Knight, Snead, Dudley, Williams, Taylor Victorious at Natural Bridge

Race fans were treated to a Friday night of racing this past weekend at Natural Bridge Speedway.  The special night of racing was originally scheduled as a two track challenge race between the drivers of Natural Bridge and drivers from Eastside Speedway but was later postponed to July 3rd due to scheduling conflicts.  Instead, fans saw five regular feature events where four drivers returned to victory lane and one driver picked up his first win of the season.

Nineteen late models were on hand for their 35-lap feature event.  The first order of business for the late models was hot lap qualifying.  C.S. Fitzgerald would top all drivers with a lap of 16.746 seconds with an average speed of 81.603 mph.  The top five qualifiers were Fitzgerald, Ricky Wells, Jared Powell, JR Overstreet, and Gerald Wolfe.  Fitzgerald, as fastest qualifier, had the task of drawing the all important inversion pill.  Fitzgerald drew a number five, meaning the top five qualifiers would be inverted for the start of the late model feature event.  The fifth fastest qualifier was Covington’s Gerald Wolfe but he could not start any better than sixth because he won the last regular feature event for the late models.  As a result, sixth fastest qualifier Ricky Knight found himself on the pole for the main event.

Knight and Overstreet led the thunderous field to green with Knight powering to the lead heading into turn one.  The Gladstone, VA driver would use the low groove to keep Overstreet at bay in the early stages of the race.  Meanwhile, the action behind the leaders was fast and furious.  Fourth starting Ricky Wells spun his machine out to bring out the caution on lap 2.  Just four laps later, third place Jared Powell spun off the turn four banking and headed to the pit area.  He would later rejoin the field.  Meanwhile, Gerald Wolfe, Larry Ramsey, C.S. Fitzgerald, and Eddie Groome were all battling for positions three through six.  

Back up front, Ricky Knight had moved up the race track, taking away the groove Overstreet was using to look for away around Knight.  Overstreet was glued right to the back bumper of Knight and mounted several serious charges for lead but each time he would come up short.  Knight held on to take the win over Overstreet.  Hard Charging David Watts, who started 16th after trouble in qualifying, rallied to finish third.  Gerald Wolfe backed up his previous win with another solid fourth place finish.  Stuarts Draft’s Eddie Groome rounded out the top five.  The win was Ricky Knight’s third of the season.

The sportsman feature event started with three separate incidents on lap one.  Scottie Sorrells spun his machine, hitting the turn one wall and retired from the event.  Eric Groah, who was tied for the sportsman point lead, was collected in a spin by Robert Steen on the backstretch.  Groah’s machine suffered serious front end damage.  Groah hopped out of his mount and into Donald Hensley’s ride.  The third incident involved several cars spinning in turn four.

The second attempt at a start found Daniel Snead dart to the lead over Todd Campbell.  Randy Gardner moved past Campbell for the runner up spot on lap four.  Clifton Mays, who was tied with Groah for the point lead heading into the night’s racing action, patiently worked his was past Campbell and Gardner and set his sights on Snead.  On this night Snead’s machine was dialed in.  Snead led flag to flag to pick up his second win of the season.  Clifton Mays would settle for second, followed by Randy Gardner, Timmy Mays, and Shad Cooper.

Michael Taylor, running a part time schedule in 2010, is always a force to be reckoned with anytime he shows up to race.  This night would be no different.  David Brogan started on the pole and quickly jumped to the lead.  Brogan held the lead for the first six laps until Taylor found the run he was looking for and motored past Brogan.  Taylor then set sail and cruised to the victory.  Brogan finished in the runner-up spot, followed by Charles Wyant, Troy Fitzgerald, and Skye Reynolds. 

The pure stock race at Natural Bridge is always a fan favorite and worth the price of admission.  Ronnie Martin, Jr. and Justin Williams entered the night tied atop the point standings.  Ronnie Martin moved past Howard Hall for the lead on lap two and opened up what looked like an insurmountable lead over the rest of the field.  Williams made his way into the second spot on lap six.  Martin was long gone by this point and it looked like Williams would settle for second.  However, everything would change with a caution on lap twenty.  The caution allowed Williams to close in on the back bumper of Martin.  On the restart, Martin pulled away from Williams but the caution flag would wave once again on lap 22.  This gave Williams one last shot at Martin for the victory.  Heading into turn one Williams pulled alongside Martin.  As the two exited turn two they made contact.  Martin smacked the backstretch guardrail and ran off the racetrack heading into turn three.  Williams went on to collect the win.  Ricky Mayberry came home second, followed by Lee Brooks, Coray Brown, and Todd Garrett.  Martin settled for a seventh place finish.

Steven Dudley survived a caution field All-American feature to pick up his first win of the season.  Dudley started on the outside pole but was involved in a caution or two along the way to victory.  Kevin Helmick, making his first start of the season, finished second.  Ryan Kassab rebounded from early troubles to finish third.  Jeremy Boxler finished a solid fourth.  Jeremy Pooley extended his point lead with another top five finish.         

The point battles are shaping up as we head into the summer stretch of the season. The speedway will host a regular show for all divisions this coming Saturday night. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m. with the driver’s meeting at 6:00 p.m., and on-track activities beginning at 6:30 p.m.