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Jay Vaquer
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (July 26) - Severe weather threatened East Alabama Motor Speedway this Saturday night but turned out to be just enough to cool things off and give the drivers a moist and tacky rich red clay surface to do their thing. In the Late Model division we had a spectacular race with the gifted rookie Richie "Rocketman" Stephens taking on the legendary champion Dana Eiland. Dana came for battle with a new pedigree blue K9. He was sporting the Ben Thomas Racing BTR Scorpion house car, the same one in which William Thomas won previous races. In the other corner the Rocketman, with a brand new Crate 604 in his Championship winning BTR Scorpion. Rocketman had already won the points for the year to be the 2008 EAMS Late Model Track Champion but he had something else to prove to his fans and haters. The Master of Faster Dana Eiland threw the first serious blow by setting the fast time in qualifying with a 16.03 to earn the pole for the feature. Another talented rookie, Chase Edge had also just installed a new 604 Crate and was on the outside pole when the green dropped. Eiland put the whip to the blue K9, barely cracking the throttle in the turn one corner and began leaving the pack in his wake. Edge and Larry Eldridge, running second and third, seemed evenly matched as Eldridge was persistently attacking the position. Bert Tompkins also came dressed for the occasion with a great looking graphics package and newfound speed to be running fourth, just ahead of the Rocketman in fifth. On lap 8 Kelly Leonard went off the backstretch to bring out the first yellow flag caution. On the restart again Eiland was outrunning the field as he pulled away. Suddenly Matt Woodson was stopped, spun around in turn one and the next caution was thrown. On this restart Rocketman's set up and warp drive came online as he blew past Tompkins to move into fourth. With the Rocketman on his heels Eldridge made every effort to pass Edge and they battled door to door. The Rocketman slid under in turn four to make it three wide but there were no changes in the running order as everyone seemed equal, with the exception of Eiland's blue K9 bird dog who was way out front. Edge was giving it all he had to stay ahead of the charging group behind him when at the end of the front straightaway his new power plant failed spewing water and sending Edge on a one way ride over the top of turn one. The track stewards had the field take a couple laps through the water to dry it up and then we went green. Eldridge running second was determined to not let Eiland get away from him and he stayed glued to the K9's tail down the front stretch and into turn one. The K9 stepped into some of that slick water and pushed up into the cushion with Eldridge right behind him. The Rocketman saw his opportunity and fired his Scorpion under Eldridge and Eiland and came out of turn two with the lead. Eiland ran down the Rocketman and even went door to door, which had all the fans on their feet, some cheering, some booing, but everybody got into this race. Finally the Rocketman delivered the knock out blow and got five car lengths ahead of the K9 and clearly made his point. It didn't matter about his old engine and all the protest, he made this great move to take the lead, because he is a bonafide champion. The Rocketman took the checkers because he is the real deal and deserves the title of 2008 Late Model Champion. Dana Eiland finished second and while his crew chief Mike Harris said the BTR is a very fast car the fans will see him running his Swartz black K9 again. Larry Eldridge finished third, Bert Tompkins fourth, Gordy Scarbrough fifth, Kelly Leonard sixth, Mike Parkerson seventh, Matt Woodson eighth, Pat Wall ninth, and Ben Summer rounded out the top ten in tenth.
Late Model
00 - Richie Stephens
K9 - Dana Eiland
18 - Larry Eldridge
30T - Bert Tomkins
27 - Gordy Scarbrough
13K - Kelly Leonard
41 - Mike Parkerson
88 - Matt Woodson
14 - Pat Wall
41 - Ben Sumner
613 - Marty Beckwith
15 - Jimmy Evilsizer
18 - Chase Edge
Limited Sportsman
31 - Mikey Mount
75 - Brand Lewis
72 - Chad Scrimpshire
5 - Rodgerick Dykes
5L - Thomas Lewis
22 - Danny Stroud
76 - Efrem Holbrook
J3 - John Capps, III
50jr - Steven Gaines, Jr
Hobby
24 - Allen McConnell
12 - Robert Jackson
29 - Randy Allen
2 - Jonathan Dozier
88 - John Jacobs
7 - Chris Arnett
294 - John Michael
90 - Jerry Luke
8 - Rodney Gorman
41 - Jason Anthony
14 - Curtis Haney
Bomber
7 - Trevor Elliott
7 - Jeff Elliott
75 - John Dozier
90 - Robbie Luke
38 - Chris Storey
83 - Cody Scrimpshire
52 - Shelby Amos
54 - Doug Pullen
13 - Mike Brown
3 - Steven Bryan
18 - Gary Boatwright
38 - Bryan Harden
65 - Greg Wilson
Pony Stock
11 - Brandie Gatlin
99 - Chance Renfroe
RX1 - Patrick Sheets
5 - Bryan Prins
88 - Cheryl Diana
17 - Bryan Price
57 - Mark Simpson
20 - Adam Rodriguez
7 - Bobby Duell
Modified
25 - Ricky White
M29 - Randy Register
25 - Herbie Donath
5 - Andy Smith
44 - Scott Prins
1 - Terry Braswell
M33 - Stacy Mashburn
2 - Johnny Greene
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