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Magnolia, Mississippi (June 15, 2002) – David Ashley may have been lucky in winning his first O’Reilly SUPR victory of the year at Pike County Speedway but there was little doubt about his victory tonight. Ashley claimed his second O’Reilly SUPR victory of the season and he did so in dominating fashion, taking the lead from Ryan Plaisance on lap 22 and holding off all challengers to take the win. And Ashley had to hold off many challengers, as numerous drivers made a run toward the front of the pack but none where able to draw even with Ashley in his Wall 2 Wall Performance Engines powered Thornhill Wrecker/Benny’s Car Wash/J&J Motorsports backed Chevrolet Monte Carlo Larry Shaw race car. Ashley felt good about claiming the victory free and clear this time. “I knew we could do it. The car was extremely good in the rubber. Everything fell into place, we were up front this time for a change rather than being buried in the pack and having to fight our way forward. I knew Plaisance was on a different tire than we were and I just kind of sat and rode and waited for him. I seen him get a little tight and sneaked by him and I really tried to take care of the tires and the car through the race. Toward the end I felt the right rear really start going away and I really started babying the car and I think that’s when Merchant kind of got close.” The victory allows Ashley to close to within 8 points of Kenny Merchant and 115 points of current O’Reilly SUPR Late Model point leader Rodney Wing. And it was these three cars along with Ryan Plaisance, currently 4th in the championship chase, that wage war throughout the race. Plaisance started on the outside pole and out dragged Ashley, the B&K Underground Top Qualifier to grab the lead from the start. Plaisance set a strong pace up front with Ashley and Merchant close behind. The race stayed green through the early stages and the front three eased away from the pack. And while Plaisance set the pace up front it appeared that Ashley and Merchant had elected to bide their time running in second and third respectively. Soon it became apparent that Plaisance’s car was getting tighter and he got loose exiting turn 2 and Ashley rocketed by to take the lead. Unfortunately for Ashley, the first caution wave when Tommy Surrett and Shane McCloud made contact in turn 2 sending both cars spinning on lap 20. It would matter little as just 2 laps later Plaisance would again slip, this time in turn 4 and Ashley shot into the lead with Merchant grabbing second in the very next corner. By now, a new face joined the lead pack up front, as 6th starting Rodney Wing now made the lead battle a clear reflection of the current point battle as the top 4 cars in the point standings were running in the top 4 positions. They stayed that way until the closing stages as Rodney Wing suffered a flat left rear on lap 42 and had to dive into the pits to make the change. Wing returned in 13th position and made up five spots in the last 8 laps to protect his point lead. And while Wing was dropping out with a flat tire another pair of cars had already joined the battle up front as Scott Slay, who had been hovering inside the top 10 all night, made a late charge, moving to third when Wing went to the pits. But Slay would drop back to 4th at the stripe as Tommy Surrett mounted a late charge on the outside to grab third. Surrett appeared to be in a good position when the final caution waved but he was unable to close in on Ashley and Merchant as the checkers waved. Still, Surrett was awarded the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award for passing 12 cars in his run from 15th to third. Slay and Plaisance would round out the top 5. The win moved Ashley to 7th place on the All-Time Victory Leader list as his 13 victories allowed him to move past Skeet Amason. 36 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand. David Ashley, Kenny Merchant, Kennith Crowe, Rodney Wing and Scott Slay topped the heat race action with James Ward and Donald Watson taking the last chance victories. Official
Results: 1.
David Ashley 2.
Kenny Merchant 3.
Tommy Surrett 4.
Scott Slay 5.
Ryan Plaisance 6.
Eric Courville 7.
James Ward 8.
Rodney Wing 9.
Rob Litton 10.
Randy Cook 11.
Odie Green 12.
Curt Lipsey 13.
Phil Cooper 14.
Sam Patrick 15.
Marlon Wild 16.
Chris Wall 17.
Jon Mitchell 18.
Kennith Crowe 19.
Donald Watson 20.
Jay Blair 21.
Larry Ritter 22.
Shane McCloud
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