Alan Vaughn storms to I30 victory as SUPR claims O'Reilly MLRA/SUPR CHallenge

Alan Vaughn storms to I-30 Speedway victory as SUPR claims O'Reilly MLRA/SUPR Challenge

Little Rock, Arkansas (August 24, 2002) – Rain didn’t stand a chance and neither did his fellow competitors as Alan Vaughn stormed the high side of I-30 Speedway to claim the final leg of the O’Reilly Auto Parts MLRA/SUPR Challenge. Vaughn, the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger the night before at North Central Arkansas Speedway, didn’t have to work as hard tonight as he started on the outside pole and ran down Rodney Wing as they battled through lapped traffic taking the lead for good just as the field reached the halfway mark of the 40-lap feature. Once out front, Vaughn was able to use the top of the track to his advantage and he pulled away to a decisive victory and closed to within 2 points of Al Purkey in the battle for the O’Reilly MLRA Championship.

But while Alan Vaughn led the MLRA boys with the victory, it was the O’Reilly SUPR Late Models claiming the 2002 O’Reilly Auto Parts MLRA/SUPR Challenge on the basis of a solid sweep of the top 4 positions at Flippin and solid finishes throughout the 3 event series.

Vaughn was happy with the victory and even happier to close in on Purkey in the battle for the MLRA Championship, “shoot I think one time we had about a hundred point deficit, we’d had some bad runs at the start of the year, dealing with a car we didn’t like. We’ve got this new car here and got things turned around a little bit. It’s a Rocket Chassis and I’ve got a Smitty Racing Engine in it. Since we’ve got this we’ve won three of the MLRA shows and it’s closed us within 2 or 4 points tonight so that’s pretty tight.”

Rodney Wing held the led early but was unable to run the high groove and it came back to haunt as he battled lapped traffic and Vaughn was able to work by on the outside. Wing then got bogged down in lapped traffic and was not able to mount a challenge to Vaughn. “I just couldn’t work that top side like he could. He just had the advantage in the lapped traffic and that’s where he got me. I think on that final restart, we had those three lapped cars in between and I just couldn’t by them, and finally by the time I cleared the last of the three cars there, he never did pull me anymore but I couldn’t gain on him.”

The afternoon rainstorm that passed through the area around three o’clock had plenty of racers concerned about the track conditions and even prompted Tommy Surrett to place a call down to Ronald Surrett Contracting for delivery of a bulldozer to help I-30 track officials in preparing the pits for a night of racing. Raymond Merrill took one look around the pits and the racetrack and was heading for the exit but he changed his mind after seeing the improving conditions and a good starting spot in the third heat race. His decision proved to be a wise one as Merrill recorded a solid third place finish. “I had a real good car early and I thought well I’m going to win this thing and I thought that’s kind of justice as I was about to leave and I got into third. Alan and Rodney had about a half a lap on me and I caught them, then we got to lapped traffic and I thought I wouldn’t have any trouble getting by them then we got the caution and as soon as I got that caution I wasn’t as good and I wasn’t any good on the top and Rodney wouldn’t get off the bottom. If I might of got by him I might have caught Alan but you never know.

The battle for 4^th may have been the best race on the track as Rob Litton had his hands full holding off the challenges of Mike Bowers and the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger Donnie Barnhart but he was able to hold them at bay to claim 4^th. Bowers, Barnhart, Ryan Plaisance, Keith Craft, Tommy Surrett and Eric Conner rounded out the top 10.

34 Late Models were on hand. Ryan Plaisance, Eric Conner, Raymond Merrill, Rodney Wing and Keith Craft claimed the heat race wins with Donnie Barnhart and Gary Gorby snagging the Last Chance wins.

Official Results:

1. Alan Vaughn

2. Rodney Wing

3. Raymond Merrill

4. Rob Litton

5. Mike Bowers

6. Donnie Barnhart

7. Ryan Plaisance

8. Keith Craft

9. Tommy Surrett

10. Eric Conner

11. Jason Bodenhammer

12. John Dillard

13. Jay Blair

14. Al Purkey

15. David Ashley

16. Jason McCormick

17. Odie Green

18. James Ward

19. Kennith Crowe

20. Gary Gorby

21. Jon Mitchell

22. Kenny Merchant

23. David Turner

24. Terry Henson

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