May 27, 2023

Montgomery, AL — Montgomery Motor Speedway held its second race of the season this past weekend, and several racers from all around came to participate in the festivities. The night was headlined by the Show Me the Money Pro Late Model Series, but Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, and the Late Model Sportsman divisions were also present.

Starting with the practice sessions on Saturday, Perry Patino would top the charts in the first PLM practice session, and Dylan Fetcho would lead practice number 2. The local divisions held a pair of practice sessions as well, with the second session doubling as group qualifying for the Pure Stocks and Street Stocks.

The first round of local practices saw the following drivers top the charts; Pure Stock – Robert Barber, Street Stock – Charles Davis, LMS – Perry Patino. The second round would see Bobby Reuse top the charts for the LMS crowd. The two group qualifying sessions resulted in Robert Barber claiming pole position for the Pure Stocks, and Charles Davis would set the quick time for Street Stocks.

The single-lap qualifying for both the Late Model Sportsman and Pro Late Model divisions was next. Bill Bethea would claim the pole in his Late Model Sportsman machine, and Dylan Fetcho topped the charts for the Show Me the Money Pro Late Models.

Seeing as how the Pro Late Models were the main show, we will list the full qualifying results from that field below, as well as how the top 8 would stack up after the invert. We will also include the final results from the Show Me the Money main event later on in the article.

Show Me the Money Qualifying Results:

1. #89f Dylan Fetcho – 19.571 sec.
2. #62 Josh Hicks – 19.610 sec.
3. #33 Dustin Smith – 19.684 sec.
4. #12t Christopher Tullis – 19.694 sec.
5. #18 Hunter Robbins – 19.732 sec.
6. #67 Zack Dixon – 19.739 sec.
7. #9 Anthony Cataldi – 19.792 sec.
8. #91 Jim Wall – 19.806 sec.
9. #17 Hudson Bulger – 19.846 sec.
10. #89p Perry Patino – 19.850 sec.
11. #20 Chase Johnson – 19.889 sec.
12. #27 Chase Spradlin – 19.900 sec.
13. #11 Jolynn Wilkinson – 19.947 sec.
14. #29 Allen Gordon – 19.988 sec.
15. #58 Johnny Aramendia – 20.060 sec.
16. #51 Trey Grimes – 20.068 sec.
17. #2 Jaxon Bishop – 20.136 sec.
18. #22 Dylan Courtney – 20.196 sec.
19. #84 Steven Chunn – 20.214 sec.
20. #12s Bryson Shaffer – 20.248 sec.
21. #12h Christopher Hogan – 20.277 sec.

Show Me The Money Top 8 Invert Results:

1. Zack Dixon
2. Josh Hicks
3. Anthony Cataldi
4. Dylan Fetcho
5. Jim Wall
6. Christopher Tullis
7. Dustin Smith
8. Hunter Robbins

With practice, qualifying, and all the other pre-race action having been concluded, the first feature event of the night was set to begin, that being the first of two separate Pure Stock races. This 20-lapper would see Robert Barber dominate to take home the victory. Mason Johnston and Gene Denmark would round out the podium.

Next up was the Street Stock 35-lap feature event, and this race had absolutely no shortage of drama and action. In the very opening laps, Austin Evans and Charles Davis got into it. The #6 machine, piloted by Davis, appeared to have ran Evans’s #19 car up the track, shuffling him way back before a caution flew for a spin in the back of the field. Evans caught up to Davis under caution to show his displeasure, but things did not end there.

After a few attempts of re-stacking the field and ensuring that all cars were in the correct order, the field went back to racing, and Evans was right behind Davis on the restart, shoving him from the restart zone all the way down to turn 1, where Evans ultimately turned Charles Davis into the wall, ending Davis’s night. Evans would be shown the black flag shortly thereafter, ending both drivers’ nights only 4 laps into the feature event, but all wasn’t over there.

Charles Davis and members of the Evans crew were seen getting into it in the pits, and eventually Austin Evans pulled into his spot and went to confront Davis. After some harsh words from drivers and crew members alike, both drivers walked away with thankfully no physical altercation taking place. The “Disturbing the Peace” weekend was definitely living up to its namesake.

The race resumed, and one more incident would occur towards the tail of the field. The incident resulted in both Keith Grace and John Weaver ending their nights early, a little over halfway through the race.

The end of the race was highlighted by a fierce battle at the front, with Charlie Melvin chasing down Jonathan Langham. Melvin eventually passed Langham in the closing laps, but had an absolute handful holding off Langham’s number 51 car. In the end, Melvin would bring home the win, with Jonathan and Maddox Langham rounding out the podium behind.

After some frontstretch bike races for the kids in attendance, the Show Me the Money Series took to the track for 100 laps of short track action. The race got off to a pretty clean start. Jaxon Bishop, Jim Wall, and Chase Johnson would all have issues that ended their races before the 50-lap mark. A big wreck on lap 57 collected the cars of Allen Gordon, Zack Dixon, and Dustin Smith, ultimately putting them out of contention. Hudson Bulger was caught up in that incident as well, but he was able to rally on.

