By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
It was an explosion, all right.
The second-annual E-mod Explosion at Beebe Speedway was marred by nine cautions, two black flags and a volatile situation after the race that led to the disqualification of top finisher Joey Simmons.
When the smoke finally cleared, second-place finisher and division points leader Robert Woodard of McCrory was awarded the victory after Simmons, who was driving a stock-framed entry, was light at the scales.
Simmons, of Warren, has had great success running IMCA Southern Limited Sport Mod classes in the east Texas, northern
Louisiana area. The 15-year-old standout was making his first appearance at Beebe for the $800-to-win special event.
Track promoter Harold Mahoney made the decision not to give Simmons a courtesy night or weight break after Woodard’s crew protested feverishly in the inspection area following the race.
“They paid $800, and that dude wanted us to bring a sport mod up here just to run with them and show them,” Simmons said.
“Apparently, they don’t like it — I don’t know. It’s legal in our rules. It weighs under their rules, I guess.”
The economy modifieds lived up to their rowdy reputation on Friday.
Simmons and Woodard traded paint on the start, but a Lap 1 caution for the spun car of Blake Jones forced a complete restart.
Flagman William Essex used that opportunity to come down from the flag stand and persuade the two drivers to compete in a friendlier manner.
“He just asked what happened out there,” Simmons said. “He cut me off on the start of the race. When I pulled up to the side of him, he hit me.”
Woodard grabbed the lead on the first start, but Simmons got the advantage on the restart. Woodard stayed within a car length of Simmons until the final circuit of the 20-lap race, but never found a way to challenge for the point.
“We needed more side bite,” Woodard said. “It got pretty dry slick, and we just had to stay on the bottom. It was a one-car track.”
Of the 20 cars that started the feature race, only nine finished. Essex kept busy waving the yellow flag and, on two instances, the black flag. He showed Beebe’s Jody Jackson the curtain on Lap 6, and again to rookie Jerry McIntire on the 12th circuit.
McIntire and fellow Cabot driver Tony Waters tangled in turn four to bring out the seventh caution of the night, leading to McIntire’s disqualification.
Blake Burns earned hard-charger honors with a fourth-place finish after starting in the 14th position. Burns overcame a scary incident in the heats in which his 41 car nearly flipped after making heavy contact with a retaining tire at the exit of turn two.
Bald Knob driver and former E-mod champ Kevin Conway had a quiet, solid run despite the chaos around him. Conway started seventh and made his way into the top five by Lap 3, eventually working his way to a third-place finish.
In other classes, Jacob Kurtz of Beebe won the factory-stock feature, while Benton veteran Jeff Porterfield dominated the hobby feature by more than a straightaway. Derek Goshien took his second straight victory in the mini-stocks, while Randy “Big Show” Weaver out dueled Vilonia’s Curtis Cook to win the outlaw modified feature.