Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 12, 1995 TAG: 9506150007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Ronnie Thomas put his Dodge back in Victory Lane late Saturday night at New River Valley Speedway. The Christiansburg driver won the Late Model feature in the rain-delayed Hoechst Celanese 200.
The win was the Christiansburg driver's first since Thomas had to switch to the ``small'' (350 CFM) carburetor as part of an experimental track rule put in place to prevent him from dominating the division, which includes many Chevrolet drivers.
``If the Chevy boys are crying, I must be flying,'' Thomas told the crowd after the victory, referring to the complaints from other competitors about the horsepower advantage his Dodge had with the ``large'' (500/350 CFM) carburetor.
For most of the race though, it appeared Michael Ritch of High Point, N.C., would win for the third straight time. With the field starting on points because of thunderstorms that kept the race from finishing until after 10 p.m., points-leader Ritch started on the pole. He led the first 92 laps until Thomas slipped pst him coming out of turn 2.
``Most of the time, age and experience are going to beat youth and aggressiveness,'' said Thomas. ``I used acupuncture to get past Ritch - I kept the pressure on.''
For Ritch, seeing Thomas in his rearview mirror of his Chevrolet in the closing laps was not a welcome sight.
``He was laying back,'' Ritch said of Thomas. ``He was a lot better on the short runs. After the cautions, we couldn't get going fast right off the restart. I think we were better on the long runs though.''
That explains why Ritch appeared to be pulling away from the field at lap 60, after about 20 laps of green flag racing, yet was easily reeled in by Thomas six laps after the restart at lap 86. And when the caution came out at lap 98, it not only extended the race to 107 laps but the ensuing two-lap shootout played right into Thomas' strengths.
``We just did a whole lot of things different in the car,'' said Thomas, who had fallen off the pace and then wrecked late in the previous two races. ``We changed the whole suspension setup. We knew we couldn't win with the the way it was.''
Ray Young of Bassett was third in a Pontiac, Rodney Cundiff of Boones Mill was fourth in a Ford and Tony McGuire of Roanoke was fifth in a Chevrolet.
Hank Turman of Indian Valley moved in front on the first lap and stayed there to capture his second Limited Sportsman race of the year. Bruce Brown of Rocky Mount finished second, Bo Howell of Christiansburg third and Ronnie Byrd of Dublin fourth.
The race was called during a caution period at lap 27. Fog rolled in at 12:50 a.m. Sunday and limited visibility to a few hundred feet.
Charlie Smith of Dublin grabbed the lead on lap 8 and held on to win his second 25-lap Modified Mini Stock race of the season. Gene Duncan of Radford was second and Kyle Bishop of Riner third.
Randy Taylor of Madison jumped out in front on the first lap and went on to become the sixth different winner in seven Pure Stock races this year. Tommy Allie of Christiansburg was second and Barry Davis of Christiansburg third. The race was extended to 28 laps because of a late-race caution.
Fog prevented the Mini Stock race from being run. It was the first time in eight years of operation the track ever had a race ``fogged out.'' A season-high field of 28 drivers were to have competed in the event.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB