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Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (April 26) - Mark Douglas of Knoxville is a two-time (2002 & '03) Volunteer Speedway track champion and had won 21 career Super Late Model features at "The Gap." While not competing on a full-time schedule at the track over the past few years, his last visit to victory lane had come during the 2004 racing season - that is, until a flag-to-flag run to the checkers for the 22nd occasion in the "Gateway Ford" Super Late Model feature Saturday on Pizza Plus Meet the Drivers Night.
Douglas set fast-time at 12.586-seconds (114.414 mph) to earn the pole position for the 35 lap main, with Shanon Buckingham timing in second-quickest at 12.593 to nail down the outside front-row starting berth.
Douglas grabbed the lead over Buckingham as they raced off turn two on the opening lap, with Vic Hill, Jeff Maupin and Kerry Jones in tow. The event's first caution waved on the third lap, when Travis Greer bounced off the outside guardrail around turns one and two, then slowed down the backstretch.
With the Delaware Double-File Restarts being used, Douglas was sitting all alone out front while Buckingham and Hill lined up directly behind him. Just one circuit after going back green, a wild melee ensued on the front straightaway just past the flagstand, which collected Herman Goddard, Michael Jackson, John King Jr., Marty Calloway, Luke Laney, Shane Roberts and Dennis Alverson. The mounts of Goddard, Jackson and King sustained significant damage.
Back under green, Douglas was setting a blistering pace out front over Buckingham, who had a rearview mirror full of Hill. While the lead trio put some real estate between themselves and fourth- and fifth-running Maupin and Chad Ogle, they quickly closed to the tail of the field to begin placing slower cars a lap down.
Mark Vineyard, after starting from the 11th spot, passed Dale Ball racing off turn two to move into seventh in the running order on lap 12. Zeroing in on Jones, who was holding down sixth, Vineyard got a strong run racing off the fourth turn on lap 20 to complete the pass for position, while also opening the door for Ball to drop Jones back another spot to eighth place.
With 10 laps remaining, Douglas had his path blocked by cars he was attempting to lap and he had a hard-charging Buckingham and Hill poised and ready to pounce should he make a bobble while maneuvering past the slower traffic. Buckingham stuck his nose under Douglas racing off the turns on both ends of the track over the last three laps of the feature, but Douglas, driving the C. Laney & Sons Construction/For The Serious Racer (FSR) Performance Parts & Fabrication/Allstar Performance/Wilwood/ButlerBuilt/HANS/Quality Heating & Air/Rocket Chassis/Gaerte Racing Engines/No. 52D Chevrolet Impala SS, would not be denied a long-awaited trip to victory lane. Chasing Douglas to the checkers were Buckingham, Hill, Maupin and Ogle.
Completing the top 10 finishers (with the top-9 on the lead lap) were Vineyard, Ball, Jones, Bryan Hendrix and Bobby Mays.
"Man, you just don't know how good it feels to finally win again," said a relieved and smiling Douglas in victory lane after the race. "Over the last couple of years, all you can say is we've just had bad luck. You name it, and it's happened to us. But no matter where we've raced, we've run well and really should have won quite a few races. Knowing we've run well, I guess that makes it somewhat easier to handle the adversity we've endured with the bad luck.
"We had a really good car tonight, and we definitely needed it to be able to outrun (Shanon) Buckingham and Vic (Hill). Having to work our way around the slower cars late in the race while lapping them, kind of made for a couple anxious moments. I want to give special thanks to my car owners Chuck and Luke Laney for all they do for me, because it takes guys like them who really have a passion for racing. That's what it takes if you want to race at a highly competitive level. I also want to thank my dad and mom (Reeford and Linda Douglas), my brother Dewayne Douglas, and Donnie Carroll for their hard work and support."
Jensen Ford of Johnson City turned some heads with his strong performance in winning the 25-lap "Courtesy Chevrolet" Crate Late Model feature. The 20-year-old Ford, who is a co-owner along with his parents Tony and Teresa Ford of TNT Race Cars & Parts, located in Piney Flats, jumped into the lead over the stellar 24-car field at the drop of the green and never looked back en route to his first victory of the season, and the second of his young career.
