Parrill Wins Number Four

Mike Parrill, Sr. made his fourth win of the year a big one taking the Bentonville 200 Friday night here at The Cave Speedway. Starting the night only four points ahead of 2nd place points man, J. P. Welsh, a second place finish in his heat along with JP's third place in his heat gave Parrill an 8 point lead going into the feature. Heat winners for the night were Brad "Frenchy" Bennington, Joe Shiflett, and Mike Franklin just nipping Alan Sagi by inches. The Mains were won by Wes Shiflett in the D, Tyler Williamson in the C-Main, and Alan Sagi captured the B-Main taking JP Welsh and Mike Parrill along to the feature.

When the feature rolled off, nobody could have imagined the twist and turns that were to come over the next 200 laps. Franklin, Sagi and Frenchy would all take turns at the point (in the first 6 laps). Frenchy and Joe would swap the lead four times early on until Frenchy would (de-slot) on the back straight and take a vicious shot to the rear bending the chassis sending him pitside and handing the lead to Shiflett. Joe would lead until Lap 149 when excessive wheel hop would lead to a broken motor mount sending him pitside. (Get the picture?) Parrill, Sr. now takes the lead and would spend the last 50 laps holding off a furious charge by Welsh, but the old man was up to the task and held on for a narrow win (less than a lap) over JP. Third was Mike Franklin with Alan Sagi coming home fourth, Frenchy fifth, and sixth was Joe Shiflett.

Six lead changes among five drivers. Lap leaders were Franklin, Laps 1-4; Sagi, Laps 5-6; Bennington, Laps 7-42; Shiflett, Laps 43-57; Bennington, Laps 58-60; Shiflett, Laps 61-149; Parrill, Sr., Laps 150-200.

Last points race of the season will be Friday night, March 30th, followed on Sunday, April 1st at 2:00 P.M. with the North/South Shootout (Part 2) winged sprint car race as the local boys from The Cave will again defend their turf against the northern invaders, or as they like to be called "The Posse". Is that spelled right or is it P****. Well, never mind. See you all Friday night and again on Sunday.