Posted by Corey Latham on June 16, 2008, 2:16 am
Message modified by board administrator June 16, 2008, 2:19 am

Hickory, NC ~ The "Bad Boys Mowers 150" was supposed to be run at Hickory on Saturday night. Little did we know that early Sunday morning we would be watching Jamey Caudill celebrate in victory lane. After persistent rain showers during the day postponed the event, Caudill showed his veteran skills, waited for the leaders to sort themselves out and made his move with 5 laps to go to take his first victory of 2008 and add to his total as the UARA all-time wins leader. The day at Hickory started out very hot, leading to a very slick track. By the time the final practice session was over, Caudill, Darrell Wallace Jr., Brandon McReynolds, Matt DiBenedetto and BJ Mackey were at the top of the charts. Jake Crum, the hottest man in the UARA in 08' was surprisingly back in the 20th position when practice was over, but that is just that....practice. Crum would show his muscle the rest of the day. Rain. And more of it. As the hot sunny day gave way to cloudy blackened skies, the UARA officials declared that we would see racing on Saturday no matter what it took. And it was a great decision. In qualifying for the Sunoco Pole Award, Jake Crum blistered the track at a time of 15.038 to take his first pole of the season. He was followed by Caudill, Matt DiBenedetto, B.J. Mackey and local ace Jamie Yelton rounded out the top 5. This UARA tour stop was different than most, with a host of non-UARA competitors showing up at the top of the list in qualifying. Those included John Gottsacker, Lucas Ransone, Travis Swain and David Latour Jr. starting 8th thru 11th, and Duncan Molesworth and Kyle Grissom lining up 13th and 14th. Hickory always brings a big field of cars, and this race was no different. With 35 cars taking time and only 28 starting positions, the ever popular "heat race" was needed. Ryan Robertson had a great car in practice, but slipped in qualifying putting him on the pole for the 25 lapper with only the top 4 advancing. At the green Robertson got a healthy lead on Scott Turlington with the rest of the field scrambling for position. Joey Bryant, who has made great strides in his rookie season and was the top rookie at Dillon, had his day go bad as he caught the wall off of turn 4 and spun bringing out the caution and ending his day before the main event. Robertson seemed to have the car to beat, but Scott Turlington had different ideas. Even though he was comfortably in the show, Turlington tried for the lead off turn 4 under Robertson and ultimately spun himself 3 laps from the end, making him a spectator for the main event. As the cars came to the line Robertson, Scott Andrews Jr. and Thomas Hartensveld were easily in the show. Dillon Smith all the way from Texas didn't want to go home and gave a valiant effort off turn four for the 4th position, but got loose and waded up himself, Brad Sams and Bryan Dauzat in the turn 1 wall at the crossover gate. Luckily all drivers were OK and Justin Boston counted his blessings looking in the mirror as he held them off for the 4th and final transfer spot. Now the field was set, and after a long day off hoping and looking upward we were ready. But alas, we had to wait one final time. As the cars hit the track the final weather system of the night descended on Hickory Motor Speedway. After a complete track drying, the field was ready to go once more and the "Bad Boys Mowers 150" got the green flag at 11:30 p.m. At the start Jake Crum jumps to the lead and away we go with the rest of the field fighting hard behind him. Hickory is known for beating and banging, and the early parts of the race had plenty of it but the lack of cautions and carnage was somewhat of a surprise. Jamey Caudill settled into second followed by DiBenedetto, but the man on the move was Brandon McReynolds. Only problem was that he was moving in the wrong direction. After qualifying in the 7th position, McReynolds gets punted to the outside and after only 15 laps he finds himself back to the 11th spot. We ran 28 laps before all the beating and banging took it's toll. After a restart from Scott Andrews making contact with the turn 1 wall, the # 76 of rookie Darrell Wallace Jr. ducks inside of David Latour Jr. for 8th place and gets loose off of turn 2. Wallace makes contact with the # 89 and tries to get off of him but Latour goes hard into the outside wall collecting Lucas Ransone and Travis Swaim ending all three's night. In the aftermath Roger Lee Newton spins to the inside and Ross Furr follows low only to be tagged by Andrew Carlsen sending Furr into the inside wall. The red flag was displayed and the cars of Latour, Swaim and Ransone were destroyed, Wallace Jr had a busted radiator, and after some work Furr's machine looked like an open wheel modified. It was the big one. In all the frenzy of the initial wreck, John Gottsacker got into the 6th place running machine of Alex Yontz ahead of the carnage ending Yontz's night. Taking over the point lead at Bristol hasn't been a blessing for Yontz, the two following races have resulted in torn up racecars and finishes of 23rd and 24th. After the restart, DiBenedetto shows something we haven't seen in his young career. Aggressiveness. He muscles his way past Caudill for second and sets his sights on Crum running hard. Back in the pack the JR Motorsports cars of Richard Boswell II and Curtis Truex Jr. are making their way from the rear of the field. Both cars had to take a provisional, and we knew that qualifying was no reference of what the race would be like. By lap 60 Boswell had entered the top ten and Truex was lurking just outside of it. Lap 66 comes and starts what we all have longed to see all day. DiBenedetto catches Crum and starts what will become an epic battle for the rest of the evening. DiBenedetto gets under Crum in the corners but the # 1 machine pulls ahead down the straights. Behind them the car of one of the "invaders", Kyle Grissom, is making some noise as he moves around Mackey and into the 4th spot from his 14th place starting position. Halfway (lap 75) 1.Crum 2.DiBenedetto 3.Caudill 4.Grissom 5.Mackey 6.Jamie Yelton 7.Richard Boswell II 8.Brandon McReynolds 9.Duncan Molesworth 10.Paddy Rodenbeck For the next 25 laps it was more of the same up front. DiBenedetto was all over Crum using the low side, but was never able to get that good "bite" to pull ahead. Crum was able to hold the #44 machine at bay, but it was close each lap. DiBenedetto actually led 2 laps in this stretch, but Crum was able to pull ahead each time. At lap 100 DiBenedetto went to the high side, and while he was able to almost pull up to the quarter panel, Crum shut the door. All the while the crafty veteran Caudill was watching these boys go at it and just waiting for his chance. The turning point of the race came with 20 to go. DiBenedetto gets a great run on the high side of turn 2 and gets beside the #1 of Crum. As they exit the corner Crum pinches the #44 machine into the outside wall causing some damage. DiBenedetto holds onto second but 2 laps later his car goes up into a plume of smoke in turn 4,. As Matt exits the car, a finger is pointed at the leader, and this story may continue at a later date. This was all Caudill needed. As the green flag waved on lap 142 Caudill went to work. He dives his #50 ride deep inside of Crum and makes the pass for the lead 3 laps later. another crafty veteran, B.J. Mackey follows his hole and comes along to take over the second position. Behind them the cars of Boswell and Grissom are having their own battle with Grissom picking up the 4th spot when it was all done. In a season full of young guns, the veterans are starting to awaken. Jamey Caudill had been in a slump to say, since the middle of last year. He was always one to beat anywhere he went and it was odd the way the #50 machine had been running, it wasn't winning. He's the UARA all-time wins leader for a reason, look out everybody .... he's baaack. Unofficial Results: 1 - Jamey Caudill #50 2 - BJ Mackey #2 3 - Jake Crum #1 4 - Kyle Grissom #3 5 - Richard Boswell #72 6 - Jamie Yelton #8 7 - Roger Lee Newton #33 8 - Duncan Molesworth #35 9 - Andrew Carlsen #98 10 - Paddy Rodenbeck #81 11 - Curtis Truex #88 12 - Chase Austin #61 13 - Kyle Moon #19 14 - Brandon McReynolds #28 15 - Garrett Campbell #12 16 - Thomas Hartensveld #36 17 - Ryan Robertson #31 18 - Justin Boston #08 19 - Matt DiBenedetto #44 20 - Johnny Gottsacker #91 21 - Ross Furr #25 22 - Darrell Wallace Jr. #76 23 - Alex Yontz #55 24 - Travis Swaim #21 25 - David Latour #89 26 - Lucas Ransone #21 27 - Clay Greenfield #84 28 - Scott Andrews Jr. #18