Green Valley Speedway
Compton gets $10,000 victory at Green Valley
By Brian McLeod
Late Model Illustrated
Kennie Compton Jr. heads to victory at Green Valley. (Brian McLeod)
GLENCOE, Ala. (April 6) — Kennie Compton Jr. of Bland, Va., started 13th on the grid and surged to the front during the caution-riddled early stages to claim a $10,000 victory in a 54-lap Limited Late Model feature that was part of the fourth annual Junk Monkey Racing Nationals at 3/8-mile Green Valley Speedway. | Cooley wins Crate Late Model feature
Compton survived five cautions scattered among the opening five circuits, picking his way past cars on the restarts to reach third place behind early leader Gar Dickson and Joe Armistead Jr. After Jordy Nipper and Roger Dickson skidded off the backstretch into the infield to bring out the fifth yellow, Armistead blasted past Gar Dickson into the top spot and started to pull away from the field.
He nearly spun in turn four on the 11th circuit when a brake caliper kept hanging up, but maintained the advantage. Compton slipped past a fading Dickson to nab second, and then drove past Armistead to take a lead he never relinquished despite a strong late-race effort from William Thomas.
Finding the high groove to his liking late in the race, Thomas used that approach to slip into contention from 15th-starting spot. He launched his attack for the lead in the closing stages, but that effort was hampered by a mud-caked helmet.
"I couldn't hardly see a thing," a disappointed Thomas said. "Over the last five laps, it was hard to hit my marks. I scratched some of it away, but couldn't hardly see a thing going into the corners."
Compton, who was also fighting vision problems because of fogged glasses, gamely held off Thomas' efforts to claim the victory. The top pair were trailed to the stripe by Armistead, Dickson and Jackson Hale.
"I thought our face shield had fogged up or gotten covered with mud, but it turned out that my glasses were the problem," Compton said. "They were fogging up, so I had to take 'em off. I knew (Thomas) was up there beside me a time or two, especially toward the end. My crew guy was giving me hand signals from outside the track and he kept motioning up, so I knew I needed to be up there a little higher to keep him from passing us."
Green Valley Speedway: (1) Kennie Compton Jr., (2) William Thomas, (3) Joe Armistead Jr., (4) Gar Dickson, (5) Jackson Hale, (6) Matthew Turner, (7) Kenny Collins, (8) Ethan Hunter, (9) Montana Dudley, (10) Stephen Segars, (11) Roger Dickson, (12) Dee Vaught, (13) Chip Burke, (14) Jason Morris, 15) Samuel Brown, (16) Mark Knight, (17) Jordy Nipper, (18) Tim Busha, (19) Jason Hiett, (20) Ryan Law, (21) Lavon Sparks, (22) David Siebers, (23) Pierce McCarter, (24) Matt Dooley.
