MILLBRIDGE - 5/26/07 LEGENDS

By Matt Kentfield

Kara Clarke Bumps & Runs to Victory

Millbridge Speedway may be 1/5-mile, but when cars are sliding sideways through the corner on the tricky clay surface, the length of the track doesn’t factor into the racing nearly as much as the width of the track.

Millbridge seems barely wide enough to run two cars side-by-side, so that often can lead to some hard-fought battles for position, especially battles for the lead.

Just ask Falcon Smith, Matt Lundstrum and Kara Clarke.

First, Smith took the lead early and waged a hard-fought battle with Lundstrum for the lead with Clarke in tow.  Early on, however, Lundstrum found himself spinning out of second when he was left with little room to pass Smith in turn three.

That left Smith with only Clarke to deal with.  Shortly after the restart from Lundstrum’s spin, Smith appeared to have the field covered, but Clarke quickly reeled him in and began putting the pressure on for the top spot.  Bumper taps off the corners were frequent, but on lap 12, the action up front came to a head.

Clarke’s #21 Semi-Pro entry made just enough contact with Smith’s #34 to send Smith around in turn-four.  Smith tried to get his spot back under caution, but officials sent him back to the rear of the field, allowing Clarke to keep her lead that she would not relinquish for the rest of the race.

Clarke (#21) laid the bumper to Smiths #34 and checked out for the win. (LN Photo)

After the checkered flag, while Clarke was obviously happy with the victory, she felt as if it wasn’t hers to enjoy.

“It feels awesome, but I feel really bad for Falcon,” said Clarke.  “I was trying to get away from a Semi-Pro (Lundstrum) and he was a Pro.  I feel bad.  It should’ve been his win today.”

Clarke’s motivation for wanting to stay ahead of Lundstrum was to gain as many National Points as she could leading up to the Legends Car Dirt Nationals.  That wasn’t a good enough excuse for Smith.

Clarke rolls to victory.

“We were out front there and doing pretty good leading the thing,” said Smith.  “Somebody just got a little impatient.  I was running my groove and she was running right behind me.  I was a little bit better than her, but she just drove in a little over her head.  I think between her and the #4 (Lundstrum), I think they were still running at the Shootout the way they drive. 

“She told me that she had another Semi-Pro behind her, so I can understand that, but that doesn’t mean she can take somebody out.”

Smith was victorious at Millbridge last week, but neither that nor being the Pro Division winner this time out with a third-place finish ahead of Lundstrum and Jan Ingram, the Masters winner, was enough consolation to finishing behind Clarke Sunday.

“The last two weeks, we’ve pretty well had them covered.  She wasn’t here last week, but we pretty much ran away with it last week.  We had another one in the works there, just had it taken away from us.”

Clarke’s victory gives the young racer momentum going into the Dirt Nationals in Lebanon, Missouri in late Sepetmeber, but still she knows that the win Sunday did not come as clean as she would’ve liked.

“It’s a small little racetrack, but I didn’t meant to wreck him either.  I had a teammate, another Semi-Pro, coming up behind me racing for National Points.  I feel bad.

“Being from North Carolina, we don’t get to race on too many dirt tracks.  We just tried to get as many points as we could get and get as high as we can get, so I guess winning a race is still winning a race.”