Sophia, N.C. (April 26, 2007) - Like a bunch of school kids misbehaving before summer vacation, Saturday night's Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at Caraway Speedway was a display of push and shove physical aggression, lots of taking and very little happiness unless you were the one who came out on top.

Eighteen teams returned to the fast 4/10ths mile oval tucked in the deeply wooded area not far from US 64 to make up the rain cancelled event and the weather was perfect for racing. Temperatures hovered in the mid 70's all day with a slight breeze when the cars lined up on the front stretch in the order in which they qualified the week before.

Before the rains came, Burt Myers won his fourth consecutive Bud Pole Award in Phillip Smith's black and orange All Star Truck Repair, DMC Auto Exchange #1 with a lap time that was just a few ticks off the track record he set in the tour's first visit back in March. Burt would also become the first driver on the WSMT to win four poles in row.

The redraw was set at six this week, with Burt again falling victim to the number six pill and his brother, Jason Myers would draw number one. Walkertown, North Carolina's Michael Clifton would start alongside Myers with Brian King third, Tim Brown fourth and L.W. Miller fifth.

Always one to be in the shadows of his brother's Hollywood smile and outgoing personality, the quiet and reserved Myers took off from the pole and would lead the first lap with Clifton right behind. 2006 WSMT Rookie of the Year Brian King would slide in behind Clifton for third, with Tim Brown fourth and L.W. Miller, fifth.

Again, as in previous weeks on the WSMT, the drama would set in quick as a few drivers called in to report a car blowing oil on lap six and NASCAR quickly called for the caution two laps later to investigate, and drop speedy dry on the racing surface. Both Tim Brown and Brian King reported oil on their windshields, as the field continued behind the Caraway Speedway safety car under caution. NASCAR Tour Director Mark Suddreth informed the top four cars that they were going to continue under the watchful eyes of NASCAR officials, but the source of the leaking oil could not be found.

Under this lengthy caution, Gene Pack would pit his Lowe's Home Improvement #31 with what appeared to be an over-heating problem as the crew undid and removed several of the car's nose panels. Pack returned to pit road for a final check before the race resumed on lap 19.

Using the same outside move he used to race with Teddy Christopher in the first event at Caraway, Burt Myers would pass L.W. Miller for fifth on this restart, with Jason Myers still showing the way over Clifton, King, and Tim Brown.

The race would go another four laps before Pack would again find trouble as he would spin off turn four. Gene would return to pit road under this caution, but there was no visible damage to his car.

Back to green on lap 26 with Jason Myers still leading over Michael Clifton, Brian King, Burt Myers, Tim Brown, George Brunnhoelzl, III, L.W. Miller, Junior Miller, Brian Pack and Bobby Hutchens.

It wouldn't take long for the racing to get exciting again as both Tim Brown and Junior Miller raced side by side off turn two on lap 35 with Brown to Miller's outside. As the cars neared the cross over gate in the middle of the back stretch, Brown's car suddenly leaped up into the air as Miller drifted up into Brown's lane. Brown's car came down hard on the right front corner and he lost several positions before pitting on lap 42 to change the right front tire. Brown would lose three laps making this stop as it was made under green flag conditions and return to the race on lap 46.

Riggs Racing Crew Chief Reggie Newman explained, "We had a substitute spotter tonight and he said he may have told him he was clear too early. I think he may have touched Brown, but I don't know. I can't see it from where I'm at. So, I don't know, but the spotter said it could be his fault and he was a substitute so something could have happened there but we don't do it on purpose so it was just one of those things."

Brown was visibly upset after the event and refused comment.

Just before Brown hit pit road, Michael Clifton would retire his Jamie Casper Auto Sales, Clifton Plumbing #50 with rear end problems after another strong run. Brian King would inherit second and the two leaders had a half straightaway lead over L.W. Miller, Frank Fleming, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Junior Miller, Brian Pack, Burt Myers, Bobby Hutchens and Chris Fleming.

