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Jay Vaquer
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (August 9) - Last week's story featured the 2008 East Alabama Motor Speedway Late Model Champion Richie " Rocketman " Stephens and the track's living Late Model legend Dana " The Master of Faster" Eiland. As fate would have it, these two ended up in an exciting duel for the checkers in which, after winning the pole for fast time qualifying and leading most of the race, one small miscalculation by Eiland gave the victory to the Rocketman last week. This week Bert Tompkins continued his rise to the top winning the pole with a blistering 15.62, which was over a half second faster than any of the NLMS contenders a couple of weeks ago. It seems like the high banked clay oval has a mind of its own and determines how fast the surface is going to be regardless of how it's prepared. The Rocketman posted a 15.77 to earn the outside pole for the feature. When the green dropped Tompkins sped to turn one and chose an inside line which, after turning the corner he had to cut right to keep from skating up the track while the Rocketman stayed high in the cushion and very smoothly rolled into the lead coming out of turn two. On lap 2 Anthony Meadows, who started third, ran out of track and went over the top to bring out the yellow flag caution. Adam Brown coasted into the pits just before the green came back out. Josh Noles and Kelly Leonard went door to door on the restart and Noles won the battle and moved into fourth behind Larry Eldridge. Dana Eiland started the feature from sixth and was sizing up Noles looking for a pass when Gordy Scarborough spun in turn three to bring the yellow out again. On this restart The Master of Faster decided to put the whip to his black #K9 and drove hard into turn one. He then made a hard left turn and dove downhill to the apron passing Tompkins and Eldridge on his way into second place which thrilled his hundreds of fans as they all stood to cheer on the hero. Eiland proceeded to run down the Rocketman and was on his tail when Leonard got spun out for a yellow flag caution. On the restart the order was Rocketman, Eiland, Tompkins, Eldridge, Leonard, Chaz Haskins, Anthony Meadows, Montana Dudley, and Gordy Scarborough, who was working his way back to the front from dead last. When the green came back Eiland had prepared himself with momentum to take the lead from the Rocketman. The K9 blasted by to take the lead and it was on. When they reached turn three Eiland took the inside groove and the Rocketman took the cushion which gave him more speed than the K9. The Rocketman came up fast on the back bumper of the K9 and gave him that love tap which upset the K9's line. The Rocketman dropped to the inside and took the lead back. This move had all of the Rocketman's fans on their feet cheering and all of Eiland's fans on the feet protesting the move. Being the great champion he is, Eiland set up the Rocketman, who was blocking his every move, and in turn four Eiland shot his K9 back into the lead. It just does not get any better than this for race fans. The Rocketman had his teeth sunk deeply into the K9's tail and was not letting go. If Dana made even the slightest error the Rocketman was poised to take back the lead. Going into turn three the Rocketman went high in the cushion looking for the slightest bit of speed when his rear end broke loose and in slow motion carried him off the track to bring out the caution and relegate himself to the rear for the re-start. It looked like the K9 was out of the woods but Bert Tompkins was also riding on a rocket and blasted his way into second and was matching the K9's lap speeds. Eiland and Tompkins were a full straightaway ahead of third place Eldridge when the white flag flew. Once again, The Master of Faster thrilled his fan base with an exciting and well earned victory, taking the checkers and perpetuating his legacy. Bert Tompkins finishing second has officially become a serious contender in the Late Model division. Larry Eldridge finished third, Gordy Scarborough drove an excellent race to come from last to finish fourth, Chaz Haskins finished fifth, Richie Rocketman Stephens came in sixth, Kelly Leonard seventh, Montana Dudley eighth, Anthony Meadows ninth, and Marty Beckwith rounded out the top ten in tenth.
Late Model
K9 - Dana Eiland
30T - Bert Tomkins
18 - Larry Eldridge
27 - Gordy Scarbrough
107 - Chaz Haskins
00 - Richie Stephens
13K - Kelly Leonard
55 - Montana Dudley
31 - Anthony Meadows
613 - Marty Beckwith
44 - Scott Prins
16 - Josh Noles
9 - Adam Brown
Limited Sportsman
5 - Rodgerick Dykes
31 - Mikey Mount
72 - Chad Scrimpshire
91 - Josh Weathers
75 - Brand Lewis
62 - JW Noles
J3 - John Capps, III
2 - Chris Everidge
12 - Allen McConnell, Sr
115 - Dustin Elliott
2 - Randy Hester
5L - Thomas Lewis
Hobby
24 - Allen McConnell
8 - Jeremy Nelson
7 - Chris Arnett
12 - Robert Jackson
29 - Randy Allen
8 - Rodney Gorman
14 - Curtis Haney
99 - Randy Renfroe
1 - Nathan McBride
2 - Jonathan Dozier
41 - Jason Anthony
294 - John Michael
1 - James Mills, III
4 - Paul Still
30 - Steven Counts
90 - Jerry Luke
Bomber
7 - Jeff Elliott
721 - Billy Duell, Sr
7 - Trevor Elliott
16 - Drew Roberts
52 - Shelby Amos
83 - Cody Scrimpshire
38 - Chris Storey
15 - Ed Albritton
Pony Stock
17 - Bryan Price
20 - Adam Rodriguez
RX1 - Jesse Rivera
11 - Brandie Gatlin
99 - Chance Renfroe
RX10 - Scooter Rivera
5 - Bryan Prins
88 - Cheryl Diana
7 - Bobby Duell
Modified
25 - Herbie Donath
T5 - Terry Braswell
5 - Andy Smith
25 - Gordy Scarbrough
25 - Ricky White
10 - Jeff Culpepper
44 - Scott Prins
2 - Johnny Greene
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