[Jerry Shaw]

There were great battles breaking out all over the place in this one. Kind of like one of those late night, Chinese martial arts movies, minus the dubbed-in English and cheesy sound effects. Right off the bat, Tyler Thomas took off into the lead and Robert Ballou and Max McGhee began their extended battle for the runner up spot, which after a few laps Ballou would start to gain a slight edge. From the 5th row, Thomas Meseraull immediately attacked the top of the race track and was moving to the front in a hurry. Among all the other chaos that was unfolding, TMez stood out, because you could see that was what so many people in the crowd were pointing at. But, just that quick, he tempted fate just a little too much and was drawn over the turn 2 ledge, as has happened to many a great driver in that very spot. The yellow would come out and his path to victory would be much longer and more difficult. As they lined back up, KT Jr. had moved up a few spots from 10th, Dave Darland and Jeff Bland had improved their positions from the back of the field, but Brady Short was still in the very back. When they restarted Tyler maintained the lead and Robert and Max went back at it again, Thomas, Jr was up top, flying around other cars and Brady Short was starting to make his move through the field. Then, before the half way point, Ballou and McGhee would get together in turn 2 and Robert would slow making the turn in 3 and would be contacted by Cockrum, who it looked like had no place to go. Ballou would come to a stop and his night would be over. 17 laps left and you had Darland and Short more than half way up through the field, KT up to I think 4th or 5th, with Tyler still holding down the top spot, with Max in pursuit. Right after the restart Tim Creech II made contact with another car and just went tumbling off the top of the track, in between turns 3 and 4. Everybody was pleased to see him pop right out, because it was a pretty violent looking flip. The other story on this stop in the action was that Dave Darland would have to go to the work area. So his run through the field was all for naught. Then when they restarted, you wondered if Tyler could hold off Max, because he was fast all night and had just taken the victory the night before. Shane Cottle was up to 4th from his 5th row starting position, but was under serious assault from KT, who had also started in that row. KT was not to be denied and drove around Shane and was headed to the front. Within a few laps, he made his way up to Max, but McGhee would proved to be a tough out and Thomas Jr would take several laps to pry what belonged to McGhee away from him. He then set sail for the leader and within a lap or two, had driven around him to take the lead, with less than 10 laps left. But, then just as it looked to be settled, Tyler came fighting back and put serious pressure on KT. Tyler then drove into the loose stuff and KT would stretch the lead to where you knew he wasn't going to be caught. Just then, Short had taken Shane's spot away and was all over Max for third. That was a fantastic skirmish that went from about the "5 to go" till the checkered flag. Several times it looked like Brady was going to take the final podium spot, even up to the last corner of the last lap, but Max outraced him off of turn 4 to the flagstand. Again, great feature! A driver won from the 5th row. Another that had started 17th almost took the 3rd spot on the final lap. Max McGhee just keeps on getting better and had a great weekend. Tyler Thomas has gotten so tough, in such a small amount of time. And we're also seeing Colten Cottle emerging, as well (15th to 6th tonight). And Lincoln Park has just become such a cool place to go hang out with your friends and take in a night of racing. And like I mentioned to a few people, it's been a long time since I've seen a track operator interact with his crowd, during the show, any better than Joe does. And the fans appreciate that and are really loyal to this place.

Jerry