During this long green flag run, Jason Myers would catch the tail end of the field and start putting cars a lap down on lap 65. J. Wesley Swartout was first to go down a lap and would pit shortly there after on lap 73. Junior Miller and Brian Pack were putting on a heck of a fight for sixth and seventh as Jason Myers would open up a half straightaway lead on Brian King who had a hard charging Frank Fleming in his mirror. A full straightaway back was L.W. Miller with George Brunnhoelzl, IIl leading the Miller/Pack slugfest. Burt Myers was struggling with a stagger problem as he raced with Bobby Hutchens with Chris Fleming rounding out the top 10.

The feel good moment of the night came on lap 92 when veteran modified driver Frank Fleming dove to the inside of Brian King for second as the two cars raced into turn three. Fleming looked like he was finally having fun at the controls of Speedy Thomas' #07 machine.

"Yep. You know, it was good for it to finally be fun. Racing hadn't been a lot of fun for me lately and tonight, I just had a great time. The car really worked good and it's the first time I've really been competitive. I had one good, competitive race last year but you know we're studying this car and learning a lot of stuff and I hope we can keep it competitive this year and you know, we need to win another race. It's probably been, I don't know, four or five years since I've won one of these tour races and if we keep working like we worked tonight and keep an open mind, I think we can get this thing back. I mean I'm just 47, I ain't that old but still a lot of the younger drivers, they were tickled to see that I was one of the ones they had to out run to win it. So, you know we'll go home and work on the car and come back and see what we can do July the fourth or sixth."

At Lap 100 Jason Myers continued to dominate the event over Fleming, Brian King, L.W. Miller, Brian Pack (who was holding off a determined Junior Miller), George Brunnhoelzl, III, Burt Myers, Bobby Hutchens and Chris Fleming.

At this point in the race, L.W. finally started to charge towards the duo of King and Fleming as Junior Miller finally made it stick to the bottom of Brian Pack on lap 111 after a torrid battle that lasted for several laps.

Two laps later on lap 113, L.W. made his move on both King and Fleming and set off after the long gone #4 of Jason Myers. Myers was in heavy lapped traffic on lap 119 when he came upon Gene Pack who had spun in turn two to bring out the caution.

This caution was good for some, but bad for others as Jason had a pretty healthy lead over the fast closing L.W., but his brother Burt raced to pit road for an air pressure adjustment in the right rear of his #1 car. George Brunnhoelzl, III would pit the following lap, with Brian Pack also making an air pressure adjustment to his left rear on lap 122.

The race restarted on lap 126 with Jason Myers still leading over L.W. Miller, Frank Fleming, Brian King, Junior Miller, Bobby Hutchens, Burt Myers, George Brunnhoelzl, III and Brian Pack. Burt would again leap to the outside and pass Hutchens for sixth and work past Junior Miller for fifth as the caution again flew on lap 133.

Bobby Hutchens would make contact with the left rear of Jay Foley's #57 and spin in turn one collecting Tim Brown who would also get caught up in the incident, but all three cars drove away. Brunnhoelzl would pit again on lap 136 under caution as the field was set for another restart on lap 137.

Jason Myers led L.W. Miller to green as the cars took off after their final restart. Miller would look high and low a few times before finally making his move to the inside of Jason entering turn three. Using a tactic seen previously by Teddy Christopher and Burt Myers, L.W. would use up more than enough race track and would "nerf" Myers out of the way for the lead on lap 141. It would take Jason a half lap to scrub off the marbles on his tires as L.W. pulled away to victory. Jason Myers would come home second, Burt Myers third, with Junior Miller and Frank Fleming rounding out the top five.

In victory lane, L.W. would hear a round of boos from the Myers faithful, who felt he had done their driver dirty. "I got under the 4 car (Jason Myers) once with about 25 to go on that restart and ran him clean for three laps. I pretty much thought that I had him, but if I was going to get him I was going to have to make it work the next time I had a shot at him. I got under him again and I run him up the track a little bit and that's just the way you race on short tracks. They know that. I'm sure he'll calm down a little bit but I hate it for him but when there's ten laps to go and I'm trying to win a race. I mean, I didn't wreck him, I just ran him hard. I hate there's ill feelings, but unfortunately that's part of racing." When asked how he felt about Myer's comments on the track's PA system, he said, "Yeah, I mean, you know he's just upset and I understand. He ran a great race. He was there all night long. He led the whole race. He had an awesome race car. Unfortunately I had a shot at him and I made it work. That's just part of racing. If it had been, if the roles had been reversed and he got under me and ran me up the track a little bit and I finished second, I'd say "Well, he beat me." But unfortunately, he's having a hard time with that. But that's okay I mean, Jason's a great driver and I mean, their whole family are great racers. They'll all understand after they think about it a little bit but the bottom line is Jimmy Baker, Danny Baker and all these boys that work on this race car, they work their guts out. I come here, I come here to win the race and that's what we did tonight."

After taking his car to post race inspection, Jason Myers told his side. "I'd rather have a second place car and finish second than I would have the best car out there and finish second. But you know, sometimes, it's just one of them deals where you're running and you're hoping no cautions come out, hoping no cautions come out and then, I don't know. I wasn't expecting that from L.W. I mean, I was expecting him to give me the front bumper if he was faster than I was, but he wasn't faster than I was. He took over-driving his car in the corner and if I hadn't have been there, he'd have went up the race track as far as he knocked me and I mean, I almost hit the wall coming off of four because I got up in the loose stuff and got a bunch of rubber on my front tires. But, you know on the good side, we finished second, we got a race to run tomorrow, we had to keep the car in one piece. It's the same car we got to run tomorrow. To finish second down here, it's the best finish I've had at Caraway so, it really just sucks to lead that many laps and have the best car and not come out with the win. But you keep going because it could have been a lot worse. They know we had a real good car tonight and we showed them and I think we might even be a little better when we get our Ford motor."

Third place Burt Myers would offer support for his bother, but admitted he's never happy unless he ends up in the winner's circle. "Well, I told you if somebody's got to beat me, I'd want it to be him. We just got way too loose and our stagger blew way up in the back for some reason and we got in and made that adjustment and it helped a whole lot, but by then the tires were wore so it's one of them deals where third was going to be as good as we were going to be tonight. No, I'm never happy with third. I mean, we're all right with it. I mean, you know, you can't be disappointed with third but before we made the adjustment we were probably a eighth to tenth place car."

Fourth was defending WSMT Champion Junior Miller. "It was a good point race but I ain't never been so beat around and knocked around so much in my life. They about run over me all night and I guess we're lucky to be fourth I got the toe-in knocked off and everything else. We're lucky to be fourth, I guess." When asked about his battle with Brian Pack, Miller commented, "I don't know what the deal was. He just run all over me about every lap I got under him. We run side by side for ten laps. He hit me every lap. He run me across the curb and everything else. It's hard to race like that."

Brian Pack would offer his comments after racing with Miller. "Tonight, I had a good time running with Junior. I believe we give him plenty of room and he run into me quite a few times, so we'll see next time. We'll leave the stadium at the stadium and we'll bring it back here July the 4th."

Junior Miller won the PowerAde "Power Move of the Race" Award for his improvement of 7 positions from his 11th starting spot, while L.W. Miller would take home the Featherlite Award for improving 23 positions from his finish at Greenville-Pickens. Jason Trinchere was the Sunoco "Rookie of the Race" and Burt Myers would win the Bud Pole Award. The race only had two leaders (Jason Myers and L.W. Miller) and the race had 4 cautions for 26 laps.

Junior Miller continues to hold the WSMT Point lead over Burt Myers, L.W. Miller, Tim Brown, Jason Myers, Brian Pack, George Brunnhoelzl, III, Bobby Hutchens, Brian King and J. Wesley Swartout. Swartout leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings over Brandon Ward (who skipped this event at Caraway to race in the Hooters Pro Cup Series at South Boston) and Jason Trinchere.

Now the WSMT will take a two month break for Saturday night racing at Bowman Gray Stadium, while some other drivers and teams will race on the ASA Southern Modified Tour. Burt Myers would win the first event in the ASA Southern Modified tour the next day at Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, North Carolina over Jason Myers and Jay Foley. Burt would win the pole at Friendship as well, bringing his total Bud Pole Award count to five on the season.

Bowman Gray Stadium opens their season this Saturday night with the Tucson 200 for NASCAR modifieds. Junior Miller is the defending track champion.