Up towards the front, a 4-car breakaway had led for a sizeable chunk of the race, with Josh Hicks, Dylan Fetcho, Christopher Tullis, and Hunter Robbins all being under a blanket for several laps. Coming to the green on a restart, Dylan Fetcho’s car pulled off to the side and stopped at the bottom of turn 3. Fetcho, who was at one point fighting for the lead, would get back on track. Unfortunately, two flat tires and an ongoing electrical issue ultimately ended his night after 71 laps.

With only 13 cars remaining, the rest of the race wouldn’t see any more notable incidents or wrecks. Hunter Robbins eventually took the lead from Christopher Tullis, and would go on to get his first Pro Late Model win on the season, with Christopher Tullis finishing 2nd. Chase Spradlin put together an extremely impressive drive to finish 3rd, after starting the race all the way back in 12th position.

“It was a lot easier to kinda play defense tonight than play offense…” Robbins said in post-race tech. Robbins also acknowledged that he took the lead earlier than he would have liked, but the car was “good enough…not that great at the end of the race”. Robbins, a familiar sight in MMS victory lane, showed that he knows what it takes to win at the historic half-mile. After a rough start to the season, the defending Alabama 200 winner and Southern Super Series champion hopes that this win can turn things around for him and his Ronnie Sanders Racing team.

Christopher Tullis missed a shift on a restart, effectively giving Robbins the lead for the last portion of the race. “I knew it was going to be pretty tough to beat him,” said Tullis. “I just kept sitting there pressuring him, thinking he’s gotta make a mistake at some point, he just never did.” After a wild Alabama 200, which saw Tullis criticize the racing etiquette of some of the other racers, Tullis thought that the racing this week was much better, at least in the front of the field. “I can’t speak for a lot of what was going on in the back of the field…me, the 18, the 62, the 89 when he was up there, we were all racing each other with a lot of respect.”

Chase Spradlin, who qualified 12th, expressed that he had some things go his way with lots of fast cars dropping out of the race. “I knew we had a good long run car, it was just gonna take the whole race to play out for us to show it.” Spradlin, who usually drives the number 89 machine for Bobby and Roger Reuse, drove the number 27 for this race. The car just so happened to be the same car that NASCAR driver Jeb Burton raced for the late model festivities at North Wilkesboro. “[The 27 car] just reacted a little better, had a little better front end feel, so we chose it, and I’m glad we did now because it really showed out.”

The full results from the Show Me the Money Pro Late Model feature can be found below.

Show Me the Money PLM Feature Results:

1. #18 Hunter Robbins
2. #12t Christopher Tullis
3. #27 Chase Spradlin
4. #62 Josh Hicks
5. #9 Anthony Cataldi
6. #12s Bryson Shaffer
7. #17 Hudson Bulger
8. #11 Jolynn Wilkinson
9. #84 Steven Chunn
10. #58 Johnny Aramendia
11. #51 Trey Grimes
12. #89p Perry Patino
13. #12h Christopher Hogan
14. #89f Dylan Fetcho
15. #22 Dylan Courtney
16. #29 Allen Gordon
17. #67 Zack Dixon
18. #33 Dustin Smith
19. #20 Chase Johnson
20. #91 Jim Wall
21. #2 Jaxon Bishop

Despite the main show of the night having been concluded, there were still two more races, those being one final Pure Stock feature and the Late Model Sportsman feature. The second Pure Stock race saw Mason Johnston cruise into victory lane, with Robert Barber and Gene Denmark rounding out the top 3.

The final race of the night, the Late Model Sportsman feature, was probably the most controversial part of the night, with the race running against the strict curfew of 11:30 p.m. (It should be noted this is the time we believe it to be, but there was some confusion as to whether the curfew was actually 11:15 or 11:30. More on that later.)

The race was full of crashes and drama from the get-go, as a huge lap 1 crash took out several cars, including those of Bill Bethea, Allen Calloway, Mike Fields, Wes Willis, and Buddy Pitts. Another incident happened on the very next restart that ended the night for Landon DeVaughn and Larry Hughes. The phrase “cautions breed cautions” was especially true for this race, as several wrecks elongated the race to the point where at 11:15 p.m., race control deemed that the race would have 5 laps to go, or the next flag would end the race, whichever came first.

The final 5 laps did indeed go green, with the race ending with only 7 green flag laps being ran. Billy Melvin would cross the line in 1st, with Perry Patino in 2nd and Jake Daniels in 3rd. However, in post-race tech, Billy Melvin was disqualified for having shocks deemed to be dual-adjustable, and therefore illegal. As such, Perry Patino was granted the win.

Montgomery Motor Speedway always puts on a great show, and short track drama is no stranger to this eventful and historic half-mile facility. LRR wants to thank the folks at MMS for allowing us to cover the race, and if you want more coverage from this event, a vlog will be posted to our YouTube channel in the coming days.