World Crown Weekend - Day #3
The last day of the
World Crown Weekend dawned bright and sunny. It was plain to
see it was going to be a GREAT day for racing. At 9:00 am the
teams started unloading their race haulers to get them ready to
remove them from the infield. All the haulers had to be
removed to make sure the large gathering of fans that was 
expected
could easily see the entire track and not miss any of the exciting
racing action that was sure to unfold. As the morning progress
the teams exited the track, and parked all their haulers out along
the back straight. The chapel service was held, along with the
drivers meeting. While all this was going on, the Atlanta
Freestyle Riders was on hand entertaining the fans.
Atlanta Freestyle is a motorcycle group that does tricks and stunts
on their bikes. They were very entertaining doing stunts like
wheelies, standing in the fuel tank, standing and balancing in the
rear fender, doing a hand stand on the bike, and lots more.
They did lots of interesting acts.
About 1:00 pm the
drivers autograph session got underway, and the main straightaway
was filled with kids and adults alike who wanted to get autographs
and pictures of their favorite drivers drivers or long time hero's.
Before long it was time for pre-race ceremonies and the track
honored our Nations Veterans since it
was Veterans Day. There were quite a few on hand, and we
salute all of them for what they do or have done to protect and
serve us here at home. A nice crowd had turned out, and
the grandstands were pretty full. It was obvious the crowd was
there to see a good race, and one was about to unfold in front of
then. Now it was time to fire
the engines and go racing.
As reported yesterday Matt Hawkins won the pole, this morning he rolled a four on the inversion and that put local favorite Wayne Willard on the pole. As the green flag flew, Willard grabbed the lead and looked to be very strong, but Hawkins was coming to the front in a hurry. By lap 4 Hawkins had moved to the front, a position he would have for a long time.
David Hole got into the back of someone and messed up the nose of his University of Auburn car. It looked like it effected the handling, and it sure had some fiberglass flapping. On lap #26 the car of Chris Cable spun and the first yellow was out. It was a chance for Hole to get some work done to his car. In just a couple laps we were back to green and as soon as we went back to racing a big mêlée occurred on the front stretch. The cars of Ronnie Sanders, Alex Garcia, Bobby East, Kevin Perry, and Dwayne Buggay all tangled and spun down to the inside along the inside wall. We were lucky no more race cars were involved. Garcia, and Sanders were able to continue, the rest were eliminated from competition.
At lap 50 the running order was as follows. Hawkins was leading followed by Paul Kelley, Ryan Crane, Wes Burton and Wayne Willard were the top 5. The rest of the top 10 was Jimmy Lang, Joey Senter, Bubba Pollard, Kyle Fowler, and Russell Fleeman.
On lap 54 the #7-11
car of Max Gresham spun on the back straight and wrinkled the nose.
Then a bit later Ronnie Sanders pulled his car to the pits and
called it a day.
It all ran clean and green until the lap 100 competition yellow. The leader got a $500 bonus for leading at lap 100. That bonus was sponsored by Bowen Family Homes. Matt Hawkins was still holding the lead, and collected the bonus. The run down at the end of 100 laps was as follows. Hawkins, Kelley, Burton, Fleeman, Pollard, Senter, Crane, Michael Pope, Taylor Satterfield and Fowler.
The teams had 10 minutes to work on their cars, but all had to wait until the race officials gave the word it was "OK" to start, and ALL work have do be done before the 10 minutes was up. The #66 of Chase Austin started too soon, and the #86 of Jimmy Lang was NOT done inside the 10 minute deadline. Both drivers was moved to the back of the field from their original running positions. Just a note here. Austin is a young up and coming driver, and has been tabbed to drive Rusty Wallace's car next season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (currently Busch Grand National Series).
Back to racing on lap 101 and it was high drama as the field was all bunched up and we still had 20 cars on the lead lap. Lots of jostling for position and two and three wide racing. This track may be getting a little age on it, but the competition is still great. On lap 128 Chris Dilbeck got behind on his steering, and lost it on the front straight. He ended up in the wall in turn #1. He had to go to the pits for repairs but would be back.
When
we went back to green again, the field was all bunched up, and as
they entered turn #3, we had our version of "the big one"
Taylor Satterfield got loose on the back straight, and spun entering
turn #3, as he did it collected a multitude of cars running behind
him. Cars included in the accident were John Wes Townley, Wayne
Willard, Larry Jordan, Ronny Kittle, Michael Pope, Shane Sawyer,
Kyle Fowler, Dennis Wilder, Jimmy Weller, Ronny Kittle, Jack Smith,
Bear Lynch, and Jimmy Lang. The thing that made it bad
for Lang is that previous to the competition yellow was that he had
been running toward the front. With the penalty he received
for not being done working on his car by the end of the 10 minute
period, he had to start at the rear of the field, and could very
well of been the reason he ended up in this accident. Only the
cars of Smith, Willard, Kittle, Sawyer, and Jordan were able to
continue.
