Paducah International Raceway
Embattled Vaught grabs $5,000 Paducah victory
Will Vaught visits victory lane. (Rich Edwards Jr.)
PADUCAH, Ky. (June 4) — Turning things around after a trying week, Will Vaught of Crane, Mo., raced to a $5,000 victory Friday at Paducah International Raceway in the Northern Allstars-sanctioned Tri-State Challenge.
Vaught, who started outside the front row, grabbed his first special event victory of the season just two days after the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series levied a one-year suspension for misconduct at Lucas Oil Speedway's Show-Me 100 on Saturday. | Slideshow
The 23-year-old Vaught also notched his first career victory at the 3/8-mile western Kentucky oval where he injured his thumb and banged up his ribs in a 2008 UMP DIRTcar Summernationals accident after flipping his car on the backstretch.
Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., who started fourth, finished second with Billy Moyer Jr. of Batesville, Ark., rallying from his 10th starting spot to finish third. Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., and Kevin Cole of Benton, Ill., rounded out the top five. Polesitter Justin Rattliff of Campbellsville, Ky., was seventh, one spot behind 17th-starting Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill. Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was among the frontrunners when a flat left-front tire knocked him from contention.
Notes: Vaught’s Paul McKenna-owned Warrior Race Car is sponsored by Mark Martin Chevrolet and Circle M Auto Sales. ... Vaught’s best previous finish at Paducah was second on April 30 in a $3,000-to-win event won by Kevin Cole. ... Vaught was fifth in 2009’s Summernationals race at Paducah and finished 10th in last fall’s Wayne Coakley Memorial, won by Brian Shirley. .... Jeff Glisson won the night's UMP Crate Late Model feature. ... The event drew 88 race cars overall. ... Among drivers failing to make the Northern Allstars feature lineup: Bobby Melvin, Brent Kreke, Tim Brown, Joe Morris, Frank Heckenast Jr., Brian Diveley, Lee Thomason, John Hollifield, Chris Hall, Adam Ray, Chris Shelton, Billy James, Troy Vancil, Jeff Sloan, Jarryd Holshouser and Jeremy Nichols. ... Northern Allstars competitors head to I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., on Saturday for the final round of the Tri-State Challenge. The first two events were rained out at Highland (Ill.) Speedway and Shepp’s Speedway in Alexander, Ill.
Tri-State Challenge: (1) Will Vaught, (2) Brian Shirley, (3) Billy Moyer Jr., (4) Dennis Erb Jr., (5) Kevin Cole, (6) Jason Feger, (7) Justin Rattliff, (8) Ryan Unzicker, (9) Dillan White, (10) Shannon Babb, (11) Tanner English, (12) Bub McCool, (13) Randy Sellars, (14) Terry English, (15) Jason McBride, (16) Todd Hall, (17) Steve Lance, (18) Billy Moyer, (19) Rodney Melvin, (20) Jeff Walston, (21) Kevin Weaver. Fast qualifier (among 37 cars): Cole. Heat race winners: Rattliff, Vaught, Shirley, Walston. Consolation Winners: Babb, Terry English.
