Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 20, 1990                   TAG: 9005200204
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF MOTLEY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Short

THOMAS BREAKS THROUGH

After five second-place finishes, Christiansburg's Ronnie Thomas passed Tink Reedy with 16 laps to go and held on for a car-length victory in the Hoechst-Celanese/Gatorade 200.

"I've been chasing this all year long," Thomas said. "I knew the win would eventually come, but I just didn't want it to be at the end of the season."

The race came down to a three-way battle among Thomas, Reedy and Ricky Seay. Thomas tried to pass Reedy several times, but was concerned about Seay.

"I was really worried about [Seay] because he was trying to pass me just like I was trying to pass Tink," Thomas said. "The last thing I wanted to do was mess up trying to pass Tink and wind up third."

Of the 22 cars that started the race, only 11 made it across the finish line because of some serious crashes. No drivers were injured, though.

Mason Ayers led all 70 laps to win the longest Street Stock race in track history.

Ayers avoided nine caution flags, including a six-car pileup on the 23rd lap, in a race that lasted 1 hour, 15 minutes. He held off Shannon Tate by three car lengths. Kenny Prillaman was third.

Ricky Jefferson held off a strong charge from Tim Walker and Bo Howell, winning his first Modified Mini Stock event of the year.

Mini Stock points leader Prillaman cruised to another easy victory in that division. The Smith Brothers, Mark and Charles, finished second and third, respectively, almost half a lap behind Prillaman.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING