By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
Jeremy Shaw is almost there.
At least that’s how he feels after winning his second feature in three appearances at Columbus Speedway this season.
Shaw sat on the pole of the NeSmith Late Model race Friday and led from start to finish. The win was Shaw’s third of the season across all tracks, including Magnolia Motor Speedway, where he currently leads in track points.
Shaw also ran second at ECM Speedway in Alabama two weeks ago.
“We had a good car tonight and have felt that way all year,” said Shaw, who drives the 1s car for Brad Logan. “We’re just trying to get dialed in on making the right adjustments and doing the right things when the feature comes around.”
Those adjustments aren’t many – Shaw said he and Logan have a fairly “neutral” setup that doesn’t require much attention as track conditions change throughout the night. But after installing a new set of shocks before the season, work still remains in what, when and how much to adjust between qualifying, heats and features.
Shaw has a runner-up finish at Columbus this season and three at Magnolia. He hopes unlocking more secrets to his shocks settings can help turn the quality runs into more wins.
“It’s been a bit of a learning curve to figure it out,” Shaw said. “A couple of races earlier this year, we made a few more adjustments – probably went a little too far – and took ourselves out of the race. We feel we have a good base setup, and we’re just trying to fine-tune things now.”
Shaw shut down his race operation at the end of last season and said earlier this year that he was unsure of how much he’d race. “It could be every weekend,” Shaw said at the Magnolia points banquet in February, noting the desire to spend more time with his family and less time in the shop throughout the week. He’s achieved that, and he will continue to pursue points at Magnolia, he said.
“That’s the short-term goal [to race for points at Magnolia],” Shaw said. “But it doesn’t help your program to just race at one track, so we’ll move around.
“It’s been great, because between me and Brad, we’ve been able to cut it down to a couple of hours a week, and right now it’s working good. We’ve been in contention to win even more races, but we’re honing in on where we want to be.”
Steve Russell finished second, cutting down the deficit to Shaw to about a second late in the feature. Both drivers opened up about a four-second lead on the rest of the field. Jamey Boland and Justin Carter finished third and fourth, respectively. Hunter Carroll, current leader in NeSmith Late Model National points, finished fifth.
Kyle Shaw wins 602 race
As speed decreases, everything becomes clearer.
For Kyle Shaw, who has raced primarily in NeSmith Crate Late Models, a drop down to periodic runs in the 602 Sportsman division has proven to be “more his speed.”
Shaw, who bought a 602 Sportsman motor and dropped it in Ryan Rigdon’s R3 car, won his first race the car Friday. Shaw was dominant – he raced high, he raced low, and he never relinquished the lead, besting Jamie Pickard and Tony Shelton, who finished second and third, respectively.
“You can definitely tell a difference in the motor,” Shaw said. “You’re not running quite as fast. I’ve been used to going a little faster, and you jump into this, it slows down and you see everything a lot better. It’s no doubt – I was really comfortable in that heat race and moved around a lot on the track.
“Those guys, Jamie Pickard and Tony Shelton are hard to outrun. I knew it would be a dogfight. I didn’t know until a couple of laps to go that I actually had a lead.”
Kurt Radojscis and Brooke Carter finished fourth and fifth.
Shaw said he’ll also continue to run his NeSmith Late Model car.
In other race action:
n Lee Ray won the Street Stocks feature. Bryan Fortner, Doug Dodd, Brodey Elfring and Phil Kizzire rounded out the top 5.
n Chad McCool won the Late Model Stock feature. Mark Dodson, Daniel Gann, Garrett Taylor and Bo McKee rounded out the top 5.
n Bill Sudduth won the Factory Stocks feature. John Beard, Brandon Whitely, Tyler Castle and David Westbrook rounded out the top 5.
n Michael Butler won the Mini Stocks feature. Ronnie Guin, Billy Yarbrough and Blaine Glenn finished second through fourth.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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