During the Saturday and Sunday, October 20th and 21st, weekend, the best Late Model Stock drivers in the country headed to Martinsville Speedway (VA) to compete in the “Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300” event. With 80 drivers on hand trying to race their way into the 42-car field, just making it into the feature is a major accomplishment. 15-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes was able to do just that in his first time at the Virginia track. Starting 11th, he was able to race up within the top six for most of the 150 laps, mixing it up with the best of the best. And, despite a trip into the wall with just a few laps remaining, Rhodes was able to finish the prestigious event in the 14th place.
On Saturday, Rhodes and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team unloaded the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions / Alliance Comfort Systems Chevy for the practice sessions. Of the 79 cars practicing, Rhodes was ninth fastest in the first session and 13th in the second.
“The car was rolling around the track,” said Rhodes. “Lee (McCall) and the team had the Alpha Energy Solutions Chevy quick right off the trailer. We made a few changes, but overall the car was fast without having to make big swings at it.”
With the sun going down, Rhodes and the other drivers entered the qualifying practice session, which determined starting positions for the heat races the following day. Rhodes timed in 23rd fastest.
“The qualifying practice session went off later than it was supposed to,” explained Rhodes. “We thought about making changes to the car for the session, but we wanted the car to be good for the heat races and the feature Sunday, so we sacrificed a little bit in our qualifying set-up to make sure we were going to be good for the heat race.”
On Sunday, Rhodes rolled off sixth in the third of four 25-lap heat races with the top-eight drivers in each automatically advancing into the starting grid for the feature. When the green flag dropped, the No. 41 machine started moving forward, and by the 15th lap, Rhodes was running third. Not wanting to push the issue, he settled into the podium finish spot, only making a move on the final lap. He finished the heat race third, side by side with second, earning a coveted spot in the 150-lap feature event.
“I watched the two heat races before mine and there was a lot of carnage with drivers trying to get in those transfer spots,” said Rhodes. “We decided to move forward and get into a comfortable spot in our heat, then just ride. On the last lap I tried to get second, but I wasn’t going to damage my car or anyone else’s for the position. We were in, and that is all that mattered at that point.”
Starting the feature in 11th, Rhodes worked his way forward towards the front of the field. By the 38th lap, he was riding in the sixth position, surviving through multiple caution flags early on. At the halfway point (lap 75), a 10-minute break allowed the team to work on the handling of the car.
“By the halfway point, the car felt pretty good, but I ran it a little hard trying to stay up within the fast group of drivers and out of the mess behind us. Also, we had a little stutter with the RPMs on the car that was causing a little bit of an issue, but we pushed through that. We felt we had a great car for the second half of the event.”
After a standard invert draw, Rhodes started the second half of the event from the top spot. He dropped back to around the sixth position and waited until the end of the race to make a push towards the front. However a lot of pushing and shoving dropped Rhodes back to the 10th spot with under 20 laps remaining. He was able to make it back up to eighth, but in the last 10 laps he slammed the wall after contact, dropping him almost out of the top 20.
“On the final restart, I decided to go on the outside on the cone choose. The car rolled really strong on the outside, so I felt it would get us back up within the top five. But everyone started to scramble for the best finishing position they could get and two cars went under me going into turn one. I was three wide on the outside and got shoved up the track, hitting the wall coming off turn two. In hindsight maybe I should have restarted on the inside to protect my position, but I wanted to go for it there at the end.”
After dropping back, Rhodes was able to pick up a few positions in the final few laps, crossing the line in the 14th position in his debut at Martinsville Speedway in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 event.
“The end result wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but I cannot complain at all about the weekend we had,” said Rhodes. “It was an honor to mix it up with Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam, BJ Mackey, Matt McCall, Garrett Campbell, and the rest of the best in Late Model Stock racing. Many of the guys I was racing with up front have been racing since before I was born and have hundreds of victories amongst them. I have a lot of respect for these guys and it was an honor to be right there with them most of the race.”
Rhodes’ debut in the event also marked his debut with his new team, Hawk-McCall Motorsports, and his first race back with McCall as his crew chief, his first crew chief in Late Model competition.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better debut with Hawk-McCall Motorsports. Lee and the entire team put a lot of effort into this weekend and it paid off with us making the race and racing with the top Late Model racers in the country. Our finish doesn’t show how well things went, but that happens sometimes in these races. Everyone on the team stayed pumped up the whole weekend and even after the race knowing what we had accomplished and where we are going in the future. The Myrtle Beach race and the 2013 season cannot get here quick enough. We are ready!”
Next up for Rhodes and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team is the Myrtle Beach 400 Late Model event at Myrtle Beach Speedway (SC) on Sunday, November 18th.
For more information on Ben Rhodes, including press or sponsorship opportunities, contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or stix@stixfx.com, and make sure to keep up to date on Ben Rhodes’ racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com (all-new 2013 website coming soon), and follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc and Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.
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