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Hale records second Kingsport NASCAR Late Model Stock victory

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (April 20) - Wayne Hale of Piney Flats grabbed the lead on lap 2 of the 50-lap NASCAR Late Model Stock Car feature Friday night at Galaxy Kingsport Speedway and, held off a hard-charging Mark Ketron at the checkers in capturing his second victory of the season on "Pepsi Night at the Races."

Hale, and last week's feature winner Wade Lopez, led the 15-car field to the green flag from the front row after both drivers ran identical laps of 15:50 in qualifying. Completing lap 1 both Hale and Lopez were running side-by-side at the start/finish line, with Ketron and Jeff Berry also running door-to-door battling for the third spot. With Lopez slipping exiting Turn 2 on lap 2, the door was opened for Hale to take over the point, while Ketron grabbed third place from Berry on the same circuit. The event's only caution flag waved on lap 3 when Rick Pannell spun in Turn 2.

The top five lining up for the restart were Hale, Lopez, Ketron, Berry and Bill Lane. The front four quickly put some distance between themselves and the rest of the field. Ketron had his hands full in trying to fight off the challenges from Berry for third place and, on lap 7 racing off the fourth turn Berry pulled alongside . but tucked back in line entering the first turn.

On a cool Friday night in East Tennessee, early on the competitors were trying to work some heat into their Goodyear's. With Lopez once again getting a little loose racing off (Turn) 2 on lap 10, both Ketron and Berry worked the low-side to have the preferred line racing into the third turn, thus dropping Lopez back to fourth place.

As the feature reached halfway, Hale had a four car-length advantage over runner-up Ketron, while Berry and Lopez were six car-lengths behind Ketron, with Lane still occupying the fifth spot.

During the second half of the 50-lapper, Hale began to put a little breathing room between himself and Ketron, while Berry was fending off the challenges for the third spot from Lopez. Beginning to peek his nose under Berry racing off the corners at lap 35, Lopez finally got a good run on lap 40 off Turn 4 to take over third place, while out front Hale had stretched his lead to eight car-lengths.

Lapped traffic would come into play over the final five laps, allowing Ketron to close to Hale's rear bumper at the finish. However, Hale, driving the Dalton Direct Carpet/A1-Transmission/Action Graphics/KLB Race Cars/Robinson Race Engines/No. 19 Monte Carlo, would not be denied his second $1,000 feature win of the season at the 3/8-mile concrete oval.

Finishing second through fifth were Ketron, Lopez, Berry and Reece Milton. Completing the top-10 at the checkers were Bill Garrett, Lane, Larry Utsman, Adam Dean and R.J. Stanley.

"Man, what else can I say - this KLB Race Car was really good tonight," said Hale after climbing from his winning ride in Victory Lane. "We came over here and practiced yesterday, wanting to try a few things out on the car to see if we could get it just a tick better. We took what we learned and went back to the garage last night and made a few minor changes, and the car drove just great tonight.

"With it being a little cool here tonight, there on the beginning we all were kind of slipping and sliding while trying to get some heat into these Goodyear tires. There's nothing wrong with the tires . they are good. But they're a harder compound than what we ran last year, and especially on these cool nights if you don't watch out before getting some heat in the rubber . if you're not real careful the car will get away from you. I want to thank my crew chief, my brother William Hale, for all the hard work he puts in on the car, plus the help we get from Bill Lingerfelt, Bill Morris and J. R."

Taking advantage of race leader Bill Garrett's adventurous ride in the "speedy-dry" on a late race restart, Caleb Holman of Abingdon, Va., grabbed the lead on lap 25 of the 30-lap feature en route to capturing his first 30-lap Sportsman division victory of the season. Holman was trailed at the finish by Bruce Blessing, Roger Neece, Bobby McElyea and Rod Collins.

Surgoinsville's Chuck Crigger held off Stacy Castle, Billy Babb, Duke Bare and Steve Canter in winning his third 25-lap Street Stock feature of the season.

Jeff Maupin of Greeneville was the class of the field in the 15-lap UMP Modified feature, leading flag-to-flag in winning for the third-straight week over Alton Satterfield, Randy Bethea, Chap Slaughter and Luke Boles.

After hounding race-long leader Fred Hardwick in the 20-lap Legends feature, Bristol's Ron Humble made the race-winning pass on the last lap coming off the fourth turn in narrowly capturing his first main event victory at the track. Humble was followed to the checkers by Hardwick, Ronnie McCarty, Shane McDavid and Janice Humble.

Sevierville's Nancy Hardwick led wire-to-wire in winning the 20-lap Pro Challenge feature over James Worley, Jim Scuse, Garland Worley and Randy English.

Linton Perry of Big Stone Gap, Va., captured his first Charger feature victory of the season in holding off Elmar Nicely, Scotty McMurray, Bill Coleman and Doyle McMurray.

An exciting eight-division racing program is scheduled at Galaxy Kingsport Speedway next Friday, April 27, as Smoky Mountain Cylces, LLC of Johnson City presents "Easyriders Night at the Races." For more information, call the track office at (423) 288-5992.

LATE MODEL STOCK (50-laps)

  1.. Wayne Hale #19-Piney Flats, TN
  2.. Mark Ketron #26-Kingsport, TN
  3.. Wade Lopez #83-Abingdon, VA
  4.. Jeff Berry #61-Kingsport, TN
  5.. Reece Milton #16-Kingsport, TN
  6.. Bill Garrett #4-Johnson City, TN
  7.. Bill Lane #14-Kingsport, TN
  8.. Larry Utsman #23-Bristol, TN
  9.. Adam Dean #81-Bristol, VA
  10.. R.J. Stanley #18-Bristol, TN
  11.. Jeremy Pike #25-Bluff City, TN
  12.. Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
  13.. Buddy Talbert #00-Blountville, TN
  14.. Clyde Jones #7-Kingsport, TN
  15.. Allen Hawkins #77-Kingsport, TN