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Michael Despain
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (June 21) - Bluegrass Speedway presented the 5th Annual Shorty Gardner Memorial for the WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman on Saturday evening and Roger Cecil of Bardstown, KY scored the $500 payday for his victory. Other feature winners for the evening included Tim Tungate of Campbellsville, KY in 44 Auto Mart Super Late Models, Jason Wheatley of Loretto, KY in Kentucky Cooperage Modifieds, and Joe David Humphrey of Loretto, KY in Street Stocks.
The 5th Annual Shorty Gardner Memorial event would see Rob Jones take the initial green flag and open up a sizable lead, only to have pair of caution flags erase his lead. Roger Cecil would pressure Jones after the second caution and would work his way past Jones for the lead on lap 14 in turn one and would drive on to pick up the win in the 5th Annual Shorty Gardner Memorial race behind the wheel of the 44 Auto Mart/El Jimador Restaurant/First Financial Credit/Teamsters Local 89/RER Concrete/Cecil Trucking/M&M Get-N-Go sponsored #5 Chevy Monte Carlo, Dale Meers Race Engines powered machine. Jones would claim runner-up honors, with Logan Whitis would finish third. An incident on the final lap involving the fourth through sixth place cars would see Lois Campbell sneek through to finish fourth, with Bill Wallace claiming the final position in the top five. Cecil would be the top qualifier among fifteen entries with a lap of 18.865 seconds. Whitis would claim the dash win, while Troy Scott would win the heat.
The 44 Auto Mart Super Late Model feature would see Tim Tungate take the lead, with Scotty Earl, Johnny Wheeler, Aaron Hatton, and David Webb in pursuit. Dustin Neat would take fifth on lap 2. As Tungate would begin to open his lead over Earl, Hatton would pressure Wheeler for third, but could not make the pass. Tungate would continue to slowly build his lead by lap 10, with Wheeler closing on Earl for second, while Hatton continued to pressure Wheeler for third. The lone caution of the race flew on lap 14 when Matthew Rigdon spun in the center of turns three and four, with second place Earl coming to a halt and making contact with Rigdon, but able to continue and would be put back in his running position. The restart would see Hatton dive beneath Wheeler and take third off of turn two. Hatton would begin to mount a charge on Earl for second, with Neat pressuring Wheeler for fourth. Neat would slide to fourth on lap 16, while Tungate would again begin to open his lead. Lap 18 would see Hatton turn up the wick on Earl and that battle would allow Tungate to increase his lead even more. The final five circuits would see the top five remain the same, with Tungate scoring his 28th career Bluegrass Speedway Super Late Model victory aboard the Logan and Jane Parrott owned, Darrell Morrison Mechanical/Osborne Construction/Campbellsville University/Guardian Mortgage/J&L Title/Wilson Plumbing/Commonwealth Building Products/ABC Child Care/Barnes Auto Sales/The Shack/Terry Reynolds Auto Sales/B&W Auto Recyclers/Jeff's Food Mart/Phillips Lanes and Restaurant/Cox Properties/Smoke Pit Bar-B-Q/Heritage Hills Molding/WMB Motorsports/MDW Transport/JET Pressure Washing sponsored #18 C.J. Rayburn Race Cars, Pro Power Race Engines machine. Earl would finish second, with Hatton taking third, while Neat and Wheeler would complete the top five. Wheeler was top qualifier among twelve entries with 16.042 second lap. Earl would win the dash, while Jeff Watson would score the heat victory.
