Bill Rodgers and Ron Smith win exciting NASCAR feature races at Beech Ridge
Bill Rodgers made a winning move to win the Pro Series feature race on lap 38 of 40 and Ron Smith spent the last 5 laps of the Sport Series feature side by side with a competitor to win by inches on Saturday night.
Scott Berry and Shawn Brackett rounded out the winners of the NASCAR Whelan All American Series events. Keith MacKinnon and Steven Jones took turns leading the first 2 laps of the Pro Series main event until MacKinnon went in front for laps 3 and 4. On the fourth trip around the oval MacKinnon went high in the corner and Danny Bubar filled the hole and took the lead bringing T.J. Brackett with him to second place. The race stayed green until lap 19 when the caution came out for a 3 car spin in turn 3. When racing resumed it was Bubar and Brackett side by side for the lead. Following 3 laps of Bubar/Brackett side by side racing the caution waved again and Brackett was the leader by inches for the lead position on the restart. Once racing resumed Brackett and Bubar picked up where they left off in a heated side by side battle for the lead but this time they had Bill Rodgers, Dan McKeage and Al Hammond breathing down their necks. The race changed on lap 29 when Brackett lost the handle on his car and spun exiting turn 4 handing the lead to Bubar. Bill Rodgers was ready to make his move as he began to inch up on the outside of Bubar lap after lap until the 2 drivers were side by side on lap 31. Bubar led lap 32 and Rodgers was in front for lap 33 but Bubar still had the inside groove. The final 2 laps found Rodgers leading and taking the win over Bubar in second and Dan McKeage third who had the best seat in the house. Steve Carrier finished fourth and Keith MacKinnon was fifth. Not to be outdone by the Pro Series drivers the Sport Series finish was even closer with Ron Smith getting the win. Smith led from the pole position through the early laps of the race until the caution flag waved on lap 14. On the restart Smith went back in front with Corey Bubar and Russ Morse close behind. Don Colpritt moved to the second position at lap 25 but Smith had a 10 car length lead that Colpritt would have to erase. Smith seemed to prefer the outside lane giving Colpritt the inside line as they got side by side on lap 29. With just 6 laps remaining in the race Colpritt and Smith traded the lead at the line 3 times until on the final lap Smith got off turn 4 quicker and got to the finish line first by about a foot over Colpritt. Third place went to Corey Bubar with Frank Wear and Nate Leavitt rounding out the top five finishers. Scott Berry fired a warning shot to the Wildcat drivers in his qualifying race when he came from the back of the starting field to win that race. In the main event Berry played that scenario out a second time and was the winner. Matt Wyman led the first 13 laps until Berry arrived on the scene and made quick work of Wyman to be the new leader of the race. There were no caution flags in the 30 lap event and Berry was able to extend to a comfortable lead to secure the win. Wyman finished second with Buddy Minott third. James Travis and Lyman McKeage were fourth and fifth at the finish. Shawn Brackett stole the 25 lap Road Runner win when a lapped car helped him get the lead from Patrick Thorne on lap 20 but Thorne made a late race bid to get his lead back but came up just short at the finish. Tim Boyle was third with Tucker Miller and Brian Beaulieu finishing fourth and fifth. Mike Nest won the Wildcat Semi feature race for the lower point cars.