Derrick posts 7th win

Published 9:59 pm Tuesday, October 9, 2012

By Gary Daughtrey

Special to the News-Herald

Ricky Derrick put an exclamation point on his fourth straight Pepsi Grand Stock championship, posting his seventh win of the season in the featured event of Saturday evening’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program at Langley Speedway.

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Derrick started on the pole and grabbed the early lead, which he relinquished to Robbie Parker in lap 23. The two battled side by side in laps 32-35, when Derrick surged ahead for good, winning by almost two lengths over Parker.

Troy Turnage took the lead on lap 21 and paced the final five circuits for his fourth victory in the 25-lap Super Truck race.

Tommy Nixon, who led the first 20 laps, rallied from a wreck to salvage second.

Points leader Robbie Davis was eliminated in an accident and finished eighth. It was enough, though, to give him the division title by six points over Turnage.

Nick Smith capped an undefeated season with his seventh win in the 25-lap INEX Legends race, wrapping up the championship with a four-length win over Woody Howard.

Denver Alvis regained the top spot on lap 23 and rolled to his first win in the 25-lap UCAR race.

Tim Wilson, who swiped the lead on a restart at lap 22, was second, followed by Bill Eaker, who will carry a commanding points lead into next week’s finale.

Landon Florian survived a late brush with a slower machine and held on for his third win in the 30-lap Pro Six feature.

Casey Sipe started on the pole and led the first 21 laps as Florian worked forward from his fifth starting spot.

On lap 22, Florian took over the lead. Two laps later, though, he collided with J.B. Sipe in Turn 2, doing serious damage to the right-front corner of his car.

Casey Sipe got the worst of the exchange, dropping from second to fourth.

Steve Williams, the new second-place runner, closed in on Florian over the waning circuits, but fell a couple of lengths short at the checkers.

Ryleigh Lemonds and Madyson Mulligan split a pair of 20-lappers for the INEX Bandoleros.

In the opener, Lemonds followed up a record-setting qualifying effort (67.079 mph) with a flag-to-flag run to the checkers for her fourth win. Mulligan was second.

In the second race, Mulligan nipped Lemonds by 30-thousandths of a second for her first victory.

With the first- and second-place outings, Lemonds wrapped up the 2012 division championship.

Richard Quinn notched his third win in the 40-lap season-ender for the Enduros, taking the lead on lap 26.

At the end, he won by nearly three-quarters of a lap over Robert Perry.

An unfavorable pill draw buried points leader Alex Floroff in the 10th starting spot. He made his way to a third-place finish, though, sealing the division title.