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Berry leads flag-to-flag in Kingsport NASCAR Late Model Stock victory

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (April 27) - Friday night at Galaxy Kingsport Speedway, Jeff Berry of Kingsport started from the pole position and led flag-to-flag en route to winning his first Shoney's NASCAR Late Model Stock feature of the season on "Easyriders Bike Night at the Races."

Berry paced the 16-car Late Model Stock field in qualifying earlier in the night, running a fast-lap of 15:550-seconds to grab the pole position for the 50-lap feature, with Jeff Gilder turning in a strong qualifying run to secure the outside front row starting berth. Lining up third through fifth on the starting grid was Adam Dean, Kres VanDyke and Reece Milton.

As GKS flagman D.L. Marshall waved the green flag, Berry won the race over Gilder into the first turn to grab a lead he would never relinquish. At the stripe to complete lap 1, Berry was followed by Gilder, while Dean and VanDyke were running side-by-side battling for the third spot, and likewise it was a door-to-door battle between Milton and Wayne Hale for fifth place.

Hale moved into fifth place on lap 4, while one lap later Dean settled into the third spot. The event's only caution waved on lap 6 for a spin in Turn 2 by Rick Pannell. Pannell quickly tagged on at the rear of the field for the restart with Berry, Gilder, Dean, VanDyke and Hale the top five going back green.

Out front, Berry was flexing the muscle of his Pizza Plus/Quality Heating & Air/Branson Trailer Sales/Custom Race Engines/Townsend-Berry Race Cars/No. 61 Monte Carlo, pulling out to a six car-length advantage over Gilder by lap 10. The young duo of Dean and VanDyke were engaged in a spirited battle for third place and, after running wheel-to-wheel from lap 13 to lap 20, VanDyke finally grabbed the position.

Halfway into the 50-lapper Berry was in command, holding a half-straightaway lead over Gilder, with VanDyke, Dean and Hale running third through fifth.

Over the final 25 circuits Berry began to comfortably pull away from the field, stretching his lead to a full-straightaway advantage over runner-up Gilder by lap 40. Masterfully working his way through the lapped traffic, Berry never skipped a beat in cruising to his first Late Model Stock victory of the season over Gilder, who recorded his best-ever finish, VanDyke, Dean and Hale. Completing the top-10 finishers were Wade Lopez, Bill Garrett, Milton, Mark Ketron and Bill Lane.

"What else can I say, we had a great car tonight . all I had to do was drive it out front and keep out of trouble," said the personable Berry after climbing from his car in Victory Lane to the applause from the appreciative crowd. "We were pretty good a couple of weeks ago when we finished second to (Wade) Lopez, and we've been working hard back at the shop trying to fine-tune the chassis. And tonight all of the work we've put in finally paid off.

"After the early-race caution we were able to get settled into running a comfortable rhythm, and during the long-run the car just got stronger as we went along. I sure didn't want to see a caution come out and wipe away our lead, and thankfully it didn't. Besides the sponsors I've got onboard this year, I want to thank my crew for all of the effort they put into this race team; led by crew chief Doug Cobb, John Ward, Tommy Gray, Jerry, Jason and Joe Hash."

Veteran racer Paul Shull of Clintwood, Va., captured his second 30-lap Allied Mortgage Sportsman feature win of the season in holding off a hard-charging Caleb Holman, Roger Neece, Bill Garrett and Bruce Blessing at the checkers.

Church Hill's Stacey Castle visited victory lane for the second time this season in winning the 25-lap Street Stock feature over Billy Babb, Chuck Crigger, Duke Bare and Steve Canter.

Jeff Maupin of Greeneville did it the "hard way" in winning his fourth straight UMP Modified feature. Maupin and early-race leader Chap Slaughter tangled on lap 4 while Maupin was making a challenge for the lead racing off the fourth turn, resulting in both drivers spinning on the front straightaway to bring out the caution, sending them to the rear of the field for the restart. Maupin blasted his way back up through the field to overtake Alton Satterfield for the lead two laps from the finish, and at the checkers was trailed by Satterfield, Randy Bethea, Mike Hutson and Slaughter.

Big Stone Gap, Va.'s Linton Perry captured his second consecutive 15-lap Charger feature victory over Elmar Nicely, Scotty McMurray, Larry McKnight and Doyle McMurray.

Rusty Sarver of Bluefield, W.Va., captured his first-ever 20-lap Legends feature victory at GKS over Janice Humble, Adam Sarver, Ronnie McCarty and Darrel Gillespie.

Morristown's Tom Buckingham held off K.D. Knoedler, Gerald Smith, Sam Couch and Kelly Glass in winning the 12-lap Modified Lite feature.

Galaxy Kingsport Speedway will host an eight-division racing program next Friday, May 4 on "General Shale Brick Night at the Races."

"SHONEY'S" LATE MODEL STOCK (50-laps)

  1. Jeff Berry #61-Kingsport, TN
  2. Jeff Gilder #51-Kingsport, TN
  3. Kres VanDyke #15-Abingdon, VA
  4. Adam Dean #81-Bristol, VA
  5. Wayne Hale #19-Piney Flats, TN
  6. Wade Lopez #83-Abingdon, VA
  7. Bill Garrett #4-Johnson City, TN
  8. Reece Milton #16-Kingsport, TN
  9. Mark Ketron #26-Kingsport, TN
  10. Bill Lane #14-Kingsport, TN
  11. R.J. Stanley #18-Bristol, TN
  12. Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
  13. Buddy Talbert #00-Blountville, TN
  14. Clyde Jones #7-Kingsport, TN
  15. David Ashbrook #14-Kingsport, TN
  16. Larry Utsman #23-Bristol, TN