In the Kentucky Cooperage Modified main event, Joe Gray would jump to the early lead and hold the top spot for three laps until Jason Wheatley would slide by on lap 4 and survive a pair of restarts with two laps remaining to pick up his first open-wheel checkered flag of the season at Bluegrass Speedway, where he was the 2007 track champion for the division. Wheatley would stave of the charges of last week's winner Benji Lee over the final laps and would get an excellent drive off of turn two on the final lap after the final restart to secure the victory in the Tommy and Kaylee Wheatley owned, B&W Metals/Rosewood Bar and Grill/Gootee &Mattingly Heating and Air/Central KY Plumbing and Electrical/Cozy Corner/VFM Manufacturing/Wheatley Tile Flooring/Wheatley Seamless Gutters/Wheatley Auto Sales/Brady Excavating/Springfield Auto and Farm/St. Joe Garage/Top Notch Landscaping sponsored #7 Hughes Chassis, Mullins by Wheatley powered unit. Benji Lee would finish second, with Gray hanging on to score third. Randy Turpin and Johnny Lee would complete the top five. A pair of heat races would be contested, with those checkered flags falling to Johnny Lee and Gray.
The Street Stock feature would complete the evening's activities and Joe David Humphrey would lead the way in claiming his second Street Stock feature of the season at Bluegrass Speedway, surviving a rash of cautions during the middle stages of the race and a loose handling race car at the finish. Humphrey's victory would come behind the wheel of the Independent Stave Company/Smart Shoppers/St. Joe Garage sponsored #28 Chevy Monte Carlo. Terry Greenwell would nip Robbie Settles at the checkered flag in a photo-finish for the runner-up slot, while Jason Priddy and Willie Edelen would round out the top five. Two heat races would be contested in preliminary action, with those victories going to Johnny Cecil and Humphrey.
SUMMARY-Bluegrass Speedway-Bardstown, KY-June 21, 2008
44 Auto Mart Super Late Models (12 entries)
Top Qualifier- Johnny Wheeler 16.042
Dash- Scotty Earl, Tim Tungate, Aaron Hatton, Johnny Wheeler, David Webb, Dustin Neat
Heat- Jeff Watson, Lee Devasier, Anthony Ferguson, Matthew Rigdon
Feature- Tim Tungate, Scotty Earl, Aaron Hatton, Dustin Neat, Johnny Wheeler, David Webb, Lee Devasier, Jeff Watson, Anthony Ferguson, Jacob Webber, Bryant Woodcock, Matthew Rigdon
WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman (15 entries)
Top Qualifier- Roger Cecil 18.865
Dash- Logan Whitis, Rob Jones, Roger Cecil, Avral Thompson, Grady Moore, Jr., Bill Wallace
Heat- Troy Scott, Sam Huffer, Paul Lewis, Jr., Homer Barger
5th Annual Shorty Gardner Memorial- Roger Cecil, Rob Jones, Logan Whitis, Lois Campbell, Bill Wallace, Sam Huffer, Avral Thompson, Troy Scott, Elton Martin, Matt Lewis, Paul Lewis, Jr., Grady Moore, Jr., Joe Dunbar, Homer Barger (DNS- Daroyl Samples)
Kentucky Cooperage Modifieds (14 entries)
1st Heat- Johnny Lee, Benji Lee, Dion Benningfield, Dan Beasley
2nd Heat- Joe Gray, Jason Wheatley, Joe Mattingly, Randy Turpin
Feature- Jason Wheatley, Benji Lee, Joe Gray, Randy Turpin, Johnny Lee, Josh Lucas, Brad Schlosser, Timmy Glazer, Sam Murphy, Whit Salyers, Dan Beasley, Joe Mattingly, Dion Benningfield (DNS- Brian Hash)
Street Stocks (15 entries)
1st Heat- Johnny Cecil, Terry Greenwell, Brad Leake, Robbie Settles
2nd Heat- Joe David Humphrey, Shane Lafollette, Ray Jones, Roy Skaggs
Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Feature- Joe David Humphrey, Terry Greenwell, Robbie Settles, Jason Priddy, Willie Edelen, Joe Walker, Shane Lafollette, Chad Chaney, Ray Jones, Johnny Cecil, Brad Leake, Jason Bartley, Roy Skaggs, Freddy Mercer (DNS- Mike Cozzin, Jr.)
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