08/09 Motor Mile Speedway

Heading into the home stretch, we traveled to Motor Mile Speedway for the last time with Jason Moye getting the opportunity and making his move to the front with his Aztec Rental machine at just the right time to lead the field to the checkered flag and I believe get his first win ever at Motor Mile. Congratulations not only to you but to Jay for his hard work getting you there. This gives Jason a slight edge in the points with just a 12 point gap between him and the #17 of Jason Adkins who also landed a good finish in the 3^rd spot. So once again we’re heading to the end of the season with yet another tight battle for several positions.

We had 16 cars to make the trip but only 15 would start the race as Chris Grubb in the #26 made hard contact with the wall in the first practice ending his night with considerable damage that couldn’t be repaired in time to race. This was one of Jim Whitt’s car’s that was for sale so it would probably be a safe bet that the price just went down if anyone is interested. He also had the #21 there with Cody Kirby behind the wheel. That looked a little strange seeing Cody in the #21 with the #33 on the track but for anyone that doesn’t know, our newest car owner and driver, David Williams was behind the wheel in the #33 that he recently purchased from the Kirby’s. Welcome aboard David and great job for your first time out.

So with two practice sessions complete, qualifying would see some fast times posted with Jerry Perdue on the pole with a time of 20:10. Just out of curiosity, I went back a couple years and just confirmed that this was the fastest qualifying time posted by a Virginia Mini Cup at Motor Mile. Following him, still fast but at a little more normal pace was the #88 of Jason Moye taking the outside of the front row. 3^rd was Amanda Forney who has really found her way around this track. 4^th was Kevin Berkstresser, 5^th Justin LaDuke who I believe instead of adding lead to his car, has dropped some in his right shoe, good job Justin. 6^th went to Jason Adkins, 7^th to Travis Roach, 8^th Andy Defillips, 9^th to Matt Wade and rounding out the top 10 was Tyler Roach. 11^th was Darrel Williams 12^th was Cody Kirby, 13^th, again in his first time out was David Williams, 14^th Fred Jackson, and last but certainly not least, 15^th starting spot went to Gary Greenway.

With the field set for 30 laps of racing, Jerry Perdue would lead us at the start and would make it 17 laps before he turned that spot over to Jason Moye. Our first caution would come out on lap 18 when Fred Jackson took a spin in turn 2 and backed it into the pit wall tire landing hard and ending up with considerable “rear end” damage and having to bring it into the pits. Our second caution came out on lap 27 when the #20 also took a spin and brought it in and set up the field for a 3 lap shootout. Up to this point and throughout the rest of the race, positions 3-7 would also find themselves doing several position changes but at the checkered it was Jason Moye, Jerry Perdue and Jason Adkins finding their way to Victory Lane. 4^th would go to Travis Roach, 5^th to Kevin Berkstresser, 6^th to Justin LaDuke, 7^th to Amanda Forney, 8^th to Matt Wade with header pipe problems and an ill handling car, 9^th to Andy Defillipis who is also holding a 2 point lead in the Rookie standings, 10^th to Tyler Roach who is working hard to chase down Andy in the Rookie points, 11^th to Cody Kirby, 12^th to David Williams, 13^th to Darrel Williams (happy to finish the race without doing any more crash testing), 14^th was Gary Greenway, and finally, 15^th was Fred Jackson, who signed his name on the Infield wall tire :o)

Next Race – Franklin County 8/23/08. At this race, you will get your 2009 nomination forms. I tell you this ahead of time so you will be prepared and can begin your conversations about next year. Three years ago, I sold all of my cars and had planned on not returning, however, Matthew just wasn’t ready to give it up. So we bought another car, and I’m glad we did because it allowed him to fulfill his goal of having a championship season. With that being done and with his blessings, this is our final year. I will not be returning in any capacity, nor will Robyn. It’s been 13 years and we’re ready to move on to other things, racing and the headaches associated with it not being one of them. So it’s time for you to start having your own conversations about the future of the VMCRA. I’ve heard the rumors – Jim Whitt’s starting a group, Darrel Watkins (per his brother Mike) is starting a group, already has members and races scheduled, etc. My thoughts, why start a “new” group – step up and move this group forward. Anyway, now it’s up to all of you to decide the future and I wish you all good luck in whatever you do.

See ya at Franklin County

Willie