Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Bowman Gray Racing: Summertime Blues and First Time Winner

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - It's the last race before the 4th of July weekend off at Bowman Gray Stadium but the drivers didn't let that keep them from putting on a good show for the thousands of fans.

After a wild demolition derby type race the previous week the Street Stock Division kicked off the night and ran a race so clean Clorox should've been the sponsor. It could have been the result of a stern speech in the driver's meeting or maybe team owners are just tired of spending so much money. Either way, the only action was a spin here and there and only one real case of a driver getting mad at another when Zack Linville chased down Doug Wall after the checkered flag and gave him a moderate love tap at the start finish line. That move drew the ire of starter Randy Smith who was on the track handing the checkered flag to the race winner when the bump occured really close to him. He went to the Linville car and let the driver know that wasn't acceptable. The race was won by Brian Wall, the people's champ, who started on the pole and had a car that was the class of the field. Wall led every lap to win his first feature of the season and went to victory lane to celebrate with his sons.

The Modified Division ran 2 25-lap events. Jason Myers and Tim Brown started on the front row of the first race and Myers quickly grabbed the lead and led wire to wire to grab the win. The Madhouse scramble propelled the Joseph Brown and Ronnie Clifton to the front row for the 2nd race. Clifton and Brown tangled on the start sending Clifton into the turn 4 wall ending his chances for a good run and Brown had a transmission issue that may have contributed to getting turned around late in the race by Michael Clifton. Randy Butner ended a long winless streak picking up the win in the 2nd race.



The Sportsman Division ran a 60-Lap feature with Kevin Neal and Michael Adams pacing the field. A big wreck about halfway through the event took out Mike Robertson, Dylan Ward when Billy Gregg got spun around off the nose of the Ward car. Robertson didn't have any where to go and piled in making hard contact with the Ward car. Kevin Neal held off John Holloman IV on several late restarts to win the Sportsman Feature for the second week in a row.

The Stadium Stock Division saw a first time winner in one of it's 2 features. Robert Strmiska battle with Derek Sheets lap after lap in the closing laps of the first event making an impressive outside pass in turns 3 and 4. The two cars raced to the finish line trading paint and banging tires with Strmiska getting his first ever win at Bowman Gray Stadium.

In the second Stadium Stock race Billy Cameron Jr. grabbed his second win of the season in his Toyota Celica.

Racing will resume at Bowman Gray Stadium on July 9.

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