Monday, August 24, 2009

Cochran 8/22: Keith Edge was the class of the field

KEITH EDGE RECORDS BIG WIN AT COCHRAN SPEEDWAY By: Rev. Todd Shearin Eleven cars took the green flag in the late model feature Saturday night at CMS. Veteran driver Keith Edge was the class of the field and held off a hard charging Mike Parkerson in the late stages to take the win. Edge is always a frontrunner and has had his share of tough breaks this year. Two weeks ago he was leading when a belt broke on his car ending his night in disappointment. Edge is known for his never give up attitude and he seems to always battle back from adversity in a big way which was the case Saturday when he won the pole and led every lap. Jason Lyles started in the second spot and was strong early on before fading to fifth with an ill handling car. Parkerson proved to be Edge’s biggest challenger but fell short in taking a strong second. Eric Register ran a great race and finished third. The night was extra special for Edge as he was joined by his family and friends in post race ceremonies. Keith ask me to thank everyone for their support and gave much credit to his entire race team as he held his granddaughter Taylor and wore a bright smile! Eric Register was dominant in winning the sportsman feature. Register started on the pole and drove away from the field after an early battle with fellow front row starter Mike Ray. The win was also important as Register gained valuable points. Points leader Josh Odom saw his night come to an end on a lap one incident in which he had no where to go and was caught up in a wreck that disabled his car with heavy front end damage. Josh also may have suffered a broken foot as a result of the impact. If that is the case the outcome of the points race will change dramatically. I hope to talk to Josh later today and we all hope that the injury is not as bad as we thought. Register has really come on strong this year by winning often and pulling triple duty on many nights, he also sits very high in the NLMS points and is leading the rookie points. Congrats to you Eric on a great victory! Brian Waters made his 2009 debut in a new car and finished second. Scooter Smith outlasted fifteen cars to win the pure stock feature. Smith is also leading in the points as he chases his second consecutive championship. Jason Dykes started second and stayed in the top five the whole night. Things really got interesting when Jason Floyd moved into the second spot and pressured Smith lap after lap but Smith was unwavering and his experience paid off as he took the close win. Everyone involved in a lap one crash on the backstretch was very sore but otherwise uninjured after a very hard hit. Dee Elliott who had a very strong car in the heat race as well as Dustin Miller and Bobby Piper all were sidelined with race ending damage. The race was red flagged as track officials took several moments to clear the raceway. We are very glad all of you are ok. Dustin Miller returned to action after several weeks’ absence to claim the cadet feature win. Miller battled Will Thompson, Jason Floyd and Chris Pittman as well as many others that were in the top five at one point to take the win. As always this class had a full field with fourteen cars making the start. The battle at the end was incredible as Miller, Floyd, and Pittman raced for the win to the delight of the large crowd that was on hand. The action remained intense in the road warrior feature. Corey Dunn paced the field early on with Wil Herrington in hot pursuit. Midway in the race four drivers emerged in an all out war for the lead with the top spot changing several times on a single lap! TJ Woodard and Wesley Brown joined Dunn and Herrington in the mix in what was at times three wide racing. Woodard was leading on the last lap when for the second time this year Brown made a dramatic last lap pass to win over the other three by a few feet in a three wide scramble at the stripe. In my opinion this was our best night of racing this year, each class had good car counts and the action was just amazing! We invite all of you to come and join us Friday night as CMS host the racing go-carts as well as a regular Saturday show. Thanks to all of our loyal supporters and a special get well soon to all of our sick and grieving race family members. God bless you all. LATE MODEL 1-Keith Edge 2-Mike Parkerson 3-Eric Register 4-Jimmy Sharpe 5-Jason Lyles SPORTSMAN 1-Eric Register 2-Brian Waters 3-Don Mullis 4-Mike Ray 5-Wendell Lucas PURE STOCK 1-Scooter Smith 2-Jason Floyd 3-Don Guy 4-Jason Dykes 5-Charles Benson CADET 1-Dustin Miller 2-Jason Floyd 3-Chris Pittman 4-Ryan Evans 5-Drew Roberts ROAD WARRIOR 1-Wesley Brown 2-TJ Woodard 3-Wil Herrington 4-Corey Dunn 5-Steve Jenson

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