Thanks to K-Race Photo for the pic!!!

It's about damn time! "Mr. Consistent", Denny Shear uttered those exact words in the Winners Circle at Hilltop Speedway this Friday when asked how it felt to finally get that first feature win. I couldn't agree more!! Denny has really stepped it up this season and has earned that nickname honestly. You don't just fall into 2nd place in the points standings, and stay there all season, after all. That's something you fight hard for each week. All season long he's been right there running with the area's best Pure Stocks, and often missing opportunities to get tangled up in night ending wrecks. Most folks might assume that Denny has spent big bucks this year to make this type of improvement, but that's simply not the case. Other than some tires, he's running the exact same equipment he ran last year, and that's probably the most impressive part of this season. We all know that any moron can throw money at a car and end up with a win fairly soon. It's much sweeter though when a guy does it the hard way. Even though Denny has picked up his share of heat and B-Main wins in the last 5 years, this is the one that makes all that hard work worth while. CONGRATS Denny, and let's hope the next one comes much quicker for ya!

Not to be outdone by his own cousin, Jeff Facemire turned in his best ever night of racing this week too. Not only did he sneak by Denny for second in the heat race, he put on quite a show in the feature too. While battling with Denny early in the race, he spun himself out and had to go to the tail. I guess he wanted a better view of Denny's win so he weaved his way through the field to end up 3rd when it was over. Nice run Jeff! I was hoping for a 1-2 finish but time ran out before that could happen.

Speaking of time running out, hats off to the folks at Hilltop for keeping the show moving smoothly this week. I'm not a huge fan of time limits, but they are required at times, and this week was one of those times. I think it may even help to get a point across to the racers sometimes. It sure seemed like the Modifieds got their shit together for the feature as compared to earlier in the night. That's not the only class that has had problems lately by any means, but that's just one example. The track may have rough this week but we were still treated to one hell of a show. The Sprint feature went green to checkers with no cautions, which is pretty uncommon on even the smoothest of tracks. While dealing with the track conditions, all classes made use of the entire track and put on a great show. Thanks to the racers in all classes and the track staff for making the best of what could have been an ugly night. Oh yea,, and what an awesome crowd!! Once again the stands overflowed, even with the extra seating. I just wish I could have won that $1300 50/50 drawing! ;-)