ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993                   TAG: 9305090160
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: E7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: CALLAWAY                                LENGTH: Medium


LAWHORN NEVER LOOKS BACK AT FCS

Rustburg's Dudley Lawhorn led from green flag to checkered flag in the 100-lap Late Model Stock Car feature of the Baker Brothers 300 in front of an overflow crowd at Franklin County Speedway on Saturday night.

However, a couple of yellow flags in between nearly cost him the victory.

Lawhorn credited the win, his first in 1993, to a set of new tires that helped him open an eight-second lead midway through the race. The cautions on laps 85 and 86 allowed second-place finisher Chrissy Oliver to close the gap and muster a challenge.

"I tried to save my tires until the end in case we had another caution," said Oliver, who has 65 career wins in 11 years of racing. "But Dudley's car was just set up a whole lot better than mine tonight."

Roanoke's Ronnie Newman continued his recent strong showings with a third-place finish. The past three weeks, Newman has placed 1-3-3 and has moved into fourth in the points race.

Three-time winner Rick Sigmon never got on track. During prerace inspection, the front end of his Oldsmobile was found to be too close to the ground and he was forced to start back in the pack. During the race, he got a flat tire and finished 10th.

In other races Saturday night:

Steve Lynch, fifth on the Mini Stock points list, catapulted to third with his second consecutive win. Lynch held off a late charge from points leader Tommy Dean, who was second. John Hall placed third.

Phillip VanDerVeer expanded his lead in the Street Stock points race with yet another win. Chris Foley outlasted Freddie Goff to place second. Goff was third, just ahead of Lonnie Foley.

In the Pure Stock competition, R.W. Lawhorne raced to his third win in a row. Kenny McKinney was second and Red Hartman third.

Neal Amos posted his first victory ever in the Rookie class, besting a crowded field of 23 cars. Mike Hall and William Martin were second and third, respectively.

Dean Sutphin extended his mastery of the Any Car classification, notching his fourth win of the year. Frank Kelly was second, just ahead of Jimmy Floyd.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING



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