Opening Night Madness at The Madhouse
Winston-Salem, NC — 17,000 eager fans awaited the week-long rain-delayed Opening Night. Last week Modified drivers qualified, but only positions 1-10 were locked into their spot. From eleventh on back, drivers could re-qualify if they wanted to. Ronnie Clifton turned the fastest of all the drivers who re-qualified which put him in the eleventh position. It was a chilly night once 8 o’clock rolled around, but not one seat was left empty. As the announcer finished up pre-race ceremonies, 17,000 fans rose to their feet as the National Anthem came to a start.
The first race of the night was a Sportsman race which saw Michael Adams lead them to the green flag. With a field of only 14 cars the race would go green all 40 laps. Zack Ore cleared Adams going into Turn 1 and never looked back. John Holleman, after working over Adams for many laps, finally managed to get around him, but by this time Ore had a straightaway lead and no lapped traffic ahead of him. Strong contenders Derek Stoltz, Taylor Branch struggled throughout the race to move up from their starting positions. Zack Ore went on to lead all 40 laps and win the race. Second place belonged to Holleman, Adams third, Clifton fourth and Taylor Branch fifth.
The main event, The Hayes Jewelers 200, was up next. Jason Myers and Tim Brown led the field of 20 plus Modifieds to the green flag. Early on Jason put about a straightaway on the field as Tim Brown ran second and had a train of cars behind him. The second half of the race was nothing short of a wreck fest. Burt Myers managed to grab the lead on a restart from brother Jason, and Tim Brown actually slipped outside of the top 10. Michael Clifton went for a ride on the frontstretch guardrail and managed to walk away with what I heard from sources as minor injuries. 8 time Hayes Jewelers 200 winner Junior Miller was up to seventh, but contact from Brian Loftin ended his good night. Miller gathered it up, but the leaders were right behind him. Miller managed to stay in front of the leaders for about 40 laps until he finally gave way. During a string of a few late race cautions, Tim Brown worked his way all the way back up to third. There was one constant throughout this race, and that was the continuous threat of Brandon Ward. Brandon never fell below fourth and breathed down the neck of the leaders for 200 laps. I wanted to give him a plug because of how great of a person he is, and how much he does with what opportunities he’s given. Burt Myers went on to win, his third Hayes 200 win of the last 4. Jason Myers placed second, Brandon Ward third, Tim Brown fourth, and Chris Fleming fifth.
The Street Stock race was fairly clean, surprising for this division’s first race. They had about 22 cars, which is a great car count. Taylor Robbins took the lead early from Robert Lawson and K-Train, but a few laps later she caught the curb and Gilbert got into her left rear, ending both of their good runs. KJ Stimpson dominated most of the race once he passed Jac Creed. KJ caught lap traffic with around five laps to go and it held him to the point Derrick Rice caught up from a straightaway back. On the last lap going into corner three, KJ had the inside of Taylor Robbins and the two made contact, Derrick Rice made the most of the opportunity by slipping by both of them and taking the win.
The two Stadium Stock races were some of the better races of the night. The first one saw Daniel Yates dominate, and Brandon Brendle fall just short in his #11 machine. The second race saw, as you all know the GOAT AJ Sanders dominate and take another one of his countless wins at the stadium.
Sources: Brad Newman/YankeeRacer.com