Hedgepath takes checkered flag

Pole setter leads all laps in Street Feature

By JIMMY TRODGLEN

The Leaf-Chronicle

Racing for a points championship means there are no other commitments other than 

showing up at the track on Saturday night.

Forget the vacations. Forget coming down with an illness, and always hope your 

engine doesn’t give out.

Ronnie Hedgepath raced for a points championship in 2004, but now races for fun, 

with his position in the points standings being the least of his worries.

On Saturday, Hedgepath looked like a points title contender when he started from 

the pole for the Street Stock feature, and led every lap of the main event to 

claim his second win this season at Clarskville StormPay.com Speedway.

Hedgepath, who is seventh in the points according to the speedway’s Web site, 

held off a handful of threats from Josh Taylor in the closing laps, who had a 

strong second-place run ahead of Keith Mayo.

Hedgepath took the pole after winning his heat, and spent time before the 

feature race, making adjustments to his car’s setup.

“I tightened the car and took some stagger out of the rear and took some stagger 

out of the front and grinded on some tires to get some traction,” Hedgepath 

said. “It was a pretty good track tonight.

“My car handled great tonight,” Hedgepath added. “It was excellent on the 

bottom. I had to keep it down there where the bite was at, and other than that 

it went pretty smooth.”

Jonathon Wix, the current points leader in the Street division, finished ninth.

Because of the July 4 holiday, several of the track’s top drivers were absent 

from the track. Only six cars ran in the Crate Late Model race, while the Outlaw 

Mini Sprint had eight cars and Pro Street four cars.

But the Street had a full class with 17 cars making up the field when the green 

flag was waved.

“A couple of years ago we had 20 or 30 cars and a few years ago we had enough 

for two features,” Hedgepath said. “But now the times have gotten hard and you 

know how it is.”

The first of four cautions in the Street feature came out only three laps in 

when three cars were involved in a wreck on Turn 4. On the restart, Hedgepath 

kept Dale Phillips and Taylor in his rearview mirror.

“I tried to keep everybody tied up and then get a jump on them the best I can,” 

Hedgepath said. “You can’t really see what is happening behind you, but as soon 

as I felt him (Taylor) hit me in the bumper, I took off and it gave me a little 

bit of an advantage.”

In the closing laps, Hedgepath began lapping cars and held his breath on a 

couple of occasions after thick dust kicked up when a couple of cars spun 

cutting out his visibility.

“It was terrible. I was hoping there was nothing there on the other side,” 

Hedgepath said. “It was pretty wild to go through that dust and not know what 

was there.”

Other winners from Saturday include Nick Alexander (Mini Mod), Andy Holub (Pure 

Mini), Tony Albright (Late Model), Mike Hodges (Pro Street), Brian Nance (Outlaw 

Mini Sprint), Michael Neighbors (Open Wheel), Bobby Proctor (Crate Late Model) 

and Mike Hodges (Pro Street).

Jimmy Trodglen is sports editor of The Leaf-Chronicle and can be reached by 

e-mail at jimmytrodglen@theleafchronicle.com or by phone at 245-0261.