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West Virginia Motor Speedway

Rain halts the reopening of West Virginia Motor

May 17, 2010, 12:00 pm

From series and correspondent reports

Steve Shaver (6) races toward a heat victory. (stivasonphotos.com)

MINERAL WELLS, Va. (May 16) — West Virginia Motor Speedway attempted to host its first feature race since 2007, but Mother Nature had something else in mind. The O'Reilly All Star Late Model Series ran heat races and a consolation on Sunday at the 5/8-mile oval, but rain moved in to postpone the main event. A makeup date for the $5,000-to-win Mark Balzano Memorial hasn't been announced. | Video | Slideshow

"We'd like to have gotten to run the race, but in these kind of conditions here, it was just going to be kind of miserable for everybody all night," said heat race winner Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. "Spitting rain, heavy rain, ease up a little bit ... we'd be here all night."

Steve Shaver of nearby Parkersburg, W.Va., and Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., were the other heat race winners at WVMS while Tyler Reddick of Corning, Calif., won the consolation race before off-and-on rain finally forced the postponement.

"We were right on schedule," said co-promoter Brian Ferrell. "We had set 9 p.m. as the time to have the Late Model feature on the track, and actually, I believe they were going to be under green before that time. Mother Nature literally rained on our parade tonight."

Notes: Steve Francis made his first start of the season in a car owned by his crew chief, Tim Logan; the car was equipped with a new Russell Baker powerplant. ... Josh Richards drove the Ernie Davis-owned No. 25. ... Kenny Compton Jr. of Bland, Va., drove his new Bloomquist Race Car to fast time among 36 cars, breaking Davey Johnson's track record with a 19.085-second lap. ... All drivers received 100 showup points, moving reigning series champion Robbie Blair of Titusville, Pa., back into the series points lead over Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa., who won the previous night's race at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, Ohio; Hess was a no-show at WVMS. ... Fastrak Late Models were also in action along with modifieds and hot mods. ... Depending on the WVMS makeup date, O'Reilly All Star drivers return to action May 29-30 with the $5,000-to-win Grizzly at Central Pennsylvania Speedway in Clearfield. ... WVMS is scheduled to host the World of Outlaws Late Model Series with two complete events May 29-30 paying $8,000- and $10,000-to-win.

Heat race results

First heat: Steve Francis, Tim McCreadie, Kenny Compton Jr., Bub McCool, John Blankenship, Jared Miley, Boom Briggs, John Garvin Jr., Jacob Hawkins, Brian Eaton, Adam Tippett.

Second heat: Steve Shaver, Davey Johnson, Matt Lux, Gregg Satterlee, Rod Conley, Vic Coffey, Tyler Reddick, Chris Wilson, Danny Mitchell, Nick Corbitt, Darren Peters, Randy Shutts.

Third heat: Josh Richards, Zack Dohm, Doug Drown, Shane Clanton, Jared Hawkins, Eddie Carrier Jr., Clint Smith, Tim Dohm, Chuck Harper, Greg Oakes, Anthony Huber, Scratched: Jimmy Morey.