Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409240058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From staff and Landmark News Service reports
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Rumley, of Winston-Salem, N.C., led 83 Late Model Stock Car qualifiers with a speed of 88.346 mph at the half-mile track.
Another New River Valley Speedway regular, Tony McGuire of Roanoke, qualified fifth at 87.854 mph. Ronnie Thomas of Christiansburg earned the 10th spot with a run of 87.610 mph, and Kenny Prillaman of Salem qualified 11th at 87.582.
Jeff Agnew of Floyd qualified 13th at 87.440, and Tink Reedy of Roanoke was 20th at 87.086 mph.
Cars failing to make the top 20 on Thursday will compete in one of two 25-lap qualifying races at 4 p.m. today. Spots 21-32 will be decided in the races, and there will be four provisional spots available.
Barry Beggarly of Pelham will start second, missing the top spot by less that two hundredths of a second.
Rumley credited his Basset-based team with the way the car ran.
``We ran a 300-lap race last Sunday at South Boston, no fenders, no hood, no nose, at the end of 300 laps - we finished fourth,'' said Rumley. ``The crew put the car back together in three day and it's right. They did the work; I didn't do anything. They won the pole more than I did."
Beggarly, in the top spot until Rumley took his laps, was pleased with his outside front row starting spot.
``I'm not disappointed,'' said Beggarly. ``We've got two hundred laps to run here and as long as we've got a good starting spot, we'll be OK.''
Beggarly, recently crowned the Mid-Atlantic Champion for the second year in a row, is looking to add to his 18 wins this year.
``We came back just like we ran last fall, so I feel like we will be good for the race.''
Rumley and Beggarly have similar views when it comes to race strategy. The best place to be is out front.
``You run as hard as you can and then you worry about strategy in the second half,'' Rumley said. ``These cars are not like the Winston Cup cars so you shouldn't wear out your brakes if the car is right. I'm pretty easy on brakes, anyway.''
The 200-lap event is run in two 100-lap segments with a 10-minute stop between segments. During the break crews will be allowed to change two tires and perform other work on the car that they might otherwise do in the course of a normal pit stop.
Practice for the 200-lap event was cut short by a lingering mist that kept the cars off the track until 11:30 a.m. - three hours later than scheduled.
Qualifying for the Winston Cup cars is set for 3 p.m. today to be followed by two 25-lap heat races to fill out the field for Saturday's Goody's 200.
The top six from each heat race will transfer with the final four spots filled by provisional spots allocated by rankings in the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern Seaboard region points standings.
The Goody's 200 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon start to be followed by the final practice for the Goody's 500 Winston Cup event on Sunday. The race will be aired on tape delay in prime time Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB