Hendersonville, NC 8/7/06 

GRISSOM CLAIMS VICTORY IN THE

STEVE PENDERGRASS MEMORIAL RACE AT NEWPORT 

The heat was there but the racers and fans poured in for a fantastic night of racing.  The day began with 30 Late model Sportsman cars arriving for the 150 Lap Steve Pendergrass Memorial Race presented by Food City.

With lightning and threatening storms in the near vicinity around 6 pm, Tony Justice and his band were forced to pack up there expensive equipment and did not get to perform for the fans.  The fans however were not let down where the entertainment was concerned.  The rains held off and the show did go on.  Tony has rescheduled for the UARA-STARS race September 16^th  for a makeup date.  Tony did treat the fans by singing the National Anthem giving them a sample of what to expect when he returns. 

Local driver Wayne Hale won the Sunoco pole with points leader Alex Yontz on the outside.

The qualifying had a .7 second variation from pole to 29^th position.  Seven cars ran the last chance heat race Barry Andrews, Clay Greenfield, Wayne Webb, Lance Gatlin, Jake Crum, Brian Ramsey and Chad Mullis. Carl Horton had oil pan trouble in practice and did not participate in the racing activities.  The cars of Brian Ramsey and Chad Mullis touched on the first lap and the Ramsey’s car spun.  Lap two finds Barry Andrews, Lance Gatlin, Clay Greenfield and Jake Crum running in that order for the transfer spots to the main event.    Soon the #4 car of Wayne Webb passes the Greenfield car.  Later on the Mullis and Greenfield cars get together but  both drivers  regain control and continue on.  Soon thereafter the Mullis car gets loose and Brian Ramsey passes him.  Clay Greenfield running strong passes Wayne Webb obtaining the fourth and final transfer spot.  

The STARS heat race was followed by the Winston Mini’s.  Blake Evans was the victor in the Winston Mini race followed by Blake Orr, Paul Buford, Michael Rice and David Duncan rounding out the top five. 

The next event was the Pure 4 Front Wheel Drive Division.  This event was won by Gary Rice followed by Dustin Ramsey, Josh Crumbley, Tom Hodges and fifth David Ramsey. 

On the start of the main event the Alex Yontz car spins in turn four with a lot of cars doing evasive driving and some not being able to stay out of the scuffle. Fourth place qualifier Mike Giessen makes it thru and comes out in the lead followed by Kyle Grissom and Stephen Gahagan. Lucas Ransone appeared to be the worst victim of this first lap spin. All of the cars involved drive away with several visiting the pits on and off throughout the night.  The Andy Johnson car suffered damage but manages to maintain fourth position and the Wayne Hale car ends up in fifth position at this time. 

Mike Giessen makes the most impressive run in his UARA-STARS career moving out to a good lead and holds that position for the first 18 laps of the event.  Back in the pack the Brandon Ward car seems to be on the move.  Lap 19 finds Kyle Grissom taking over the lead. Kyle will continue to hold the lead for the rest of the race.  There was plenty of racing action behind him though.   

Lap 23 finds the Scottie Hicks and Wayne Hale cars getting together on the front stretch and the victim of circumstance in this event is Jamie Yelton who is collected up when the real estate seems to disappear from him as he tries to stay high out of the way.  Wayne Hale’s night will end here but Jamie will be in and out of the pits and will eventually end up 16^th when the feature is over.  

Alex Yontz who was involved in the first lap spin is now on the move up through the field as Grissom seems to be most content to lead the field on.  Andy Johnson takes second from Giessen on lap 33.  Back further in the field some serious racing is going on.  Lucas Ransone and Barry Andrews battle for position and Justin Hill seems to have his hands full with a loose race car. 

Lance Gatlin has brake problems on lap 42 with his brake rotors coming apart and dropping to the track.

The Ryan Gray and Gary Kelley cars spin on lap 48 after the Jeff Myers car makes contact with Gray.  Myers continues on to move up to third on lap 56.

Grissom sets a strong pace and when approaching the slower car of Scott Rigney, Rigney shows great driving talent and respect for the leading pack by allowing plenty of room for them to proceed. 

Lap 70 finds the car of Steve Carver spinning in turn four and the R.A. Brown  and Scott Rigney cars spin at the same time on the backstretch.  Both the Brown and Rigney car have some heavy sheetmetal damage.

Clay Greenfield and Mark King battle for position with Greenfield coming out on top on lap 89.  Mike Giessen and Alex Yontz are racing hard whenYontz gets loose coming out of turn two and Giessen shows his good sportsmanship by slowing and allowing Yontz the chance to get his car collected.  They continue on with no incident. 

Scooter Hillis and Jake Crum spin in turn two on lap 109 after the Steve Carver gets into the Crum vehicle. Barry Andrews has his hands full with a very loose car coming into turn four with Clay Greenfield inside of him but they both maintain and continue on. Gary Kelley’s car gets loose in front of Jamie Yelton and Yelton allows him space to gather up his machine.    This night showed what great drivers the UARA series has and the respect they show to one another on the track.  Local driver Steve Carver is moving on but he is several laps down.   

Andy Johnson is hungry for the lead but Kyle Grissom is the man to beat and doesn’t relinquish it.  In the meantime Ryan Gray and Gary Kelley get together and this puts us in a Green-White-Checker position to the delight of the fans.  The night ends with 9 cars on the lead lap and Grissom claiming the checkered.

Kyle said “My thoughts and prayers go out to the Steve Pendergrass family and a safe recovery to the mom/wife.  He was a hard competitor last year and a real nice guy and I enjoyed racing with him.  I want to thank all my guys for working hard on my car all day.  Andy Johnson ran fast and clean and I never had a chance to breathe, he was always right there and it got pretty exciting in the lap traffic. Overall it was a good race and a lot of fun.”

The STARS event was followed by the Street Stock race that had a very exciting moment when the car of Joey Mull was involved in an accident and flipped on it’s top.  Joey was not injured during this accident.  Phillip York was the winner followed by Scott Robinson, Todd Green, Dan Smith and Blake Kelley.

The final race on the agenda was the Hobby Stock division.  Chad Deckrow won with Eddie Dill, Duane Anderson, James Hot and Gene Griffey finishing in the top five positions. 

The Holley Performer of the race was Clay Greenfield who had a stellar night.  Clay raced in Nashville Friday night, came home worked on his car slept two hours then hit the road to Newport.  He had to run the heat race to get into the main event and still ended up 8^th when the night was over.  What a determined and talented young racer. 

The Melling Select Rookie of the Race was Justin Hill for his first time this year.  Justin who turned 23 on Sunday is from Concord, NC.  Justin said  “We stayed out of trouble all night long, a lot of give and take.  My spotter did a real good job tonight we ran good and had fun.  The best thing to do at a track like this, a little bull ring, is to stay out of trouble.”

What a great night with a total of 88 cars attending the show and some very excited fans that definitely saw everything they needed to make this a memorable night at the races.

UARA-STARS FINISH

1. Kyle Grissom                                   2. Andy Johnson                                                 

3. Stephen Gahagan                         4. Dennis Queen                                                  

5. Alex Yontz                                       6. Justin Hill                                                         

7. Brandon Ward                                 8. Clay Greenfield                                              

9. Mark King                                        10. Mike Giessen

11.Jeff Myers                                       12. Ryan Gray                                    

13. Barry Andrews                              14. Zeke Shell                                      

15. Gary Kelley                                    16. Jamie Yelton

17. Steve Carver                                  18. R.A. Brown

19. Scott Rigney                                  20. Scooter Hillis

21. Jake Crum                                      22. Lucas Ransone

23. Lance Gatlin                                  24. Roger Lee Newton

25. Scottie Hicks                                  26. Wayne Hale

For more info visit www.uara-stars.com    Press release by Wink Bodenhamer

For immediate release