Virginia Motor Speedway
Williams captures 40th Fall Classic at VMS
By Dave Seay
Virginia Motor SpeedwayJAMAICA, Va. (Sept. 19) — Starting on the front row is a confidence-booster, and David Williams of Avenue, Md., got such a boost moments before Saturday's 40th annual Fall Classic at Virginia Motor Speedway.
With cars on the starting grid, polesitter Roland Mann’s car had to call it a night after it leaked a puddle of oil without ever taking a lap. That moved Williams to the front row with Chris Stacy and with the green flag in the air and the cars barreling into turn one Williams shot out into the lead.
Williams held off challenges from Stephen Evans and then Anthony Kincaid in the closing laps to take home the victory.
“I have to thank Sommey Lacey and his wife for putting this deal together for this race, the track was in awesome shape and the car just ran flawless,” Williams said in victory lane. Rounding out the top five were Kincaid, Lacey, Tom Cohick and Tyler Bailey.
At the outset of the 40-lap feature, Williams rocketed to the lead and began to pull away from second-running Vaughan Haywood and the field.
On the fourth lap, Haywood jumped the cushion in turn three, allowing Kincaid to get inside for second out of turn four. A caution flew a lap later for a slowing Junior Carter. On the restart, Williams faced some heat from Kincaid, but the car on the move was fast qualifier Stephen Evans, who made his way to fourth.
On lap 12, Evans tried the outside of Kincaid out of turn two only to have the door slammed on him down the backstretch. Evans tried the inside on of Kincaid on lap 14 in turn three, again having his path blocked. Evans finally overtook Kincaid on the 17th lap and tried to track down Williams.
But Evans was done when mechanical problems sidelined him on the 23 lap, and Williams pulled away from Kincaid on the restart.
Williams built a straightaway lead that was erased by cautions, but he wouldn't be headed in completing his flag-to-flag victory.
Fall Classic: (1) David Williams, (2) Anthony Kincaid, (3) Somme Lacey, (4) Tom Cohick, (5) Tyler Bailey, (6) Matt Marshall, (7) Jim Latham, (8) Brandon Long, (9) Brad Rigdon, (10) William King, (11) Eddie Groome, (12) Ben Bowie, (13) Scott Adams, (14) Andy Gregg, (15) Stevie Long, (16) Troy Williams, (17) Stephen Evans, (18) Lou Littlepage Jr., (19) Chris Stacy, (20) Vaughan Haywood, (21) Junior Carter, (22) Dave Savage, (23) Roland Mann, (24) Larry Jackson, (25) Larry Bradsher. Fast qualifier: Evans, 19.430 seconds.
