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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 23, 1993                   TAG: 9305230143
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: D-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD WINS LMSC FEATURE

Ferrum's 62-year-old Paul Radford proved that theory Saturday night when he won the 100-lap Late Model Stock Car feature of the Miller Genuine Draft/WPSK 200 at the New River Valley Speedway.

Although Radford was the LMSC division points leader going into the race, the win was his first of the season at the speedway.

Radford, a racing veteran of 41 years, took the lead from Jeff Agnew on the 28th lap and won going away.

"I think the rest of the cars got a little loose as the race went on, while I stayed the same," he said. "My car stayed good while other guys' cars went away."

Michael Ritch finished second. The High Point, N.C., driver passed Agnew on the 46th lap and stayed in second place.

"My cord was a tad loose," said Ritch, pointing to his steering wheel. "I just wished we'd tightened up because I had to use my brakes going into the corner. But Paul was really fast. He's been fast since the beginning of the season."

Agnew ended up third. Chris Diamond finished fourth, and Frankie Pennington was fifth.

Ronnie Thomas, who had won the Late Model Stock Car feature the three previous weeks, stopped racing on the 16th lap because of an oil leak.

"It was spilling everywhere, just leaking all evening," he said. "I thought we had it cured going into the race, but we just couldn't get it fixed."

There was no surprise in the 25-lap Pure Stock race as Grump Wills won for the fifth consecutive week. The West Virginia driver won the pole and led the entire way. Christiansburg's Tommy Allie finished second.

Scott Brawley of Lenoir, N.C., easily won the 25-lap Modified Mini race. He took the lead on the first lap and won by six seconds over Christiansburg's Jimmy Hinckley.

There was an eight-car pileup on the second lap of the Mini Stock race. Six cars were towed off the track, causing a 20-minute delay.

Because of the delay, the Mini Stock and Limited Sportsman races were not completed at press time.