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Sunday, September 07, 2008

Morris wins last 2 points races

The two victories should put Philip Morris in position for his second national championship.

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RADFORD -- In what was, perhaps the most intense ending to a race all season, Philip Morris edged out the field in a green-white-checker finish on lap 78 to sweep the Valley Settlement/Old Virginia Real Estate/Star Country Twin 75 Late Model Stock races at Motor Mile Speedway on Saturday, the last two points races of the season.

This was the finish he needed to make a push for a second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship. Morris entered the night 11 points behind leader Brian Harris and these two wins should help.

The final standings won't be released until Wednesday. Morris had the track championship in the bag weeks ago and everybody knew it.

But it became official Saturday when he earned his 11th and 12th victories of the year.

Morris had steady challengers in both races, namely Davin Scites in the second one, but managed to do what he's done all year -- cross the finish line first.

"Even if we hadn't won the race this was an amazing year," he said.

Morris led flag-to-flag in the first 75-lap race and fended off a few challenges from Tommy Lemons Jr. for his first win of the evening.

Lemons finished in second place after fading a little at the end because of car problems but it didn't take away from his best finish of the season.

"This might not be a win but ... it feels like one," he said.

Kelly Kingery capped off his stellar season with a third-place finish in the first race.

Kingery was second in the points standings entering the evening and should end up there after the final tally.

Shaun Mangum and Scites rounded out the top five in the first race.

Forrest Reynolds was taken out in lap 34 of the first Twin 75 when he got into Mike Looney and Rusty Skewes and didn't participate in the second.

In what may have been the cleanest Limited Sportsman race all season, Matt Taylor started on the pole and led every lap to earn his first win of the year.

Anthony Barnes finished in second place and clinched the track title for the division. Terry Lawson, Caleb Holman and Daryn Cockram rounded out the top five.

Only four cars finished the Mod-4 race out of the six that started with Kevin Kenley earning the win.

Jeff Montgomery finished in second place and Bryan Reedy ended up in third.

The UCars had the longest race in Motor Mile history for their division, 50 laps.

After a ton of cautions and wrecks, it was Scooter Hollandsworth who took the win after starting 19th.

Adam Phillips finished in second and Rocky Howell Jr. finished in third.

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