Kyle Beard in Victory Lane (Woody Hampton Photo)
Harrisburg, AR (06/12/10) – Kyle Beard returned to his home track, Northeast Arkansas Speedway in Harrisburg, Arkansas, on Saturday in COMP Cams MSRA Super Late Model competition and served notice to his fellow competitors that he means business in 2010 by taking a dominant win and the points lead.
Northeast Arkansas Speedway, a ¼ mile oval located in Harrisburg, Arkansas, which is known for being one of the slickest surfaces in the country, drew a field of twenty-four COMP Cams MSRA Super Late Models. Jeff Floyd from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, who also calls the facility his track, put on an impressive driving display in heat race action to earn the JFR Graphics Pole Position for the 40 lap, $2,000 to win event. He was flanked to the outside by Kyle Beard from Trumann, Arkansas.
It was Beard using the cushion to bolt to the lead in the first corner as Jeff Floyd took control of the second position with Jon Mitchell, Matt Johnson, and Brandon Smith in pursuit. Early in the event it became evident that Kyle Beard was going to be difficult to handle as he had a straightaway advantage by lap ten as he began to work lapped traffic. With the leader motoring away from the field, great battles raged through the field with three wide racing being the general rule.
Several competitors began to march early race charges to the front as eight starting, Bill Frye, and sixth starting, Dane Dacus moved into the top five by the race’s midway point as Beard continued to pace the event with Jeff Floyd in second.
The race would sustain a long green flag run before disaster struck for second place runner, Jeff Floyd, on lap 30 when contact from a lapped car sent Floyd spinning off the backstretch. The caution would wave for Floyd, and he would rejoin the tail of the lead lap, which was the ninth position, as Beard had put most of the field down at least one lap by the time that the first caution flag waved.
With the caution in the air, Beard’s big lead was erased, and a ten lap dash to the checkers was setup with Bill Frye and Dane Dacus lined up side-by-side on the second row for the double file restart. Anticipation in the grandstands grew as fans were curious if either driver would have anything for the leader. Their answer would soon come as the green flag flew for the final time, and Beard drove away from the pack. He would go on to lead the last ten laps to take the win in convincing fashion. Bill Frye, Dane Dacus, Joey Mack (started 11th), and Jon Mitchell rounded out the top five finishers.
With the win, Kyle Beard picked up his first win of the year, and now is the COMP Cams MSRA point’s leader by thirteen markers over Joey Mack.
Heat races for the twenty-four car field were won by Jeff Floyd, Brandon Smith, Matt Johnson, and Jon Mitchell.