FRIENDSHIP MOTOR SPEEDWAY Weekly Article

Elkin, NC - For the eleventh event of the 2008 racing season, the ASA Sanctioned Friendship Motor Speedway was back at it with some impressive races and finishes all through the show. The track would look the best that it has possibly all year while once again showing off the impressive work of the speedway staff as there would be two and three wide battles all through the night. All events went right on time this week as we were continuing to use the in-car race receivers. The kids meeting would be just as much a success as the racing with Coke-a-Cola coming on board as a sponsor. Friendship Motor Speedway showed that this was the place to be to enjoy great dirt track racing action in all feature events. This week featured all four of our regular divisions which are known as the GM Direct Automotive Crate Late Models, Basic Finance Super Street, Coffee House Four Cylinders, and the Southeastern Cars & Parts U-Car division.

In the GM Direct Automotive Crate Late Model event, an impressive turnout of twenty eight cars would be on hand to try their muscle to make their way into a twenty four car field. Setting quick time in time trials would be a new comer to this particular division with Michael Wells behind the wheel. Michael wells would start the feature from the sixth position after the top six drew for their starting spots in an effort to make things a little more interesting. This would put Mitchell Coble on the front row along side Chris Cheek for the start. Coble would lead early but not for long as Chris Cheek would power by and take the lead early in the run. John Eller would charge on the leaders before encountering a tough break by getting caught up in a lap traffic crash. Kent Peckham would make his move to second as he would look to have the car to beat mid way through. Kent made a run to the lead but not for long as the caution would come out putting him back to second. On the restart it would look to be Keith Holder on the move coming from the eighth starting position. Keith would make a hard charging run on the bottom and manage to pull off second from Peckham. With time and laps winding down Holder would put the petal to the metal as he would charge for Chris Cheek. Keith Holder would make a run and get along side Cheek and pick up first with just a few laps left. As the checkers flew Chris Cheek would come up short yet another time as Keith Holder from Dobson would score win number one of the season as he would roll into the Neighbors Stores/100.9 WIFM Victory Lane in his Watson Logging entry. Chris Cheek would come home second with an impressive run leading through lap traffic. Kent Peckham finished third, Mitchell Coble in fourth, and a great run by Kenny Vandeveer rounding out the top five. Tony Hicks who would be leading the points coming into the event would get caught up in a lap one crash sending him all the way back to finish twenty third and falling to second in the points behind new leader Chris Cheek, what a great points battle as it continues next week.

In the Basic Finance Super Street division, Wow! That would be the word used by many as the checkered flag fell in this feature. Points leader Daniel Moss would start from the pole along side Jimmy Watson. Daniel Moss would jump out the the lead in turn one but a hard charging John Stamper would make his move to the lead in turn three as Daniel Moss would just loose it and collect Watson. Jimmy Watson would be unable to continue as his drive shaft would come apart. Daniel Moss would restart from the rear. Jeff Parsons would line up in second for the restart behind Stamper. Jeff Parsons would run second for a few laps before having mechanical woes. Joey Barker driving the machine normally driven by Andy Mathis, put on a heck of a run charging up to Stamper for the lead. These two would do battle in the final laps as they would race side by side on the last lap into turn three. Stamper and Barker would would push high and bouce off each other slowing them down just enough for a charging Daniel Moss to sneak to the inside off of turn four and scoring the impressive victory. John Stamper would rebound to second and Joey Barker would look like Mr. Excitement as he would fall to finish third.

In the Coffee House Four Cylinder event, Matthew Warden and Robbie Brown would kick things off in this feature event as they would lead the field to the green flag. Robbie would lead ealry over Warden. Sandy Martin who has been a consistant top five runner all year would once again be looking for that first win as he would try to hold off a hard charging Tommy Zachary. It would not be for long as Tommy Zachary would make his move to the front passing everyone in his way. Robbie Brown would have mechanical woes and be done for the night, hurting him in his points battle with Sandy Martin and Billy Robbins. Matthew Warden and Billy Robbins would battle for second as they would try to make up any ground possible on Zachary. Tommy Zachary would score his fourth win of the season as he would bring it home with back to back wins. Matthew Warden would finish in second just in front of third and current points leader Billy Robbins. Sandy Martin hung on to fourth with an impressive run by Justin Hudspeth in fifth.

In the Southeastern Cars & Parts U-Car feature event, Ben Walker would score back to back wins as he would do battle with Boo Boo Dalton all through the event. Boo Boo Dalton would finish in a strong second with Tyler Sidden in third. Matthew Barker would add some ground to his points lead as he would finish fourth and rounding out the top five would be the familiar Friendship driver of Barry Wilson.

Congrats to this weeks feature winners and thanks to all the dirt racing fans, drivers, and crewmen for your support as we head into the twelfth event of the 2008 racing season on August 9th. Coming up for our next event will be all of our regular divisions known as the GM Direct Automotive Crate Late Models, Basic Finance Super Streets, Coffee House Four Cylinders, and the Southeastern Cars & Parts U-Car division. Come on out as we would love to have you as part of our dirt racing family.

For more information, complete results, and the latest on the happenings of Friendship Motor Speedway just log onto www.FriendshipRacing.com, the official website of Friendship Motor Speedway. Be sure to bring the family, friends, or whatever the case may be to the best dirt track racing in the south at Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina.

(Article written on August 3rd, 2008 by Corey M. Hensley)