'Full moon' mixed results

The full moon overlooking Shenandoah Speedway seemed to intensify as the racing action began on a very cool autumn night. However, by the end of the night no one seemed to notice as the crowd was still on their feet applauding the conclusion of what some claimed to be the "best Late Model race I have ever seen."

The INEX Legends were the first out with Kevin Bush starting on the pole of the 16-car field; however, the "full moon" theory got an early start when on the very first lap several cars got together in turn 3. As a result of the "overaggressive" driving of their fellow competitors, Bush and the 09 of Nick Carlson both were done for the night with damaged cars. Things went a little smoother on the next restart but some of the drivers were still aggressive as the #44 of Dusty Summers and #20 of Cameron Patrick began bumping their way to the front. Leader Michael Edwards tried to hold off the hard charging Patrick, but to no avail as Patrick, Summers and Scotty Edwards blew past. On lap 20, Patrick literally ran into some lap traffic as the #92 of Kenny Aubrey Sr and the #27 of Roger Addison apparently were not quick enough to get out of the leader's way. The ill-advised move allowed Summers to dive to the inside to take the lead and dropped Patrick back into 4th position. The final laps were run caution free and at the end it was Summers, Patrick and Scotty Edwards as the top three.

Lauren Edgerton led flag to flag in the UCAR race as the young lady was barely challenged in the 25-lap event. Chriss Grogg finished in second with Ronnie Cubbage a distant third.

The VMCRA 25 lap race seemed to have the "full moon" drop on it event as caution after caution happened. Pole-sitter Hunter Koschara paced the field in the early going but each time the youngster would build up a good lead, the caution flag would fly. Early on it was the #27 car of Justin Laduke, then the #33 of Tammi Cook had back to back spins. Then finally on lap 16 the #2 car of Travis Roach spun the leader coming out of turn 4, sending both cars to the rear of the field. On the restart, the #9 of Scotty Roach took off and was never threatened in picking up the win. Ryan Adams and Justin Laduke rounded out the top three.

In Street Stock action Sparky Staton picked up the win followed by fast-improving Jeremy Grogg and R.J. Judd

Sportsman action had the #9 of Sam Hunt on the pole with a time of 16.260 with Chad Click alongside at 16.470. But as the green flag dropped, Click jumped out to the lead with Hunt following close behind. Lap after lap Hunt started to narrow the gap and as the white flag flew he made one last attempt to get by the leader and spun coming out of turn 2. Click would take his first-ever Shenandoah Speedway win with Deryle Lawson crossing in second and Billy Keyes in third.

The 4C Super Modifieds were in town for their 25-lap event and put on a good show as pole-sitter Mike Renn picked up the win followed by Steve Wrenn in second and Wes Gilbert in third.

The 75-lap Late Model race was definitely a story of two different races as the drivers laid back and saved their best for the last 25 laps. Pole-sitter Kevin Bush paced the field with a time of 15.631 with Brian Purdham alongside on the front row at 15.855. The drivers raced side by side for the first two laps until Purdham got the edge to take the lead.

The racing action then seemed to move into a slower gear for the next 50 laps with the only real action being a couple of spins provided by the #11 car of Jeff Abbott. Then on lap 55 things started to heat up as Bush began inching closer to Purdham for the top spot, but back in the field the #01 car of Jason Adkins had caught the #38 of Mark Cook. On lap 62 Purdham slid up coming out of turn 4, allowing Bush to move to the inside and drivers started what would become an instant classic. Side by side, door to door, lap after lap these two weekend warriors battled while only making slight contact on one occasion.

Behind all of this great action was another battle of the same situation but with Adkins "the rookie" driver getting alongside and passing the "wily old veteran" Cook. When the white flag came out for the final lap, the Purdham and Bush machines seemed to be glued to each other entering turn 1. As this was happening in the front of the field, the #01 Adkins car got spun by Cook coming out of turn 4, sending the rookie into the outside and out of contention. Back up front, Purdham held his ground on the outside of the #51 Bush car and as the pair rounded turn 2 they made slight contact which sent Bush spinning to the inside but with no contact to the wall. Purdham crossed the finish line to pick up the win and hold onto his points lead with Cook finishing in second and first-time visitor Joey Mahaney in third. Bush and Purdham met at the finish line after the conclusion of the race to shake hands as both drivers agreed that the accident was just a racing deal.

Shenandoah Speedway will wrap up the season this week, Oct. 10, with racing action in all eight classes. Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stock, INEX Legends, VMCRA Mini Cups, SVSRL Mini Cups, UCARS and the ladies in the She-Cars.

Pit gates open at 2 p.m., Main gates at 5 p.m. with racing action at 7 p.m.

For more info, contact the speedway office at 540-652-1108 or check out the Web site at www.shenandoahspeedway.com