
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993                   TAG: 9310030215
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROUGEMONT, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

VIRGINIA DRIVER EARNS 1ST GRAND NATIONAL WIN

Rookie Hermie Sadler of Emporia, Va., returned from a late crash to register the first victory of his career Saturday night in the Polaroid 300 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series race at Orange County Speedway.

Sadler was involved in a multi-car crash only 23 laps from the end of the 300-lap race on the three-eighths mile track. The crash occurred when a tire went down on the car driven by Todd Bodine, who was running third. Bodine hit the wall hard, and, in the ensuing melee, Sadler's car was hit and lost a tire.

Sadler pitted under the resulting caution, received a new tire, then lined up fifth when the race restarted on lap 286. With fresh rubber, it took him only a few laps to move into the lead, and he led the last eight laps.

The Oldsmobile driver won $14,070 and beat the Chevrolet of Ricky Craven of Newburgh, Maine, to the finish by .66 seconds. Chuck Bown of Portland, Ore., finished third in a Pontiac, followed by Randy LaJoie of Norwalk, Conn., in a Chevrolet and Chicago's Bobby Dotter, also in a Chevrolet.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB