Richmond Raceway Battle of the Bluegrass Results and Notes...

MIKEY MARLAR bolted on a softer shoe on the left rear and rocked the field to sleep turning the Battle of the Bluegrass visit to the Richmond Raceway the Eminem show going flag to flag in the 40 lapper.

OFFICIAL FINISH:
1 Mike Marlar
2 Jim Curry
3 Scott James
4 Tyrel Todd
5 Mike Jewell
6 Rick Corbin
7 Bobby Carrier, Jr.
8 Dennis Roberson
9 Jesse James Lay
10 Michael Chilton
11 Scott Douglas
12 Joey Kramer
13 Dave Freeman
14 Aaron Hatton
15 Richard Smith
16 Johnny Wheeler
17 Chris Wilson
18 Marty Stepp
19 Jimmy Crabtree
20 Ronnie Smith
21 Ed Behn
22 Kevin Claycomb

TYREL TODD and Marlar brought the field to green at the start of the main event. The duo went door to door for the first lap until JIM CURRY made it three wide on the narrow "Action Track" before the only caution flew for JOHNNY WHEELER who spun in turn one.

On the restart, Marlar pulled out by five car lengths over Todd. MIKE JEWELL challenged Curry for third while RICK CORBIN worked his way past JOEY KRAMER to take 5th. Behind them BOBBY CARRIER, JR. scooted under SCOTT DOUGLAS for 7th. Curry managed to shake Jewell's challenges and move in on Todd taking looks below the youngster as Carrier moved up another spot taking 6th from Kramer. 13th starting SCOTT JAMES began to make noise as well rolling up to 8th in the first ten laps as "Sharky's Machine" rolled along the top side.

While the Shark took 7th from Kramer, Marlar rolled out to a half straightaway lead that took him into lapped traffic. After a wicked split of RONNIE SMITH and JIMMY CRABTREE the "Winfield Warrior" stepped out by a full straightaway as Todd was forced to race the traffic and Curry. Meanwhile, Corbin and Jewell slugged it out for 4th as Carrier watched the battle and James crept closer. At the end of the top ten, consi winner JESSE JAMES LAY moved by DENNIS ROBERSON as fellow consi winner KEVIN CLAYCOMB pulled in due to a lack of interest.

With Marlar a straightaway ahead of the field, his soft shoe began to go away a tad when Todd and Curry cut his lead to a half straightaway as Curry continued to peek below Todd in the corners. James kept pecking away when the Shark got going in the high waters swimming around Carrier and joining the Corbin/Jewell battle for 4th. While the pair of Smack Down creations rode the hub, Sharky's Machine sailed along the rim. When James pulled alongside Corbin down the back chute, the Bluegrass Invader attempted to use Jewell as a pick to keep James behind him and grab 4th in the process.

As Jewell protected the bottom, James circled on the outside. In front of them, Curry turned up the pressure on Todd while Marlar quietly took care of his tires and gingerly held a half chute's lead. In the final few laps, Curry managed to work his way under Todd while in the process breaking a left front ball joint. James took advantage of Todd's slip and worked around the youngster to grab (his slowly becoming customary) third.

At the finish, Marlar had pedaled his camou'ed-Rayburn to the biggest Late Model win of his young career while Curry came up short of number 520. James held onto second despite a last lap contact between he and Todd wo rolled home fourth.

Following the race James and Todd discussed the incident a bit at the scales but returned to the pits to call it just another racing incident.

OTHER ODDS AND ENDS...

-EDDIE CARRIER, JR. missed his first BoB main event in 22 races after the points and tough night at the office kept the defending series champion from using a provisional.

-MARLAR's win is the first BoB series win to go to a Rookie of the Year candidate.

-Those who missed the main event and were forced to watch included: Bobby Wolter, Jr., Victor Lee, Jay Mobley, Herbie Barnett, Jeff Napper, Shawn Negangard, Timmy Yeager, Larry Martin, Jr., Terry Linville and Steve Cornelius.

A nice job by the BoB gang and Richmond Raceway staff on getting things moved through nicely. A 10:30 finish time for the Late Models is a very nice touch. The dry track conditions were also something new for the BoB boys that have normally run on the glue. While the black ice did make for slow motion speed, the racing was good throughout the night. A nice twist however might be to douse the Action Track at the next BoB visit.

A late tee-ball affair will most likely send the PAL-U Crew to go-kart racing next Friday before the first trip of the year to the Lake Cumberland Speedway for the NALMS visit to the House of Hardcore Mayhem. Hopefully the NALMS gang will continue to make the necessary strides in the right direction.

So until next time, we'll be anxiously awaiting Kevin Claycomb's signals at the scales and rollin' em around!