The race run clean up past lap 150. At that time the running order was Hawkins, Senter, Kelley, Burton, Fleeman, Crane, Pollard, Satterfield, Smith, and Willard
On lap 160 Willard's car began to slow and fall off the pace, on lap 164 he pulled in the pits and called it a day. Up front the battle continued to rage. Joey Senter was hounding Hawkins as he had run him down, and Senter tried to get under Hawkins lap after lap. Several laps were even run side by side, but with Hawkins running the high groove, and Senter running the low line, Hawkins was able to keep the RPM's up and keep the lead lap after lap at the stripe. Further back in the field there was also a great battle for third through seventh positions. Fleeman, Pollard, Burton, Crane, and Satterfield kept battling side by side lap after lap, and were running so close you could throw a blanket over all five of them. One slip by any of the five drivers could eliminate all of them, but great driving, and patience made for a great show as the guys made lap after lap around the 1/2 mile speed plant all the while lapping slower cars and reforming to join back in their battle.
On lap 186 the yellow flew once again as Chase Austin and Larry Jordan tangled on the front straight. Jordans car flew over the front end of Austin's car and both cars were damaged to the point they were through for the day.
This was a HUGE break for Paul Kelley. He was just a few car lengths away from being lapped by Hawkins, and if this yellow had not came out, it is certain that Hawkins would of lapped Kelley by the 200 lap mark when the yellow flew for the second competition caution. During this lap 186 yellow period Kelley came in and took 4 new tires. A move that was questioned by some with the competition yellow coming up in just a few laps.... but seemed to prove to be the winning move.
The green flag waved again on lap 196 and Kelley restarted eighth. He passed three cars on his new tires before the second competition yellow flew, and moved himself up into fifth. This yellow was sponsored by Cedar Creek Hardware and also paid a $500 bonus to the leader of lap 200, which was again Matt Hawkins. The running order at lap 200 was Hawkins, Senter, Fleeman, Pollard, Kelley, Burton, Crane, Satterfield, Garmon, and Smith.
Again the teams got 10 minutes to make adjustments to their cars for the final 50 laps of racing to see who would claim the $10,000 winners check and the big trophy, and wear the crown for the 2007 Champion.
As the final green flag flew Hawkins tried to
break away from the rest of the field, but Joey Senter would have
none of it. He was right on Hawkins bumper and trying to
pressure Hawkins for the lead. Also right behind was Fleeman,
Pollard and others. On lap 205 Senter slips up a groove and it
opens a hole on the inside lane. Fleeman stuck his nose in and
passed Senter, the cars of Pollard, Kelley, and Burton all followed
Fleeman through, and freight trained Senter and shoved him to the
back of the line.
On lap 210 Pollard makes a move and gets by Fleeman into second place, and starts to reel in Hawkins. With all the jockeying behind him Hawkins had slipped away to about a 12 car length lead. By lap 225 Pollard had run down Hawkins to within two car lengths, and looked like he had the best car and could win the race. Kelley had also followed Pollard through, and was right on Pollards rear bumper. As the excitement built, you could just see a great finish was coming. In another couple laps Kelley managed to work his way around Pollard and then set his sights on Hawkins. As the flagman showed them 10 to go Kelley had moved to right on Hawkins rear bumper, and Pollard was lurking just behind in case the front two tangled. Hawkins and Kelley raced each other hard but clean, Kelley always looking for a way by and trying to pressure Hawkins to make a mistake. With three to go, coming out of turn #2 Kelley got a good bite off the corner, and he got up beside Hawkins down the back-straight; Kelley then drove his car about two car lengths deeper into the corner than Hawkins and they went through turns #3 and #4 side by side. As the come of of turn #4 Kelley had a slight lead and it looked like his car slipped up the track a little and pinched Hawkins car into the outside wall. Hawkins had to crack the throttle to avoid an accident, and Kelley was gone.
When the checkered hankie waved it was Paul Kelley winning for the second year in a row. Hawkins finished in second after a great run, third place went to Bubba Pollard, Russell Fleeman and Wes Burton rounded out the top five. The remainder of the top ten are as follows. Joey Senter, Taylor Satterfield, Ryan Crane, Jimmy Garmon and Jack Smith.