2006 MMRA East Grand National Race
Friendship Motor Speedway - August 25-26

MMRA's return to Friendship Motor Speedway for our East Grand National race proved yet again that the track is a great venue for a major event.  The track staff did an excellent job of working with our cars, and having the facility to ourselves was fantastic.  We were able to adhere to our published schedule, all drivers had as much practice as they wanted, and there was plenty of room in the pits.

Although we had some very close points battles coming into the event, for the fourth year in a row, the points leaders coming into the race in all divisions took home their respective championships.  More than anything else, this documents the clean racing that is a credit to all our racers.  No one lost the championship due to a crash.

With the championship on the line, the bonus point for qualifying became more important than ever, and the following drivers got their weekend off to a great start.

Dylan Presnell - Future Stars - 18.370 seconds
Donald McIntosh - Open Division - 17.544 seconds
Jacob France - Junior PRO Division - 16.846 seconds
Chad Willis - PRO Division - 16.121 seconds

On race day, the Tobacco Free Surry program came out to the track to share the importance of living a tobacco free lifestyle.  MMRA fully endorses this concept and we appreciate the folks from Tobacco Free Surry for helping to educate our racers and fans about this topic.

Although the afternoon was hot, by racetime, the weather was great for racing and our Future Stars of Racing kicked off the event with an exciting 50 lapper.  The mostly caution free event produced three smiling faces at the start finish line - Logan Ruffin who won the event, Dylan Presnell who won the championship, and Kyle Baugh who was knocking on the door of these frontrunners.

In the Open Division, Donald McIntosh notched the win, giving him a final third place points finish.  Stephen Hershey had a strong run to second place in the race and championship, and Ronnie Binkley earned the big prize of the Open Division championship with his third place finish.

The Junior PRO Division produced a breakout win for J.D. Daniels who notched his first major victory at the biggest event of the year.  Jacob France finished second, but had a big smile on his face for being the first driver in MMRA history to earn a second MMRA championship ring - we wonder if his ring size has changed from last year?

Finally, in the PRO Division, Chad Willis did everything he could do to win the championship by winning the pole and dominating the race.  In the end though, Lindsay Daniels took the title by three points with her second place run.  In perhaps the best story of the weekend, Jason Lutz came back from a bad crash in practice the day before to finish third in the race.  Those long hours repairing the car sure paid off, and the #19 jumped up to 8th in points after a tie-breaker with the #8 of Jeff Abbott.

MMRA would like to thank all our dedicated racers who came out to race in our East Grand National race.  We appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed your time at Friendship Motor Speedway.  Remember the awards banquet will be coming up on November 4 where all champions and top finishers will be recognized. 

Click here for the complete finishing order and payout schedule.

Click here for a post-race tech report describing the issues raised in Future Stars and PRO Divisions.