Bill Frye claims Lone Star shootout

Bill Frye claims Lone Star shootout

Kilgore, Texas (March 23, 2002) – Bill Frye was unstoppable as the O'Reilly SUPR Late Model Series invaded Lone Star Speedway. Frye overcame a late bobble in his heat race that caused him to start 11th in the feature. Undeterred, Frye worked his way through the field and caught then passed Kelly Boen to take the lead on lap 33. Frye would lead the remaining laps but he had to hold off a young duo at the end, Sam Patrick and Jon Mitchell.

Frye didn't think he was in a position to win the race when the feature rolled off but his car got stronger as the race went on and he knew early race leader Kelly Boen was on soft tires and he figured that he might have a chance. "I figured if we get a top 5 out of the feature we’d be alright but it seems the longer we went the better we got and I started picking them off a little bit. I was kind of surprised.”

Frye's lack of optimism stemmed from his disappoint in allowing himself to be passed on the lap of the 2nd heat by Kelly Boen. This forced Frye to start much further back in the feature than he would have liked. "Yeah we kind of got depressed in the heat race, that was my fault, I messed up the lapped car and Kelly got around me and that cost us probably six or eight spots for the feature and I really kind of wrote of winning the feature"

And in the early stages of the race it didn't look like anyone could top Boen as he held a solid lead over B&K Underground Top Qualifier Michael Coleman and James Ward. Boen selected a soft tire on the right rear and in the early stages of the race it appeared to be the right choice but as the race neared the halfway mark, the pack began to close in on Boen. As Boen tried to work his way through lapped traffic, Frye was able to get his underneath him in turn one to take the lead on lap 33.

Boen's shot at the victory was slipping away but he was still hopeful that he could bring home a top 5 finish. Unfortunately for the Henderson, Colorado competitor that chance also slipped away as Boen tangled with a lapped car on lap 41 and his night ended abruptly. "It was just a total racing deal, we were just going too fast to stop on the back straightaway and they got tied up in front of me. We had a good run going we just didn't get a chance to finish it off." Boen summed his recent spate of bad luck when he stated "one of these days we'll run out of ways not to win".

And while Boen's luck went down, Sam Patrick was driver that was happy to see his night end on a high note as he was able to catch Frye in the closing stages of the race and was able to run up alongside of Frye just falling short on his bid for that first O'Reilly SUPR Late Model victory. "The car was real good and I think I may have had something left there at the end but I almost hit the wall and I had to shut her down so I'll take second."

Jon Mitchell is another driver that had a strong run in the closing stages, rallying past 11 cars on his way to a third place finish. Al Purkey, Rodney Wing, Kennith Crowe, Rob Litton, Marlon Wild, James Ward and Ryan Plaisance rounded out the top 10.

42 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand with competitors checking in from 8 states. Heat race victories went to Michael Coleman, Kelly Boen, James Ward, Sam Patrick, Kennith Crowe and Rodney Wing. Chris Wall and Randy Cook topped the consolation races to complete the field. Ryan Plaisance was award the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger for passing 11 cars in the feature.

Designed and Developed by Internet Advantage

Maintained by Weakside Productions