Merchant claims 4th win of the season

Many, Louisiana (May 24, 2002) - Kenny Merchant continues to prove his ability to win under just about any circumstances.  Merchant claimed his 4^th O’Reilly SUPR Late Model feature of the year in a race that went flag-to-flag without a caution.  Merchant, from West Monroe, Louisiana waited out the early battle for the lead between last year’s one and two in the points, Jay Blair and Odie Green.  “I was just sitting there, they was racing and we really didn’t have anywhere to go.  We really weren’t all that great at the start, we was decent but I mean the longer we ran the better we got.  When they moved to the bottom that just really allowed me to roll in hard in the middle.”  Kenny Merchant drove the J.D. Caver/Goddard Performance/J&J Motorsports Keith Craft powered Ford Mustang Warrior to the lead on lap 20 and then simply drove away from the field to take the win by a sizeable margin.

Odie Green survived the early battle for the lead and held on to finish second in his Directional Service/Stateline Tire Wall 2 Wall powered Chevrolet Monte Carlo GRT.  The battle between Odie and Blair saw Odie lead the first 10 laps with Blair to his side and then Blair returned the favor leading the next 9 laps with Odie finally electing to tuck in behind Blair.  The intense battle set the tone for the event with each driver running hard on two different lines without a hint of contact.  As Odie summed it up it was just “good hard clean racing.”  But with the lead pair in single file on the bottom, Merchant quickly worked his way to the front.  “He had a little better car tonight then we had.  We’d lost our brakes about half way through.” 

Despite Green’s fading brakes and an overheating motor, he was still able to hold off a late challenge from Ronny Adams and then Lee Davis.  Adams started 20^th and quickly jumped to the bottom groove using soft tires to quickly work his way toward the front.  Adams was inside the top 10 within 6 laps in his C. Wrights Machine Tools/Wilhelm Sales and Service Neely and Associates powered Pontiac Grand Prix GRT and he kept charging the bottom catching Odie on lap 43 for second, only to see Odie and Lee Davis get back by him when the checkers waved.  Adams still received the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award for his efforts.

Lee Davis made a late charge back to the front in his Jack Springs Electric/Bison Auto Salvage PTS powered Pontiac Grand Prix GRT to snag third place from Adams but he felt lapped traffic may have cost him a shot at a higher finish.  “I don’t know if we needed lapped traffic or we needed to be away from it.  I just went on the same tires that I won the Boothill feature with and we’ve got new ones and we should have went on them.  Finally about halfway through they started working, they finally got some temperature in them.  At the end, I just couldn’t go anywhere.  ”  Davis started 5^th and feel back to 8^th by lap 20 before starting his move back toward the front.

James Ward, the leading contender for the Late Model America/B&K Underground/Ashley Brothers Rookie of the Year title put in another steady performance in the Wescorp Wall 2 Wall powered Chevrolet Monte Carlo GRT.  Ward started third and stayed in or near the top 5 throughout the race.

Rodney Wing, put some distance on David Ashley in the championship battle with a solid 6^th place finish, his 10^th top 10 finish in as many races in the B&K Underground/Boland Performance Keith Craft powered Chevrolet Monte Carlo Rocket.

Jay Blair, the defending O’Reilly SUPR Champion earned the B&K Underground Top Qualifier Award and held the lead from lap 11 until 19 before he slowly faded back as the race wore on eventually settling for a 7^th place finish in just his second race back in Late Model competition.

36 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand.  Jay Blair, Kenny Merchant, Lee Davis, Odie Green and Kennith Crowe claimed the heat race victories with Ryan Plaisance and Chris Wall winning the Last Chance events.

Official Results:

1.                  Kenny Merchant

2.                  Odie Green

3.                  Lee Davis

4.                  Ronny Adams

5.                  James Ward

6.                  Rodney Wing

7.                  Jay Blair

8.                  Kennith Crowe

9.                  Jason Ingalls

10.              Tommy Surrett

11.              Scott Slay

12.              Ricky Ingalls

13.              Chris Wall

14.              David Ashley

15.              Rob Litton

16.              Keith Craft

17.              Dwight Falcon

18.              Ryan Plaisance

19.              Jon Mitchell

20.              Jeff Chanler

21.              Sam Patrick

22.              Eric Conner

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