Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 3, 1995 TAG: 9507040026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Tony McGuire and Ronnie Thomas won the battles late Saturday night at New River Valley Speedway.
Each driver won a 50-lap Late Model Stock Car race in the Commonwealth Concrete Products 200.
But Michael Ritch may have won the war. The High Point, N.C., driver was runner-up in each of the twin races. As a result, he increased his lead in the track points standings.
In the first race, Roanoke's McGuire took over the top spot after the pole-sitter, his brother Tim McGuire, spun on lap 11. Tim McGuire hit an oil slick in turns 3 and 4 that had been produced by Bob Komisarski, whose car had a loose valve cover. That spin and the oil caused several other top drivers to spin, including Thomas.
``I didn't realize what had happened at first,'' said Roanoke's Tony McGuire, who won for the third time this season and eighth time in his career at NRVS. ``I saw Tim getting sideways. He had sat on the pole and he just can't buy a break. The next thing I know, I'm sliding. Then I realized there is oil on the track.''
Tony McGuire got straightened out, though. That left him to duel with Ritch in their Chevrolet Camaros for the last 40 laps.
``It seemed like the cars were just about even,'' Ritch said. ``We tried to pull underneath him a couple of times. And we just about pulled it off.''
Completing the top five in the first race were Jeff Agnew of Floyd in a Chevy Monte Carlo, Rock Harris of Yadkinville, N.C., in a Pontiac and Ray Young of Bassett in a Pontiac.
In the second race, Thomas passed pole-sitter Agnew on the first lap. Then, Thomas and his small-carburetor Dodge coasted to an easy victory.
The triumph might not have happened if Thomas' team had not noticed some damage to the car from the first-race accident right before the nightcap.
``We were over at the scales and we found the right-rear shock mount was bent,'' said Thomas, who leads all drivers with five victories this season and 53 all-time. ``If we hadn't changed it we were headed for a 10th-place finish.''
Ritch made a run at Thomas with about 20 laps to go. But then he fell back and settled for the second-place finish.
``We were running strong, and then we had a mechanical failure near the end of race, so we just had to hang on,'' he said.
Roanoke's Tim McGuire was third in a Camaro, Roanoke's Tink Reedy took fourth in a Chrysler and Salem's Kenny Prillaman finished fifth in a Camaro.
Tony McGuire and Agnew tangled on lap 19 fighting for fourth place. McGuire ended up seventh and Agnew 11th.
In other races:
Christiansburg's Charlie Miles moved into the lead on the first lap and stayed there the rest of the way to win the 35-lap Limited Sportsman race. It was Miles' second victory of the season. Pole-sitter Terry Lawson of Christiansburg came in second, followed by Hank Turman of Indian Valley and Bruce Brown of Rocky Mount.
Radford's Wayne Moore moved in front on lap 6 and went on to capture his second consecutive 25-lap Mini Stock race and fourth victory overall. Ray Sowers of Floyd was second and Kevin Light of Pilot third.
Christiansburg's Barry Davis inherited the lead when Tony Rogers and Tommy Allie wrecked fighting for first place and went on to win his second 25-lap Pure Stock race of the season. Randall Custer of Christiansburg finished second and Ricky Eppling of Pembroke third.
Salem's Tim Maiden took over the lead with six laps to go and went on to win the caution-free 25-lap Modified Mini Stock race. It was Maiden's third victory of the season. Jimmy Hinkley of Christiansburg was second and Charlie Smith of Dublin third.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB