Second place finish

Jeff Maupin took a second place finish at Volunteer Speedway. Maupin was the second fast qualifier to Mark Douglas. Maupin and Douglas battled for the lead before Douglas took the spot. Maupin stayed close throughout most of the race, but could not get to a spot to make a challenge for the lead.

Another win at Volunteer

After a trip to North Georgia Speedway two weeks ago, it was back to familiar turf for Jeff at Volunteer Speedway.

Jeff Maupin of Greeneville, Jonesborough’s Jerry Broyles and Dale Ball of Johnson City, each have several feature wins and also track championships to their credit. But Dennis Metcalf of Marshall, N.C., had never visited victory lane until Saturday night at Volunteer Speedway when he came on strong late in the 35-lap Hobby Stock “Havoc” to capture the special event win.

Maupin set fast-time at 12.409 seconds to earn the pole position for 35-lap Super Late Model feature, but at the drop of the green flag Vic Hill stood on the gas and launched into the lead. But the ride out front was short-lived for Hill as on the opening circuit the gas pedal broke on his mount and sent him into the infield pits for the night, thus moving Maupin to the point.

Chasing Maupin were Tommy Kerr, Kerry Jones, Mike Smith and Rodney Kiker. Mark Vineyard got around Kiker racing off turn two on lap 2 to take over the fifth spot. The caution waved on lap 9 when Don Scalf spun between turns one and two.

Only four laps back under green the yellow appeared once again for a slowing Kerr with a flat right-rear tire, dropping him from second in the running order. After quick work in pits from his crew, Kerr tagged on at rear of the field for restart.

With Maupin leading Jones, Smith, Vineyard and Kiker back to green on lap 13, Kiker made an aggressive move to get inside both Smith and Vineyard racing off into the corner. With Kiker and Smith getting together, Vineyard pulled into third with Kiker settling into the fourth spot, while Smith began to fade following contact from Kiker, relinquishing fifth place to Chad Ogle.

Maupin was setting a blistering pace around the high banks, steadily pulling away from Jones and Vineyard. Following his journey into the pits to change the flat tire, back on track Kerr was rocketing his way back inside the top five, getting past Ogle for fifth on lap 19 and one circuit later maneuvering his way around Kiker to move into fourth place.

Meanwhile, Maupin continued adding to his advantage over Jones, stretching his lead to a full-straightaway with only five laps remaining. Driving the Creative Concrete/Tolliver Heating & Cooling/TEG Enterprises/G&W Hauling & Rigging/Keizer Aluminum Wheels Inc./O'Reilly Auto Parts/Simpson/Primetime Designs - "Get Wrapped!" Race Car Body Wraps/American Race Tires/GRT Race Cars/Vic Hill Racing Engines/No. 0 Chevrolet Impala, Maupin cruised to his second Super Late Model feature win of the season in convincing fashion, with Jones, Vineyard, Kerr and Kiker rounding out the top five finishers.

Race story courtesy Robert Walden.

A little closer: 3rd place finish

After two weeks off because of rain, racing was on tap again on May 8th for Jeff Maupin. Once again, a less-than-stellar qualifying time put Jeff behind for the 30-lap feature. But once the race started, Jeff quickly worked his way through the field. In the closing stages of the race, Jeff had worked his way to 4th place and was working on Rodney Kiker for third. Race leader Kerry Jones spun after contact with a lapped car on the final lap. The race was allowed to continue and Jeff brought home a 3rd place finish.

Fifth place finish at The Gap

Jeff rallied for a 5th place finish Saturday night at Volunteer Speedway. Jeff turned in a disappointing 7th best qualifying time in time trials. But he quickly rallied for a 5th place finish. Jeff made his way around Bryan Hendrix for 6th and tracked down Rodney Kiker for 5th. He will look to rebound this week as the super late models will be competing at Volunteer Speedway as part of the Fastrak crate series program.

Maupin wins season opener

The 2010 season got off the a great start for Jeff Maupin. He won the season opening points race at Volunteer Speedway.

Maupin turned in the second fastest time in qualifying with Shaon Buckingham taking the pole. From the outside pole, Maupin took the lead as the field came out of turn 2. A series of cautions bunched up the field with double-file restarts. Each time, Maupin held off Buckingham to maintain the lead.

Maupin held on to win his first race since 2008. A joyful Maupin commented on his winning run.

“It’s sure good to start the season off like this – winning,” said Maupin after climbing from his car in victory lane with his crew cheering. “We had a really good season back in 2008 when we won races, and that helped us win the Super Late Model track championship. But last year, there’s nothing you can say except it was awful. We’d be having a good run going and something would happen."