Apr 17, 2010 – Vanderley Repeats! Wins PLM Feature

There’s nothing like a trip to Victory Lane to put disappointment in your rearview mirror. Just ask D.J. Vanderley. The 18 year old erased the pain of a settling for his second college choice with a dominant win in the Pro Late Model Division on Friday at Five Flags Speedway. VanderLey is now two-for-two with wins in each race this season.

“This definitely helps,” said Vanderley, who chose to attend Auburn when scholarship money wasn’t enough to enroll at Georgia Tech. “Georgia Tech was my dream school, but it didn’t work out. But Auburn is going to be a really good education, too.”

Don’t pity Vanderley too much, though. He already has been awarded a presidential scholarship to Auburn and received admissions to its honors college. Plus, he’s one heck of a racecar driver. “All the stars seem to be lining up for us,” Vanderley said. “The first race out here, we were a little loose. Tonight, we were a little tight. We know where we want to be.” A scary thought for the rest of the division.

After an early crash in the 40-lap feature, which did damage to defending series champion Ronnie Smith, Vanderley gradually worked his way to the front. He finally got by leader David Jones at the start-finish line on Lap 19. As much as runner-up Keith Thorpe tried to cut into VanderLey’s massive lead, the kid just kept pulling away.

“Two poles, two wins. It doesn’t get much better than this so far,” Vanderley said. He did in fact win the pole, but started sixth when an unlucky roll of the dice pushed him back to sixth for the feature’s start. The dice roll nearly cost him when an opening-lap pileup caught Smith, Thomas Praytor, Kyle Bryant and almost included him. “I swear that was scary,” said Vanderley, who dodged trouble with some nifty driving. “I didn’t think I’d make it through. It was a headache.”

That’s about the only pain the young man felt Friday.

Modified Division
Ryan Redmon might have lost his power steering, but he didn’t lose his speed in taking his second consecutive Modified feature.
“I lost my power steering with about 10-12 laps left, so I got a little workout,” the Marianna resident said. But it didn’t matter. He had already built a commanding lead.

Redmon took the lead on Lap 2 with a strong move to the outside. He passed three cars, including polesitter Gerald Wilkerson coming out of Turn 4. The caution flag came out on Lap 5 when Chris Cotto spun out while running third. Three laps later, the second and final caution came out when Mike Maddox, who had just taken over third place, had a mechanical failure.

After the restart, Redmon pulled away. Nathan Ingersoll took second, while Wilkerson was third.

Sportsman Division
Steve Buttrick used his favorite line at the top of the track to capture his second win in as many weeks. Buttrick took the lead for good at the end of Lap 14 when then-leader Willie Kitchen got sideways. Jim Pokrant finished third.

“I could get used to this,” Buttrick said. A two-car crash on the opening lap had the night’s polesitter Bubba Winslow in the thick of it. After some work quick back at his hauler, Winslow put his car back on the track with his front-end smashed. Winslow, who entered the night just two points shy of Buttrick in the division’s standings, valiantly drove to an eighth finish to earn some crucial points.

Three-time defending series champion Randy Thompson, a contender early in the race, had serious mechanical issues and finished a distant 10th.

Bombers Division
When he needed it most, Mike Goraum snatched the checkered flag. With Daryl Lynchard, who came into the night leading in points, out because of an early crash, Goraum seized the opportunity. “It was a great night,” he said.

Goraum passed Rick Grimes the midway point and held on despite a couple of restarts because of cautions. Grimes finished runner-up with Tony Boyd third.

Pro Late Model feature
1. D.J. VanderLey; 2. Keith Thorpe; 3. Tommy Rollins; 4. David Jones; 5. Shanna Ard; 6. Dillon Spreen; 7. Ronnie Smith; 8. Robert Royce; 9. Thomas Praytor Jr.; 10. Kyle Bryant

Modified feature
1. Ryan Redmon; 2. Nathan Ingersoll; 3. Gerald Wilkerson; 4. Donnie Hamrac; 5. Josh Goodwin; 6. Chris Cotto; 7. Bobby Ingersoll; 8. Ron Schneider; 9. Mike Maddox; 10. Phillip Merryman

Sportsman feature
1.Steve Buttrick; 2. Willie Kitchen; 3. Jim Pokrant; 4. Brannon Fowler; 5. Thomas Warren Jr.; 6. Marty White; 7. Keith Foss; 8. Bubba Winslow; 9. Tina Davidson; 10. Randy Thompson; 11. Bo Resmondo

Bomber feature
1. Mike Goraum; 2. Rick Grimes; 3. Tony Boyd; 4. Brandon Burks; 5. Michael T. Nelson; 6. Kenny Bullard; 7. William Goulet; 8. James Beal III; 9. Rick Thompson; 10. Curtis Faircloth; 11. Courtney Rodrigues; 12. Jeremy Tassin; 13. Michael Johnson; 14. Bo Hancock; 15. Daryl Lynchard; 16. Michael Kitchen; 17. Brandin Sidner; 18. Dayton Sidner; 19. Tracy Soles; 20. Scooter Willis