Posted by Corey Latham on April 21, 2008, 1:57 am
Board Administrator

Hickory, NC ~ After a night of rain and uncertainty, one thing was for certain, Coleman Pressley had the car to beat even though he had to wait 21 hours and 50 laps into 100 to make his point though. The only race ran on Saturday night was the Limited Late Models won by Dexter Canipe Jr. and then the rains came, and boy did they come. Being the premo promoter that she is, Sherry Cliffton said we would run on Sunday, and that we did, under beautiful sunny skies. Coming into the first 100 lapper of the year, everybody was ready for the big race. David Latour paced the field to the green flag. But he would only be there until turn 1. Matt DiBenedetto driving the Mitch West Racing Ford, the same Pistone LTO chassis he drove to victory lane in on Friday at Tri-County Motor Speedway, would get the hole shot and take the field into turn one on the green flag lap. Matt blew two built engines earlier in the week and the team went to a crate motor wondering what the performance would be. On Friday night at Tri-County they had no practice and took the win so it was looking on the up-and-up so far heading into Hickory. Through lap 40 it looked like"MattD" was going to walk away, but the longer they ran, the faster the #59 of Coleman Pressley got. Starting from his 7th starting place he calmly made his way to the front. At Hickory, usually it takes a few laps to get by opponents, being that it does have 2 defined grooves of racing. Not him, he made each pass quick coming to the front and by lap 41 he was on Matt for the lead. Matt once again showed his maturity beyond years, and saw the faster car coming and gave no fight, with Pressley taking the top spot for the final time on lap 44. As they say, if a car catches you that fast, it's becuase he's faster than you. Pressley was not the only car coming. Andy "High Side" Loden, 2007 track champion was chomping at the bit. He and Mack Little seemed to run faster as the race went on, but late cautions killed their progress. At lap 55 the #29 of Loden was woking the #89 Latour hard for 2nd, with Latour blocking every move, when suddenly the #89 moved high and came to a stop in turn 4, and the #16 of Little passed both to move into 3rd. Or so we thought. Seems they went to the last lap completed and moved the 29 into 3rd in front of Little. Controversial maybe, final it was. As the race progressed to lap 66, the #44 of DiBenedetto was losing the handle. Loden went by, then Little, and Matt had settled into his final finishing position of 4th. But not before the #17 of Rob Fuller who had been out of touch with the leaders, came into his own and seriously challenged Matt for the 4th spot down to the wire. Pressley had a comfortable straightaway lead when the final caution came out on lap 95, setting up a 5 lap shootout. There was no shootout to it, Pressley was gone, and the field settled in behind him watching him take the checkers. Action did prevail back in the pack. The #81 of Paddy Rodenbeck, who had already been in 4 previous cautions by himself, was severely roughing up the #43 of Jesse "James" LeFevers as they came around the last 2 laps, with Rodenbeck getting the spot. Jesse let him know what he thought after the race, but on this night it was all about Coleman. First Grandpa Bob, then Dad Robert, now Coleman. Whoever says that racing isn't in your genes needs to be taken out back and beat. Coleman Pressly speaks for himself, and he spoke loudly tonight for sure. Notes: #31 of Kyle Grissom, last weeks winner, was absent last night for his senior prom. After the rainout, he came and started from the back of the field, but mechanical problems sidelined him on the warm-up laps. #33 of James Goff came back for a stellar 6th palce finish after starting 17th. Came from an early race wreck with damage and drove hard up to 6th earning every spot. #81 Paddy Rodenbeck who is driving under the guidance of Jamie Yelton on the UARA Tour, was involved in no less than 5 cautions, but persistance is the key in racing, and he came back for a 7th palce finish after numerous pit stops. #10 Andy Mercer started 3rd but the day went sour quick. Got bumped up out of the way early, and a late race wreck with lap Brian Curry on lap 95 added to the heartache. #61 Chase Austin, A Rusty Wallace develpment driver started in the back and never got going at all. He was parked by lap 20 with mechanical failure.