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Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (April 10) - If anyone knows the location of victory lane at Volunteer Speedway it's Jeff Maupin of Greeneville, but a disappointing campaign last year saw him shut out of the hallowed black-and-white checkered piece of real estate following his 2008 track championship.
Could Maupin have his sights set on another track title? He opened the 2010 weekly points events at "The Gap" up in impressive fashion as he led all 30 laps in winning the Super Late Model feature over Shanon Buckingham.
Buckingham toured the high banks at 12.115-seconds (118.864 mph) during qualifying to earn the pole position, with Maupin second-quickest to nail down the outside front row starting berth. The duo raced side-by-side the opening lap, with Maupin barely holding the advantage back around at the stripe.
The event's first caution waved quickly, working the second lap when the right-rear wheel on Rodney Kiker's mount broke between turns one and two. With Kiker wrecking, the cars of Kerry Jones, Bryan Hendrix, John Tweed and Mark Vineyard were forced into evasive action to avoid hitting Kiker.
Maupin led Buckingham, Jones, Chad Ogle and Dale Ball on the restart. Back under green Maupin and Buckingham battled for the top two positions, with Jones and Ogle mixing it up for third and fourth in the running order. Just behind them Ball had a rear view mirror full of Vineyard, with Vineyard overtaking Ball for fifth on lap 6.
Vineyard quickly closed to rear bumper of Ogle looking to move into fourth place, and following several peeks sticking his nose under Ogle racing off the corners, he grabbed the position on lap 15 racing off turn two.
Halfway into the 30-lapper Maupin led Buckingham by four car lengths as they had pulled out to a little over half-straightaway advantage over Jones, Vineyard and Ogle. With the front-runners working lapped traffic, racing into the first turn on lap 25 the third-running Jones attempted to get around Tweed. But contact between the pair saw Jones loop his car to bring out the caution with him sent to tail of the field for restart.
Maupin, driving the Creative Concrete/Tolliver Heating & Cooling /TEG Enterprises/G&W Hauling & Rigging/Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels/GRT Race Cars/Vic Hill Racing Engines/No. 0 Chevrolet Impala, had Buckingham glued to his rear bumper going back green for final 10-lap sprint to the finish. With both cars seemingly running on equal grounds, the race was Maupin's to win - unless he made a mistake.
Maupin would not be denied his first trip to victory lane since 2008, as he won over Buckingham, Vineyard, Ogle and Hendrix.
Jones worked his way back up to a sixth-place finish, with Robbie Moses, Ray Jarnigan, Mark Sturgill and Don Scalf completing the top-10.
"It's sure good to start the season off like this - winning," said Maupin after climbing from his car in victory lane with his crew cheering. "We had a really good season back in 2008 when we won races, and that helped us win the Super Late Model track championship. But last year, there's nothing you can say except it was awful. We'd be having a good run going and something would happen.
"It just got to where myself and the guys who helped me, we'd feel like we were defeated before we even arrived at the track. The luck we were having, we just expected something bad would happen and keep us from finishing races. To have a shot at winning races you've first got to finish, and we just weren't around at the finish very often last year. Winning this first race of the season, no doubt it's a huge boost for my confidence. When you win races, it puts everybody in a good mood the following week back at the shop working on the car. Hopefully we can come back next Saturday and win again."
With the Fastrak Racing Series-sanctioned Pro Late Model division competing as support class in the special events (Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series) to open the season at "The Gap," entering the night's racing program Morristown's Shanon Buckingham was already a perfect three-for-three in 2010. And following an impressive flag-to-flag run to victory, Buckingham still owns an unblemished record as he easily cruised to win number four.
Starting from the pole position Buckingham jumped into the lead at the drop of the green flag over Jackie Hughes, and once out front he never looked back - at times during the 25-lap feature holding slightly over a full-straightaway lead over his closest challengers. Buckingham was chased to the checkers by Hughes (his best-ever Pro Late Model finish), Vic Chandler, Shane Roberts and Dale Ball.
SUPER LATE MODEL (30 laps)
1) Jeff Maupin #0; 2) Shanon Buckingham #50; 3) Mark Vineyard #4; 4) Chad Ogle #10; 5) Bryan Hendrix #5; 6) Kerry Jones; 7) Robbie Moses #7m; 8) Ray Jarnigan #73; 9) Mark Sturgill #4m; 10) Don Scalf #B4; 11) John Tweed #1; 12) Dale Ball #7; 13) Rodney Kiker #25
PRO LATE MODEL (25 laps)
1) Shanon Buckingham #50; 2) Jackie Hughes #27; 3) Vic Chandler #88; 4) Shane Roberts #17; 5) Dale Ball #2; 6) Keith Helton #5; 7) Tim Byrd #24; 8) Pierce McCarter #71; 9) Forrest Trent #4Q; 10) Joey Steele #97; 11) Jerry Broyles #72; 12) Mack McCarter #51; 13) Richard Adkins #73; 14) Logan Hickey #16; 15) Ricky Moore #75; 16) Jake Eaton #29
HOBBY STOCK (25 laps)
1) Dustin Shaver #7; 2) Roger Hunter #7-11; 3) Devin Helton #17H; 4) Dennis Metcalf #55; 5) Tracy Wolfe #11; 6) Blake Kelley #K5; 7) Bobby Reed #54; 8) Jamie Whitt #1; 9) Chris Long #75; 10) Chuck Killian #96; 11) Craig Schmalzried #6; 12) Jon Cook #0z; 13) Patrick Flannery #38; 14) Terry Dean #47; 15) Bud Kelly #B21; 16) Jesse Wilder #79; 17) Curt Taylor #50; 18) Charlie Bates #27; 19) Dale Reed #52; 20) Eddie Adams #9; 21) Chuck Johnson #17; 22) Ed Collins #77; 23) Bobby Shelton #5 - Did Not Start: Robbie Woods #2
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