Poole Gets First at “The Rock”, Third of the Year
Monday, May 16th, 2011Story and photos by: Drew Hierwarter
The late model stock cars of the UARA-STARS series held their fourth race of the season at historic Rockingham Speedway. “The Rock” hosted NASCAR Cup races from 1965 until 2004. All of NASCAR’s great drivers have won races at Rockingham including Richard Petty, Curtis Turner, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and many more from the past and Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, and Jeff Gordon among currently active drivers.
Now you can add the name Brennan Poole to the list of winners on the big rock that sits near the main entrance to the speedway.
Poole held off a star studded field of the best late model drivers in the southeast to win the UARA portion of the Carolina 200 on Saturday. Starting from the fourth position it only took him 26 laps to assert his strength and take over the lead from Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
“I tried to ride behind the 04 car of Bassett a little longer but Paddy (Rodenbeck) was ready to go it seemed like,” said Poole. “Paddy went to the inside and made it three wide for the lead. It made it exciting and I had fun racing side by side with him like three or four times. It was a ton of fun today.”
Easily the scariest incident in the race occurred when Kyle Hall broke a lower ball joint exiting turn four which sent his car careening into the wall. Hall’s car had flames blazing from underneath as he crossed the start/finish line on his way to the infield grass. Hall jumped out of the car before it was completely stopped, and was treated and released by the infield care center staff.
Poole has now won three of the first four races of the UARA season and finished second in the other race in Newport, TN. He also took advantage of an off week from the UARA, and he won an ARCA event in Salem, IN.
“I can’t thank my guys enough, my sponsors, the tour, and Rockingham for having us here. It was pretty cool,” Poole said. “I got to stand in victory lane where all of my heroes have been and get my name on the rock with more of my heroes.”
