Wild, wild night of racing action

The phrase "calm before the storm" was definitely the theme for the racing action at Shenandoah Speedway on Saturday night. With the practice and qualifying sessions completed in flawless fashion, it looked like the "Double Feature" racing action for the night would follow suit. But as everyone knows, you can't assume anything, especially when it comes to racing.

The INEX Legends would take to the track for the opening race of the night and all went well until Kevin Eichelberger completed a solo spin in turn 2 to bring out the only caution period of the event. Joe Hendricks picked up the first of his 2 wins for the night with Scotty Edwards and Michael Edwards in second and third in both features. Eichelberger and Jeff Davis rounded out the top five in race 1 while Davis and Roger Freeze finished in fourth and fifth in the second race.

Late Models were out next for their first of two scheduled 50 lap features with Kevin Bush on the pole with a time of 15.965 and Brian Purdham alongside at 15.998. It didn't take long for the racing action to heat up as Purdham powered by Bush on the outside going into turn one and as Bush drifted up, Sergio Pena dove to the inside of Bush to take the spot. Bush would take exception to the pass and make some disparaging remarks at the end of the race while being interviewed.

Pena took the lead a lap later with Purdham tucked closely behind for several laps until the yellow flag came out for a spin by Jeff Abbott in turn 4. The yellow would come out 3 more times in less than 10 laps as the #3 car of Kevin Powell would spin twice but the most significant caution would be on lap 8 as the #44 of Wes Branner drove into the #55 car of John Skelly, doing severe body damage to both cars. The remainder of the race was run caution-free with Pena barely holding off Purdham at the line for the win and Bush a distant third.

Jr. Wright had the quick time of 16.844 for the Sportsman race No. 1 with Tommy Nance coming in at 17.238, but due to the dreaded invert Deryle Lawson got the start on the front row along newcomer Tommy Adams on the outside pole.

When the green flag dropped the #99 car of Wright followed the #88 of Adams on the outside to move by the inside line of Lawson and Nance. On lap 5, while running in third position, Nance spun in turn 3 in front of the field but was fortunate as everyone took evasive actions and no one else was involved.

A lap later while exiting turn 2 the cars of Lawson and Wright got together and continued down the backstretch. Wright got by Lawson entering turn 3, but it was evident that he had a flat tire and as Lawson drove by on the outside Wright turned up into Lawson, heavily damaging his own car while doing significant damage to the Lawson entry.

When the green flag dropped on the restart, Adams held off the hard charging Hoy Prichette III to pick up his first Shenandoah Speedway win.

The Street Stock division was out next for their first race of the evening and pole sitter Mike Gund held off a hard charging Sparky Staton and Glenn Heatwole to pick up the win. Heatwole and Staton raced side by side for several laps with Heatwole finishing second by less than a car length over Staton

The racing action was delayed for 45 minutes due to a thunderstorm, but track crews worked hard to get the track ready for racing action albeit a shortened version in each division for the remaining races.

The Street Stock drivers would return for their second feature which was shortened to a 15 lap shootout and. after a full filed invert, Sparky Staton would pick up the win followed by Mike Gund and Glenn Heatwole.

The VMCRA was on the track for their 20-lap feature with Ryan Adams on the pole with a time of 19.297 and Justin LaDuke alongside at 19.333. Tammi Cook would bring out the caution flag early as she spun coming out of turn two in the first lap, but things would settle down from that point on as Adams and LaDuke would battle for the win. In the end, Adams would hold off LaDuke for the win with Tyler Roach picking up third.

In the second Sportsman feature of the evening, Hoy Prichette III picked up his first ever Shenandoah Speedway win as he and Tommy Adams swapped positions from the first feature.

The Second Late Model feature would be shortened to 25 laps and would be the costliest race in the young track's history with at least five cars receiving major damage and one car being destroyed.

Rookie Brandon Comer would start on the pole due to a seven-car invert with Mark Cook alongside, but when the green flag dropped Comer was caught napping and Cook sped by to take the lead.

Sparky Staton would take over second with Brian Purdham in third followed by Kevin Bush and Sergio Pena. Cook stretched out his lead over first 15 laps as Purdham and Staton raced side by side for over 10 laps with some of the most exciting yet clean racing that the fans had ever witnessed.

The fireworks happened on lap 16 as the No. 58 car of Pena and the No. 51 car of Bush got together on the front straightaway, but both cars continued without losing any positions. Bush however took exception to the incident and as the Pena entry entered turn 3, Bush drove hard into Pena and turned him up into the outside turn 4 wall.

Youthful tempers flared as Pena went back after Bush and drove down into him while coming off of the wall. After a brief stoppage of the race to clean up the carnage, the race was restarted to a green, white, checkered flag finish with Cook taking the win followed by Purdham and Comer.

Back in the field, Wes Branner in the No. 44 car drove hard into the No. 8 machine of Sparky Staton, which then made contact with the No. 11 car of Jeff Abbott. Both cars were sent careening into the wall and the Staton car was destroyed with not much left of the Abbott machine either.

The UCAR race was run almost entirely free of cautions as Jeremy Griffith, Rich Marouse and Chriss Grogg stole the show as they raced side by side for the entire 15-lap race. The three track legal and evenly matched cars entertained the crowd as they finished in that order with Jeremy Grogg and Ronnie Cubbage rounding out the top five.

Racing action continues next week in six exciting classes featuring the Late Models and the VMRCA Mini Cup 50 Lap "Summer Shootout." For more info contact the speedway at 540-652-1108 or check out the website at www.shenandoahspeedway.com