The more Johnny Stokes had to gear-down, the lesser his odds were of winning the Mississippi Street Stocks feature Friday night at Columbus Speedway.
Stokes, who was looking for his second win in as many races, saw his acceleration struggles continue from his last race into Friday’s qualifying and heat race. Still, he set the fastest time and nearly passed Rodney Wing on the final lap of their heat race before changing his spark plugs ahead of the feature.
The problem persisted in the feature, but it didn’t matter. Stokes, who started third, overtook Wing exiting turn four on lap 10 and led the final 15 laps to clinch $1,000.
“I was working that inside where (Wing) was at,” Stokes said. “I could work it a little better than him. He could see me there, and when you do a fella like that, he’s gonna automatically get lower. It set up to where he just stayed there and I rolled him on the outside. I knew that if I got out front and could maintain my pace, I’d run OK.”
Stokes said he has tried to identify the problem in the last few weeks, changing spark plugs, fuel filters, carburetors, and fuel pump.
“We’ll take it to Magnolia tomorrow and figure it out,” Stokes said.
Stokes’ troubles accelerating out of lower gears were magnified by three consecutive cautions before the second lap was complete. Michael Santangelo, who started on the outside of the front row, lost the rear end entering turn one on lap two, causing a four-car wreck Stokes avoided. However, the wreck collected Lee Ray, who entered the race as state points leader, Bryan Fortner, and Santangelo. Fortner and Santangelo pulled off due to excessive damage, but Ray, whose right front quarter-panel and door were badly damaged, continued. He finished third.
“Part of it is cosmetic, so it wasn’t that bad,” Ray said. “The right front was bent, and that kind of knocked it out of toe. But I figured if I could get someone to look at it, pull the quarter panel off, I’d be OK. People motioned to me that I was good.”
Wing finished second, while Dwayne Estes and Chace Pennington finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Ray planned to race Saturday at Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian. Ray and Stokes will be at Magnolia for tonight’s feature races, including the COMP Cams series Super Late Model races.
In other action, Jeremy Shaw won the NeSmith Late Model feature. Steve Russell, Hunter Carroll, Neil Baggett, and Ben Brocato rounded out the top five.
Jamie Pickard won the 602 Sportsman feature. Kyle Shaw, Cole Brown, Tony Shelton, and Chace Pennington rounded out the top five.
Daniel Guin won the Late Model Stock feature. Garrett Taylor, Chris Whaley, Jackson McCool, and Corey Pennington rounded out the top five.
Matt Meadows won the Mini Stocks feature. Brandon Barrett, Skyler Aldridge, Allen Gilreath, and Ronnie Guin rounded out the top five.
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