Watts Electrifies Late Model Field

Saturday night action was hot as Natural Bridge Speedway welcomed the first weekend of summer with five sizzling divisions of racing.  Buchanan’s David Watts scorched the late model field to pick up his first victory of the season.  David Brogan became the second driver of the night to pick up his first win of the season by winning the street stock feature event.  In other action, Eric Groah, Ricky Mayberry, and Jeremy Pooley all made their way back to victory lane after picking up wins earlier in the season

The Sportsman division took to the speedway for the first feature of the night.  Eric Groah entered the night eight points behind Clifton Mays in the point standings after being involved in a lap one crash last weekend that relegated him to a tenth place finish.  Scottie Sorrells and Randy Gardner brought the field to green with Gardner getting the jump into turn one.  Gardner held the lead until lap 4 when he and Clifton Mays made contact.  Gardner lost control and spun his machine, while Clifton Mays was sent to the rear of the field for spinning Gardner.  The incident turned the lead over to Michael Alderman.  Alderman’s turn at the front of the field would be short lived as ninth place starter Eric Groah wrestled the lead from Alderman on lap 11.  Groah went on to lead the final fourteen laps to win by a margin of nearly six seconds.  Shad Cooper had yet another solid finish coming home second.  Clifton Mays battled his way back to third.  Todd Campbell and Toby Stalnaker rounded out the top five.  The win was Groah’s third of the season and puts him right back in contention for the championship.

David Brogan picked up his first victory of the 2010 season in grand style with a flag to flag victory in the Street Stock division.  Brogan and Tom Guthrie started on the front row and the duo stayed one, two throughout the 25 lap feature event.  The only thing that could slow Brogan down was the caution flag.  The most serious caution occurred on lap fourteen when Lester Lyons made contact with Troy Fitzgerald.  The car of Lyons went hard into the outside guardrail and was finished for the night.  Fitzgerald was able to continue but later fell out of the race.  The top five finishers were Brogan, Guthrie, Stephen Campbell, Charles Wyant, and Terry Dame.  With his third place finish, Campbell extends his point lead in the division.

David Watts had to wonder when he was going to shake the bad luck that has plagued him throughout the 2010 season.  Watts has had one of the fastest late models in recent weeks but has started deep in the field in each feature event.  On this night Watts took advantage of his front row starting position to dart to the lead at the drop of the green flag.  Philip Woods fell in behind Watts but was never able to challenge for the lead.  A consistent JR Overstreet, who started sixth, patiently worked his way towards the front of the field.  Overstreet moved into second on lap 18 and set sail to chase down “the crate hauling freight” of Watts.  The only shot Overstreet would have at Watts was when the two encountered lapped traffic but a late race caution gave Watts the clear racetrack he needed to extend his lead over Overstreet.  On the restart Watts took off and never looked back, crossing the stripe 0.662 seconds ahead of Overstreet.  Current point leader Ricky Knight finished third, followed by Tim Stalnaker in fourth and Gerald Wolfe in fifth.

The Pure Stock feature event got off to a rocky start as the machine driven by Will Slagle barrel rolled off the turn three banking.  Slagle was uninjured in the crash.  Gary Cottee and Ricky Mayberry brought the field to green with Mayberry taking the lead heading into turn one.  While Mayberry and Cottee were pacing the field the action for third was heating up.  Ronnie Martin, Derrick Ayers, and Justin Williams were engaged in a fierce battle for position.  Martin and Williams worked their way around Ayers and picked up where they left off last week when the two made contact battling for the lead.  This week, on lap 10, Martin and Williams again made contact.  Williams slammed the wall and suffered a right front flat tire.  Martin also ended up in the pit area but both drivers would return.  Back up front it was all Mayberry.  Mayberry led flag to flag to pick up his second victory of the season.  His first win of the season came on opening night of the 2010 season.  Gary Cottee, making his first start of the season, held on for second.  Ronnie Martin rebounded to finish third.  Derrick Ayers had a solid race and finished fourth.  Johnny Deal rounded out the top five. 

Jeremy Pooley picked up his fourth win of the season in the All-American division.  After three failed attempts at a start, the field took the green single file.  Brian Newton started at the front of the field and jumped to the lead.  Newton led the first fifteen laps before Jeremy Pooley took command on lap sixteen.  Newton would drop from contention one lap later and retire from the event.  A caution on lap 16 allowed the field to restart on the back bumper of Pooley.  On the restart Pooley was just too strong and pulled away from the field.  Pooley led the final five laps unchallenged.  Jeff Mays, who started tenth, rallied to finish in the runner-up position.  Rounding out the top five were last week’s winner Steven Dudley, followed by Jeremy Boxler in fourth, and Kevin Helmick in fifth.  The victory helps Pooley extend his point lead in the All-American division. 

Summer heats up this coming Saturday night as Natural Bridge Speedway hosts the Ben Cross Memorial for the late models.  A large field of late models is expected as it will also be a two track challenge event between the late model drivers from Eastside Speedway and the late model drivers from Natural Bridge Speedway.  All other divisions will also be in competition Saturday night with double points on the line.  The Virginia Sprint Series will also make their first appearance at the speedway in 2010.  A huge fireworks display is planned at the conclusion of the night’s racing action.  Gates are scheduled to open at 3:30 pm and the driver’s meeting will take place at 5:15.