Brennan Poole Claims His First UARA-STARS Victory

On a day full of drama Brennan Poole brings home his first UARA victory and he did it in style. The day began with officials discovering that the timing loop was cut in two an hour before the first round of practice began. Kerry Bodenhamer, UARA president goes to work in a rush and gets the loop fixed and the practice begins. Chris Lawson shows his strength with fast times in the first session of practice and Clint King shows the way for the second round.

Brennan Poole and Miss UARA Jessica Presnell

The drama of the day continues as officials are informed at 5:19 that they have no announcer in place. Cars are on the line to qualify and Wink is running timing. She gets the qualifying in process and is quick to the draw and calls Tony Stevens who had texted her earlier in the day that he was coming to watch the event. Stevens agrees to be the announcer of the night and does a fantastic job. Jim Carson of Late Model Digest announced during the qualifying rounds until Stevens could get to the track.

Stevens had posted on his face book page at 5:44 p.m. “Just got the equivalent of a 911 call for a race event. Hauling a-- to the racetrack as we speak. Lol”

The fun loving Carolina Vintage racers are the first to take to the track. Susan Kimel will take the checker for them followed by Ed Ritchey, Doug Howell, Wayne Hearn, Joe Evans, Ray Sams, Don Moore, Jim Ivey, Howard Scruggs, John Hildebran and Jim Ivey Jr. Ed Ritchey led the first 13 laps. Kimel who started seventh picked off competitor after competitor and took the lead from Ritchey on lap 14 and would remain there until the end.

Second to take to the grid will be the Street Stock/Renegade drivers. Josh Burchette took the lead on the first lap and lead flag to flag. Charlie Watson was running second in the beginning but was overtaken by Waylon Flynn on lap 5. It would end with Burchette victor, followed by Flynn, Watson, Jim Mayberry, Kevin Eby, Greg Austin and David Smith.

The UARA-STARS go green at 8:50 and the action is powerful throughout the field.
Kyle Grissom had the Sunoco Pole at 16.325 but was quickly overtaken by outside pole setter Jamie Yelton on the first lap. Caution flies right off the git go as the car of Garrett Campbell spins in the first turn. Campbell will continue on but will be penalized for passing the pace car in his run to the pits to be checked out by crew. Ty Dillon will head to the pits with the front end of his car a mangled mess. Dillon will run a few laps but his night will end early with only 28 laps completed. Campbell will manage to finish the night three laps behind the leader.

Jamie Yelton would keep control of the field but not without pressure from Kyle Grissom and fellow teammate Poole. Grissom would maintain second for a short while as he and Poole battle back and forth for the first ten laps. Poole now has Yelton in his sights and it is a thrilling show to see mentor and student racing neck and neck. Poole will overtake Yelton on lap 29 and will not look back.

Yelton Taking The Lead

The action was fierce all within the pack the whole night long keeping the fans on the edge of their seats to see what will be the next move and by whom.

The final few laps show Poole in the lead followed by Grissom but it was the side by side fender rubbing action between Coleman Pressley and Chris Lawson that had the fans in turmoil. In the end it would be Lawson by a nose.

Rookie of the race Matt Kurzejewski finally got that monkey off his back and brought home a respectable 8th place finish. Kurzejewski had been plagued with three engine failures in a row. Kurzejewski beat fellow rookies Ronnie Bassett, Jr. who finished 9th and Robert Johnson in 10th. It was a great night for these young guns.

Their was a total of five cautions throughout the night. The most interesting came on lap 119 when former UARA champion Lee Tissot had a flat tire. It was discovered that in the style of Daytona 2010 the track was coming up in the middle of turns three and four. The field was put in the red flag mode while the track crew placed a patch to fill the hole.

It was an awesome night of racing but the drama for the UARA didn’t end with the race.
One race fan that thought they had found the ultimate parking spot at the cross over gate was not so happy with that spot when they returned to their car. It appears that a piece of the race track that had come up went thru their rear windshield. Guess the old saying holds true: “If it looks to good to be true, it is.”

The final drama for the UARA staff occurred on the return trip back to Hendersonville.
One of the trucks broke down suffering a short in the electronic system. After delivering trailer one to the home base, Sam Watts (UARA pace car driver) unhooks the first trailer from that truck and returns to the side of the interstate between mile 53 and 55 to retrieve the other trailer. The fallen truck is nursed to the next exit to be attended to Saturday. After a very long day the staff are all safely home by 4 am. Whew this will be a night for the records books.

Coleman Pressley will receive the G Force Shift of the Race award after coming from a 19th
place start to his 4th place finish. Lee Tissot will receive the ARbodies Hard Luck Award due to his encounter with the hole in the track and Kevin Blanks will receive the Comp Cams Engine Builder of the Race Award.

TCMS Finish 4-16-10
Position Car # Driver
1 5 Brennan Poole
2 32 Kyle Grissom
3 61 Chris Lawson
4 59 Coleman Pressley
5 48 Scott Turlington
6 83 Dylan Presnell
7 8 Jamie Yelton
8 10 Matt Kurzejewski
9 04 Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
10 11 Robert Johnson
11 07 Clint King
12 98 Alex Yontz
13 06 R.A. Brown
14 41 Grant McGinnis
15 54 Kaleb Pressley
16 23 Michael Rouse
17 1 Julia Dawson
18 12 Garrett Campbell
19 44 Lee Tissot
20 26 Jessica Murphy
21 21 John King II
22 92 Dennis Queen
23 18 Tyler English
24 35 Alan Scoggins
25 2 Ty Dillon

Tri County was the fourth race for the UARA-STARS and there have been four different winners with four different type engines: Shane Huffman with a GM crate, Clint King had a Ford built, Coleman Pressley had a Ford crate and Brennan Poole ran a GM built engine. What a great way to get the season underway.

The UARA-STARS will be in action again at Ace Speedway May 1, 2010.