Merchant Claims Belated Lone Star Victory

Kilgore, Texas (May 18, 2002) - Kennith Crowe’s misfortune proved to be Kenny Merchant’s redemption.  Crowe led flag-to-flag in an apparent victory but upon post race inspection the heads on his engine were deemed to be beyond specifications handing the victory to Merchant.  Kenny Merchant’s third O’Reilly SUPR Late Model victory of the year was the first with a Keith Craft power plant and it comes on the heels of a gut wrenching lost at Pike County Speedway, a race that Merchant was winning until a rear end failure on the penultimate lap.

Merchant felt his car was the fastest car at the end of the race but that his strategy of survival first kept him from catching Crowe on the track.  “I just rode, rode, rode and killed too much time but you just couldn’t race, we were at the mercy of the track.”  Lone Star was plagued with heavy rains in the days leading up to the event and the track became rough despite the best efforts of the track officials.

And while Crowe led flag to flag in the apparent victory, he was challenged early and often by Michael Coleman, a consistent threat to win at Lone Star.  Coleman ran second for the first 20 laps before being passed by Duke Whiseant.  Coleman continued to battle and felt that he was in a good position if the race would have a long green flag stretch.  But his night would end just 9 laps later when the front lower control arm snapped putting him into the wall and ending his night.

Duke continue to give chase but his choice running low entering the corners and sliding up through the corner proved to be more than his tires could handle and he faded back in the last few laps.  And as Duke slipped back, Merchant seized the opportunity and began to reel Crowe in.

Jon Mitchell quietly worked his way through the pack entering the top 5 with Coleman’s exit and he kept plugging away eventually grabbing third on lap 35.  Mitchell was running last year’s car but in Mitchell’s words, “the car didn’t get going right off the start.”  But he he started rolling through the last half of the race and he credits his AFCO Gas Shocks for “getting me through the rough stuff, it was a big help.”  And much like his performance tonight, Mitchell has quietly climbed into third place in the O’Reilly SUPR Late Model point standings, just 63 points behind David Ashley.

The Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger was Clint Baker, from Crockett, Texas.  Baker, a rookie in Late Model competition with just a dozen starts to his credit, quickly worked his way forward from the 20^th starting position.  Baker was 5^th by lap 17 and continued to run with the lead pack for the remainder of the event in his GT Racing Engines powered Warrior.  Baker’s performance even surprised himself as he stated “I was just worried about qualifying, I would have never dreamed I’d finish (this high).”

36 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand and the field included the 2001 O’Reilly SUPR Late Model Champion, Jay Blair.  Blair has placed his Asphalt program on hiatus for the remainder of 2002 and is expected to be on hand for most of the remaining 2002 events.  Blair’s night ended early as a fuel pump failure had Blair out of the race before a lap was completed.

Howard Willis put in a cameo performance running in the Welsh Ranch stable of teammate Michael Coleman.  Willis failed to qualify for the feature as he was caught up in a heat race tangle.

Keith Craft was the B&K Underground Top Qualifier as he topped the first heat race to stake his claim to the pole position.  Kennith Crowe, Michael Coleman, Odie Green and David Ashley claimed the four remaining heat races.  Jason Ingalls and Sam Patrick topped the Late Chance races to round out the field.

Official Results:

1.                  Kenny Merchant

2.                  Jon Mitchell

3.                  Clint Baker

4.                  Marlon Wild

5.                  Duke Whiseant

6.                  Lee Davis

7.                  David Ashley

8.                  Jason Ingalls

9.                  Rodney Wing

10.              Steve Latson

11.              Mark Andrews

12.              Odie Green

13.              James Ward

14.              Michael Coleman

15.              Tommy Surrett

16.              Ronny Adams

17.              Bert Chanler

18.              Justin Ingalls

19.              Keith Craft

20.              Sam Patrick

21.              Jay Blair

22.              Kennith Crowe

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