport's Darrell Gillespie made it three-straight in capturing the 20-lap Legend feature victory over Greg Turner, Ron Humble, Nancy Hardwick and Rusty Sarver.

Josh Adams of Murfreesboro raced to victory in the 20-lap Pro Challenge feature over Jim Scuse, Nancy Hardwick, Jimmy Acito and Garland Worley.

Blountville's Kelly Glass held off a hard-charging Randy English, Tom Buckingham, James Worley and Kevin McCarson in winning the 20-lap Modified Lite feature.

Another exciting "Friday Night Thunder" eight-division racing program is scheduled at the 3/8-mile concrete oval next Friday, April 20. For more information, call the track at (423) 288-5992.

LATE MODEL STOCK (50-laps)

  1.. Wade Lopez #83-Abingdon, VA
  2.. Jeff Berry #61-Kingsport, TN
  3.. Wayne Hale 31-Piney Flats, TN
  4.. Reece Milton #16-Kingsport, TN
  5.. Bill Lane 314-Kingsport, TN
  6.. Bill Garrett #4-Johnson City, TN
  7.. Allen Hawkins #77-Kingsport, TN
  8.. Clyde Jones #7-Kingsport, TN
  9.. Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
  10.. Buddy Talbert #00-Blountville, TN
  11.. Mark Ketron #26-Kingsport, TN
  12.. Jeff Gilder #51-Kingsport, TN
  13.. Adam Dean #81-Bristol, VA
  14.. Donnie Henry #27-Church Hill, TN
  15.. Kres Vandyke #15-Abingdon, VA