ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
THE FLOYD NATIVE breaks out early in the race and holds off the field for his fourth win of the season.
After taking his fourth pole of the season, Floyd's Jeff Agnew pushed to a near two-second lead over Rodney Cundiff and the rest of the field midway through Saturday's Dick Price/Skyline Ford 200. Not a bad position to be in, but according to Agnew, not necessarily an easy one either.
"I tell you, the worst thing about this kind of racing is getting a late caution," Agnew said of building the big lead. "I was in there at about 80 laps saying, `Please, everybody be careful' just talking to myself."
But to no avail. After running just three of the first 95 laps under caution, the yellow flag went up on lap 96 after Scott Millington picked up a pipe that had fallen off Cundiff's car.
When racing resumed, Agnew held off Cundiff and a late-charging Tony McGuire of Roanoke for his sixth win of the year. Agnew led all 103 laps.
"The late caution made the race a lot closer," Agnew said. "But when you're in front on the restart, you're in control and you just put it to the floor and hope they don't want to bump you out of there."
Cundiff crossed the line behind Agnew, but later was disqualified, giving McGuire a second-place finish and Clay Highberger third.
With his second consecutive victory, is Agnew's car back to running like it did when he took home the trophy in the first four races of the season?
"Oh, no," Agnew said. "It got real loose tonight. We worked on it to make it better in the turns, but then it got loose. We'll go back this week and try a little harder."
Rick Sigmon and Chad Harris rounded out the top five in the Late Model Stock class.
In the Limited Sportsman division, Rocky Mount's Bruce Brown took the checkered flag in just his third attempt at the New River Valley Speedway this season, benefitting from a wreck that sent leader Tam Topham into the wall and second-place Mark Akers to the back of the field.
Topham had won six of the first nine Limited races this season. He took the pole Saturday and led through the first 18 laps with Akers close behind. On lap 19, Akers got under Topham's No.24 car in turn two and rode him down the back straightaway before Topham lost control.
"He just got underneath the back of me," Topham said. "When you get there you have a choice ... and he didn't back out. But that's part of racing. [The damage] is pretty bad, but we'll be back next week and we'll be ready."
The accident opened the door for Brown, who led the final 14 laps of the 35-lap event. Eddie Walls finished second and Kenny Montgomery took third.
Christiansburg's Tommy Allie continues to reign supreme in the Pure Stock division, capturing his eighth win of the season in impressive fashion. Allie led the 25-lap race from start to finish, with John McMahan making the jump from ninth in qualifying to take second and Dean Young finishing third.
With more than 10 caution flags waved in the 25-lap Mini Stock race, it was Floyd's Ray Sowers who successfully dodged the numerous accidents to take the checkered flag - a flag many fans wondered if they would ever see. There were four unsuccessful attempts at finishing the race after a restart, each time interrupted by a caution. The result was a 37-lap affair.
In a special showing of the Legends division, the top three positions were solid throughout the 25-laps with Dwayne Marshall earning the victory. Hollis Tubor placed second and Fred Brown finished third.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB