Boothill Speedway
Merchant snookers Moore for victory at Boothill
By Bryan Wimberley
DirtonDirt.com correspondentGREENWOOD, La. (July 16) — Fourth-starting Kenny Merchant of West Monroe, La., made a late-race pass of Ray Moore of Haughton, La., amid traffic Friday at Boothill Speedway for his first Comp Cams Mid-South Racing Association victory. Merchant, who took the checkers 1.5 seconds ahead of Moore, earned $2,000 at the reconfigured quarter-mile oval near the Texas-Louisiana border.
"We managed to roll Ray on the outside and between the lapped cars, so when the lapped car first seen us, he gave me room,” Merchant said of his winning pass with two laps remaining. "Fortunately when he did give us room, he was on the bottom and stopped to let us go and that is what happened — that just held up Ray and allowed me to go on by. I don't know if I would have passed him on a clean racetrack, but it was sure interesting for the fans.”
Moore had a comfortable lead in the closing laps until Merchant caught him among the slower cars.
"Second place always seems to be the better position when you are in lapped traffic,” Moore said. "Regardless whether I would have went to the outside to try to pass (the slower car), he probably would have pushed up in front of me — you just don't never know. Second place had a better view than what I did and we gambled to stay on the bottom in hope I could get under him, but it just bit me there with two laps to go.”
Moore settled for second with ninth-starting David Ashley of Zachary, La., rallying to finish third. Bill Frye of Greenbrier, Ark., and 11th-starting Jody Prince of Sibley, La., completed the top five finishers.
Moore bolted to the lead at the drop of the green flag leaving Lee Davis, Frye, Merchant and Jon Mitchell in a nest to battle for second. While Moore pulled out to a two-second advantage, Frye took second from Davis, but Merchant slipped by both of them for the runner-up spot. Moore maintained his lead on Merchant as Ashley entered the fray, taking fourth from Davis on the ninth lap.
After the race’s only caution for Bryan Sugg’s turn-four spin, Moore stayed in command while Merchant held off the challenges of Ashley for second. Prince broke into the top five on lap 16, trailing just behind Frye.
With 10 laps remaining, Merchant cut into Moore’s lead and he was just five lengths back by lap 24. On the next lap, Merchant closed on Moore’s rear deck as they negotiated lapped cars running two- and three-wide. Merchant briefly pulled ahead down the backstretch, but Moore was still out front at the flagstand on lap 27.
With the frontrunners jockeying to choose the best way past the slower cars, the higher-running Merchant emerged with the one-length lead with two laps remaining and had clear racetrack in front of him taking the white flag and heading toward victory.
Notes: Merchant's Trak-Star race car is powered by Wall 2 Wall Performance Engines and is sponsored by J.D. Caver & Co., Henry's Auto Salvage, Bayou Fabricators and J&J Motorsports. ... Merchant picked up his first Boothill victory since Aug. 16, 2008 on the O’Reilly SUPR circuit when the track was 3/8-mile. ... Boothill reopened in May and underwent a 3/8-mile to quarter-mile transformation under a new lessee. It was the first MSRA event at the track and second Louisiana event for the Arkansas-based series. ... Shane Stephens of Arlington, Tenn., had problems with his harmonic balancer in his heat; he was able to make repairs and take a provisional for the feature, where he finished 18th. ... Robbie Stuart of DeRidder, La., had a thrilling come-from-behind consolation victory to earn an apparent starting spot in the feature, but he was disqualified after series officials ruled he used an illegal right rear tire. ... Eddie Provence of East End, Ark., nursed a cracked header into the feature; he finished a lap down in 17th. ... Ray Moore almost completed a worst-to-first run in the night's most exciting heat, but came up a half-length short to winner Rob Litton. ... Drivers failing to make the feature included: Jay Brunson, Wesley Crutchfield, Josh Danzy, Nate Jantz, Skip O'Neal, B.J. Robinson, Robbie Stuart and Johnny Virden. The checkered flag flew on the 17-minute feature at 12:53 a.m. ... Sixteen cars finished on the lead lap in a race slowed by a single caution.
MSRA @ Boothill: (1) Kenny Merchant, (2) Ray Moore, (3) David Ashley, (4) Bill Frye, (5) Jody Prince, (6) Kyle Beard, (7) Kyle Cummings, (8) Lee Davis, (9) Jon Mitchell, (10) Jeff Chanler, (11) Alex Ashley, (12) Timothy Culp, (13) Rob Litton, (14) Jeff Floyd, (15) Brandon Smith, (16) Gary Christian, (17) Eddie Provence, (18) Shane Stephens, (19) Terry Henson, (20) Bryan Sugg. Heat race winners (among 28 cars): Merchant, Mitchell, Litton, Frye. Consolation winners: Smith, Culp. Provisional starters: Stephens, Henson.