Ford was followed to the checkered flag by Kelly Glass, Dale Ball, Luke Laney and Steve Jones. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Todd Brooks, R.J. Mayes, Mark Cloud, Chuck Laney and Joe "Dirt" Good.
Mike Hodges of Morristown held off Dustin Shaver for his second "Rusty Wallace Toyota" Hobby Stock feature win of the season, with Roger Hunter, Dale Reed and Chuck Johnson rounding out the top five at the checkers.
Joey Allen of Newport has developed a habit, albeit a good habit - of visiting victory lane. Allen led flag-to-flag en route to capturing his third consecutive Mini Stock feature win over John Broce Jr., Toby Jones, Allen Carrier and Stevie Wykle.
Newport's Wayne James captured the 15-lap IMCA Open Wheel Modified victory over Jimmy Dalton, Jerry Fobare, Terry James and Bobby Edens.
"GATEWAY FORD" SUPER LATE MODEL (35 laps)
1) Mark Douglas #52D, 2) Shanon Buckingham #50, 3) Vic Hill #1, 4) Jeff Maupin #0, 5) Chad Ogle #10, 6) Mark Vineyard #4, 7) Dale Ball #7, 8) Kerry Jones #6, 9) Bryan Hendrix #5, 10) Bobby Mays #25, 11) Mike Smith #4, 12) Luke Laney #91, 13) Randy Davidson #28, 14) Phil Helton #24H, 15) Dennis Alverson #71, 16) Shon Flanary #98, 17) Marty Calloway #7c. 18) John King Jr. #11k, 19) Michael Jackson #Q, 20) Herman Goddard #22, 21) Shane Roberts #32w, 22) Travis Greer #11g - Did Not Start: Barry Arnold #15, Dennis Stiles #00
"COURTESY CHEVROLET" CRATE LATE MODEL (25 laps)
1) Jensen Ford #83, 2) Kelly Glass #01, 3) Dale Ball #2, 4) Luke Laney #9, 5) Steve Jones #1, 6) Todd Brooks #T1, 7) R.J. Mayes #99, 8) Mark Cloud #59, 9) Chuck Laney #91, 10) Joe "Dirt" Good #911, 11) Hugh "Wishbone" Scalf #56, 12) Allen Carrier #57, 13) Mark Sant #79w, 14) Josh Henry #B00, 15) Jesse Helton #28, 16) James Cole #5, 17) Jackie Hughes #27, 18) Vic Chandler #88, 19) Tony Trent #18, 20) Jeff Maupin #0, 21) Travis Trent #5, 22) Rusty Fox #25, 23) Ricky Moore #99, 24) Weston Gantte #14 - Did Not Start: Logan Hickey #16, Joey Steele #97, Brent Hensley #70, Trevor Crittenden #91
"RUSTY WALLACE TOYOTA" HOBBY STOCK (20 laps)
1) Mike Hodges #m2, 2) Dustin Shaver #7, 3) Roger Hunter #7-11, 4) Dale Reed #52, 5) Chuck Johnson #17, 6) Dennis Metcalf #55, 7) Les Bradley #34, 8) Mike Kelley #8, 9) Ray Jarnigan #31, 10) Patrick Flannery #38, 11) David Shelton #7, 12) Jesse Wilder #79, 13) Charlie Bates #27, 14) Bobby Reed #54, 15) Terry Cobb #T14, 16) Tony Mullinex #71, 17) Everett Cobb #13, 18) Jamie Whitt #1, 19) Terry Dean #47, 20) Jon Cook #0z, 21) Chris Gregg #9, 22) Chris Long #75
MINI STOCK (20 laps)
1) Joey Allen #A00, 2) John Broce Jr. #44, 3) Toby Jones #66, 4) Allen Carrier #B1, 5) Stevie Wykle #97, 6) Brandon Johnson #B01, 7) Shawn Henry #0, 8) Chad Whitman #21, 9) Ernie Stubblefield #21s, 10) Kevin Atwell #95, 11) Randy Lane #5, 12) Terry Dean #20r, 13) Keith Helton #9, 14) Eddie Smith #8s
IMCA OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED (15 laps)
1) Wayne James #4, 2) Jimmy Dalton #2, 3) Jerry Fobare #4f, 4) Terry James #0, 5) Bobby Edens #50
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