ANDERSON LEGENDS - 7/13/07

By Matt Kentfield

STANCILL INVADES ANDERSON AND TAKES VICTORY

John Stancill has made headlines throughout the Legends Car world so far in the first half of the 2007 Semi-Pro Division season.  With numerous race victories and a position at the top of the Semi-Pro National Points race, Stancill has become a household name.  Wherever Stancill goes, he becomes the driver to beat.

But on Friday night, Stancill ventured into the house that Justin Ashley has owned all year long – Anderson Motor Speedway.  Ashley came into Friday night’s race having won 13 races on the season, making him a rival to Stancill’s dominating stats so far this year.

to win the Semi-Pro National Points,” said Stancill.  “Me and Nick (Pistone) will go anywhere and we’ll have a good car.  All I have to do is drive the thing.  It’s basically my first time here and I had a good car and I just drove it.  Evidently we just had the right stuff tonight.”

Ashley, however, did not have the kind of night that he was accustomed to at Anderson on Friday.  Could it be because he was intimidated by Stancill coming onto his home turf?  Simply put – no.  It was just an ill-handling racecar.

John Stancill was tough at Anderson.  (LN Photos)

Stancill had never even toured the slick 3/8-mile Anderson oval in a Legends Car before hot laps Friday night.  His only laps there came in practice for an Aaron’s Pro Challenge Series event last season before the main event was rained out.  So it would make sense that Stancill would struggle at the tricky Anderson track while Ashley would, at very least, compete for victory number-14.

But there haven’t been many races where Stancill has struggled this year, so why would things be any different at Anderson.  Stancill took the lead on lap three and did not look back in the 20-lap feature, solidifying his place as the favorite for the Semi-Pro Division National Title.

“The #50 car of Justin Ashley has 13 wins down here, so we actually just decided to come down here just to beat him because we’re trying

Jerry Rector may be up in age, but he can still get the job done in the Masters Division.

“We ran the car at Charlotte (in the Summer Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway) and got the car messed up,” said Ashley.  “We thought we had it fixed in the heat race, but we were still too loose and we were still way too loose in the feature.”

Stancill took the lead early on by passing both Ashley and John Gallman on a three-wide move on lap three.  From there, nobody was going to catch Stancill.  Ashley eventually faded, but Gallman, Pro Division standout Justin Smith and Master Jerry Rector took his place at the front of the field.  The three waged an intense battle for the runner-up spot late in the race, even going three-wide on several occasions. 

But the battle behind Stancill came to a head with three laps remaining.  Gallman and Smith made contact, allowing Masters Division point leader Rector by for the third spot.  Smith held on for second, earning him the Pro Division win, while Rector crossed beneath the checkers third, thus giving him the title in the Masters Division.

But for Rector, getting beat by a couple of drivers a fraction of his age is nothing to be disappointed with.

“I’m 54 years old, so I’m tickled to death to be able to run like that,” said Rector.  “I didn’t give myself a chance here tonight, but we ended up doing pretty good.”

As Rector, Smith, Gallman and the rest of the bunch battled behind him, Stancill checked out and never worried a bit about what was behind him.

”I looked at my mirror for probably the first seven laps or so, but after that I was just riding and let those guys race,” said Stancill.  “I wasn’t thinking about what was going on back there because we’ve just got things working good right now and I hope we can keep it up.”