The Racinfreeks brought their talent to Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. It was partly cloudy, with a slight chance of rain, but the weather would hold up for this one. Mark Whitley started off the night with the fastest time in practice, running a blistering lap time of 29.389. He backed that speed up with another blazing lap in qualifying, running a lap of 29.391. That lap tied him for the pole! Yes, you read that correctly, "tied." How many times does that ever happen? Newcomer Waylon Lamm ran the same exact lap and iRacing credited him with the actual pole spot. It looked like Waylon's night to shine, but before the field even went green he missed the start by not gridding up. So, that put Zach Hall who qualified 3rd, into the pole spot to bring the field down for the initial start of the race.
The first of 9 cautions would fly out on the first lap of the race. That would be the tone of the race for a little while. We saw our biggest crash on lap 27 when netcode between Bob Skinner and Waylon Lamm started what would turn into a 14 pileup, or what Joe White called, "a slew of them." Racing got serious when a battle for the lead turned into a wreck when Tyler Conroy and Keith Haney were duking it out going into turn 3, on lap 33. If I were a pick 3 lottery player, I'd be taking that as a hint!
We would catch the field up once again on lap 57 for another caution, but after 4 fresh tires and a tank of gas from everyone, that would set the tone for a long green flag run. At the restart, it would be Cedrick Hunter taking the lead from Mark Whitley and would be your leader at the halfway point of the race. The race continued to stay green as drivers began making their pit stops. Once everything cycled around, it would be Bob Skinner with the lead. Though, it wouldn't be long before Keith Haney makes the pass for the top spot on lap 112, which looked like at this point, it was his to lose. A battle for third was brewing, and one the fans enjoyed watching live between the two pole sitters, Waylon and Mark. They get into each other twice on lap 119, in which they both received damage from, but it look like Mark's would be more cosmetic. From here it looked like any ordinary race to the end, but with just 7 laps to go Christopher Matthews spins coming off pit road and that would change everything!
Your leader, Keith Haney, and Waylon Lamm decided to stay out while everyone else opted to come into the pits and get fresh tires. Cedrick Hunter decided to roll the dice with two, and that would put him up to 4th. At this point Haney needs either the restart of his life or a quick caution on the restart because he knows he is a sitting duck. Haney would bring the field down for a 3 lap shootout, and gets an impressive jump on the field going into turn 1. Bob Skinner would look to the inside with fresh tires and Haney would slightly push into the wall off 2, giving Skinner the lead. As soon as he takes the lead a wreck between Nick Crawford and Cedrick Hunter down the backstretch would bring out the caution, freezing the field where they are. Mark Whitley would bounce back in amazing fashion up to 3rd, with Haney in 2nd, and your winner of this Saturday night thriller being Bob Skinner!
Congratulations on the top 3 for this week, and don't forget to tune in Saturday night, July 22nd at OSRNETWORK over on YouTube where The Racinfreeks will be heading over to New Hampshire for some slippery short flat track action! We hope to see you there! Until then, stay safe, and keep those lug nuts tight!
Stoire Done By Waylon Lamm