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| A Noble(s) effort takes Putnam Limited Late Models | by Jon Harney
J. O. Nobles drives in two divisions at Putnam County Speedway and is developing a sort of pattern. Whenever a car in one division breaks, he wins in the other division. For the second time this season he was able to rebound from a disappointing mechanical failure earlier in the night.
Nobles started outside third row for the 25-lap feature. After the initial start was nullified by hard contact between #55 Joe Burley and #44 Mitch McCoy, Joe Grubb's #15 wrestled the lead from polesitter Floyd Martin. #33 Bill Kopka and Nobles gave chase and the lead trio distanced themselves from the field. Nobles picked off Kopka and Grubb in short order to take the lead on lap 5. The race remained green until lap 17, after which the division suffered from yellow (flag) fever. Nobles kept ticking off laps by ones and twos to take his first LLM win. Joe Grubb stayed with Nobles throughout the race and settled for second. Kopka was third followed by Martin and McCoy.
Nobles also participated in the Late Model race. Due to a small field the feature was shortened to a 10-lap Cash Dash. Nobles ran strong early but was bitten by mechanical gremlins. Jason Fitzgerald's #03 was too strong for the remainder of the field and won the dash. Robbie Hager was second in the #35 and Durden's #17 was third.
Modifieds made the most of their first Saturday Night show of the season. The Friday Night Refugees brought an excellent field and won the admiration of the crowd. Polesitter Tim Zachery's #12 led until lap 7 when #2 Marion Sizemore got a run on him and seized the lead. Paul Sizemore and Chris Hammond worked into the second and third positions and it looked like a Team Sizemore sweep until Paul looped his car on lap 21. Attrition was high throughout the night and Jason Lowe was claimed on lap 24 in an incident that collected Robbie Barris' #32. Despite taking hard shots both drivers were OK. Sizemore cruised to the win with Hammond in second. Third went to Zachery, fourth to Paul Sizemore, and fifth to John Bradley's #26.
Pure Stock drew their largest field of the season as 18 cars took the green. #61 Mike Tripp was the early leader, but newcomers Chris Thompson and Brian Smith had too much power and rocketed past Tripp on the straight. Fenders bent and paint was sacrificed as battles were fought for every position. Thompson's #55 finished ahead of Smith's #54 and Tripp at the line. #5 L.J. Klemons and #88 David Conner rounded out the top five.
Ronald Soltis easily won the Hobby Stock main in his Drew's Coaches #61 Camaro. Al Robinson was the story, though, as he suffered early damage after getting involved in a first-lap incident. He steadily worked his way from the back to finish second. #21 David Miller did Ford fans proud in his fastback #21 with #72 Mike Scranton and #22 Dave Dowling Jr. in tow.
Kenny Hall nuked them in Street Stock. His #3 car won by almost half a lap. The real battle was for second as #1 Blair Strickland, #23 Kenny Adams, and #G5 George Flanders swapped positions and paint for the majority of the race while Hall ran away. The final finishing order was Hall, Strickland, Flanders, Adams, and #71 Al Gray.
#56 Robert Douglas beat an 8-car field to win the Mini Stock feature. Douglas was followed by #44 Don Brayton and #74 Mike Gibbs.
Beginning the first week in May, the purses for Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Modified will be raised. Lates will run for $1000 to win, Limiteds and Modifieds will receive $800 to win.
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