Lee Jeffreys hit the milestone of 25 wins Saturday night in the Elite Underground Utility 100 in the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series, but it didn’t come without some drama.
Jeffreys trailed Burt Myers with 66 laps remaining, but Jeffreys took advantage of a bad restart by Myers after a caution on lap 30. Jeffreys led for almost the rest of the race for the win.
“I guess he spun his tires or something,” Jeffreys said of Myers’ bad restart. “But you know, last year I led the 100-lap race until the end, and Jason (Myers) got me on the restart. So, hey, the family gave me one back.”
Needless to say, Burt Myers wasn’t happy with what happened.
“I missed the gear. It’s that simple,” he said. “If you have 100 (good) starts and one bad one it’s going to cost you the race, and it definitely cost us the race tonight. But I did everything but wreck him. I wasn’t going to wreck him.”
Jeffreys was surprised about what happened to Burt Myers.
“When the crew hollered ‘clear’ I was shocked as anybody,” Jeffreys said. “Then we just set there and raced for a while. I knew everybody was racing their self. And we had a couple restarts. We had a restart there, and we were side-by-side for a lap or two. I mean, I gave him room because he was giving me room.
“But I knew he was not going to be happy spinning the tires and me getting by him. Hey, I’ve been there before.”
It’s just part of racing, according to Burt Myers.
“It’s one of those things where everybody’s kind of bumper-tagging, and these transmissions are such a tight shift, those straight-cut gears, I mean it’s my mistake. I apologized to my guys. It’s just a mistake that I made and cost our team a win, I do believe.”
There were six cautions during the 100-lap race, the final one coming on lap 78. With the Traffic Control Safety Services Double-File Restart Cone, Burt Myers elected to go to the outside of Jeffreys once the race restarted with 16 laps remaining.
“We raced hard and there toward the end of the race, you know, I backed the pace down a little bit because I knew his car was a little better than mine,” Jeffreys said. “So, you know I set there and run my pace. I let him push me there in the corners. He hit me in the center, and I just tried to maintain a good pace and I tried not to get too over-aggressive on the gas. And it worked out. That’s probably one of the best races I have run over here.”
Burt Myers had one last chance with one lap remaining, but he couldn’t slip past Jeffreys.
“That’s where I went. I just tried to beat him,” Burt Myers said. “Lee’s been doing this long enough to know all he had to do was tie it down. And if he knew in his mind, I wasn’t going to wreck him, then he just parks it in the corner – just like Tim Brown did to me a couple weeks ago.”
Even Jeffreys acknowledged that Burt Myers probably had the better car.
“You better get your belts tight and you better get on top of the wheel,” Jeffreys said. “That’s all I can say.”
Jeffreys did win, however, tying him for 18thplace in the Modified Series with Max Berrier and Jonathan Brown with 25 wins. Brandon Ward was third, Daniel Beeson was fourth, and Dan Speeney was fifth.
“I mean it’s special,” Jeffreys said. “I mean there’s a lot of people that have been over here for years that hadn’t won near that many, so that’s good. But hey, I’ve been here a long time.”
The other feature race Saturday night was the Thunder Road Grill Stadium Stock 50 in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series, which is the longest race of the season in that division.
Chuck Wall took the lead with just under 10 laps remaining and held on for the win. It’s Wall’s first win in the prestigious 50-lap race.
“This is the one that’s always gotten away from me,” Wall said. “We’ve won championships over here. We’ve won several races. We just never could put it together. And then I come over here this morning. the car’s ran the worst it’s ran all year long.
“I was probably, ‘It’ll be around all day long.’ And we threw a little something at it before the race, and I ain’t going to say it’s 100% like it was, but it’s awful close. It was good enough.”
There was a caution on lap 43, and after the double-file restart, Wall maintained his lead over Robert Strmiska. However, A.J. Sanders slid by Strmiska, causing Strmiska to spin out.
“Me and Bug (Strmiska) had a good race. It was tight,” Sanders said. “He was bumping me, and I didn’t give him any room at the end. And when he got into my door, I guess it spun him out. If he hadn’t gotten me with a couple laps to go, I think I could’ve come toward Chuck because he was real loose coming off. And I was just trying to get to him and set him up.”
Wall ended up taking the checkered. Sanders was runner-up, followed by Brandon Brendle, Isaac Harris, and Stephen Sanders, who’s A.J.’s son.
“They put a bunch of Speedy Dry down there at the bottom of two coming off,” Wall said. “And it was kind of a botched start. I couldn’t shift. It wasn’t going in gear. So, I had to start in high gear. That allowed him to get away. I thought they were going to call a restart back, but the spotter said, ‘Keep going, keep going.’
“And so, he more or less cleared me. And I think he babied me through 1 and 2 a little bit. And I just kind of, I was already high, but I just chopped down to straighten 1 and 2 out. And I was able to get a nose underneath him. We kind of touched a little bit coming down the backstretch. I don’t think I got into his back bumper. It’s possible that I did. I mean, it was good, hard racing. I didn’t really waylay him or nothing.”
Sterling Plemmons took advantage of a great restart with three laps remaining to help him win the first 20-lap race in the McDowell Heating & Air Sportsman Division.
There were four cautions in the race, but the final one happened with three laps left. As the flag waved on the final restart, Plemmons jumped to a big lead with Michael Adams just behind.
Plemmons cruised the rest of the way for the win, just ahead of Adams, who finished runner-up.
“I want to thank Michael for running me clean. He ran me hard, but he ran me clean,” Plemmons said. “Today, five years ago, my first son was stillborn, and we lost our first son. This win goes out to him. His name was Gavin. This is my wife. I also want to send this one out to my mom. I lost her about a year and a half ago.”
Zack Ore was third, followed by Nate Gregg, and Riley Neal.
The second 20-lap Sportsman race featured a winner who has been no stranger to the Winner’s Circle this season.
Chase Robertson, who just graduated Friday night from Oak Grove High School in Midway, picked up his third win of the season after starting the race in the third position.
“It was a pretty cool experience. I graduated,” Robertson said. “We had a rocket ship the second race. The first race, we had a fast car, too, but whatever comes around goes around,” said Robertson about an incident with Michael Adams in the first race.
There was a caution with four laps remaining, but that didn’t matter to Robertson. who defeated Tommy Neal for the win. Amber Lynn was third and Nate Gregg was fourth.
“This year has been incredible,” Robertson said. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
The first race of the night was the 20-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Street Stock Series. It didn’t disappoint.
Cale Martin, who had a big lead for much of the race fended off Austin Jones on the final lap for the win.
There were four cautions during the race, the final one with just one lap left. That meant there was a green-white checkered finish. Martin held off Jones around turn 4 on the final lap for the victory.
“Austin ran me clean. He’s my best friend,” Martin said. “So, him running second means a lot. I’ve waited for this a long time. It’s all Uncle Donnie’s (Donnie Martin) fault. My beautiful wife drew the pole.”
Brad Lewis finished third, Donnie Martin was fourth, and David Creed was fifth.
Next week’s racing is highlighted by the Thunder Road Grill Twin 50-lappers in the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series. After the first 50-lap race, the winning driver will pull a number out of the hat in the “Madhouse Scramble,” which will invert the field there for the second race. Also, the Thunder Road Grill Street Stock 50, which has been postponed several times because of rain, is scheduled for next week.
In addition, there will be twin 20-lap races in the McDowell Heating & Air Sportsman Series that will also use the “Madhouse Scramble.” And there will be either one or two 15-lap races in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series.
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