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Morris Dominates Twin 50's

RADFORD, VA- Tonight’s South Main Auto/Marshall Concrete 200 featuring the Roanoke Valley Mopar Club Cruise-In, kept race fans on their feet all night. The action for the evening included the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Twin 50 races, the H&H Carpet Late Model Trucks, the Pure Stocks and New River Valley Mini Stocks.

The Late Model Stock Cars raced two separate races, 50 laps each. The first race was competitive, resulting in four cautions. Many cars suffered heavy sheet metal damage. One of the cars to suffer damage was Butch Hamlet. He was able to re-enter the second race missing the sheet metal that covers the front end of the car, which was damaged in the first caution.

"The crew was phenomenal to throw this car back together in the one hour or so they had and have it be competitive," said Hamlet.

The second Twin 50 was run as hard as the first. All of the cars returned to the track after being worked on and repaired. The teams were required to use the same set of tires in both races, but could fix damage from the previous race and try to improve the set up of the car. The second 50 laps also contained four cautions, bringing the final total to eight cautions in the 100 laps run.

Phillip Morris took the pole and the win in both races. "This car has been sometimes good, sometimes not, tonight it was good. I saw Chad (Harris) coming, but he just ran out of laps," said Morris.

Chad Harris finished second, "I don’t know, I think he (Morris) was playing with me in the end. We used our car up in the first race," he said.

Visiting in the Late Model division was Morty Buckles, running number 81 this evening, who has spent the beginning of the season at Concord and South Boston race tracks. When asked about the track before the race Morty said, "Its a very nice facility, its taking some getting used to, and there’s tough competition. Its too early to tell how we’re going to run, but if we can get things started out we can run decent."

After the night was over he said, "Its the stiffest competition this year, we have to see what we have to do to keep up with them." Buckles ended the night in the pits after deciding to save the engine, which would not make it for the duration of the race. Buckles will return to the speedway on May 12th.

The H & H Carpet Late Model Trucks ran a good race, with only two minor cautions. The field was the largest of the season, running 13 trucks, not including two drivers who are currently out due to previous wrecks. Bo Howell took the checkered home for the second time in a row. One of the cautions was for a spin coming out of turn two by Brianne Cronrath. She was able to recover without hitting the wall and finished tenth.

"I thought the truck was better on cooler tires, so that late race caution helped us," said Howell.

The Pure Stock cars ran a clean race tonight. Heat race winners Anthony Huff and Dean Sutphin finished the feature race in second and third respecitvely. Rounding out the top five for the evening was Junior Lester in fourth and Michael Adams in fifth. Taking home the checkered flag for the second time this season was Mark Harris.

"Just two (wins), so I guess we don’t have too bad a year yet. We had two wins last year too. We’ll take the win", said Harris.

The New River Valley Mall Mini Stock race is still under the review of NASCAR officials. The results will be released as soon as they are received.

In addition to the racing, the evening also included the Roanoke Valley Mopar Club Cruise-In. The Mopar Club brought a variety of Dodge vechiles, new and old, for the pre-race parade laps.

Next Saturday the NASCAR sanctioned divisions have the night off as the New River Valley Speedway kicks off the season’s first $5 Fridays. Admission is five dollars, spectators will be treated to a night of UCARS, Enduros, Mini Cups and Spectator Drag Races.