By Reese Fant CONTRIBUTING WRITER April 25th 2009

Marty Ward felt like he had something to prove in the first 50-lap main event in the Late Model Stock division at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, and he worked hard to do exactly that. "They didn't like my shocks last week, so I felt like I had to come back here and run strong," Ward said. "At least this time I qualified good enough to see the front of the field, so I didn't have quite as hard a time getting to the front."  

David Roberts, the top qualifier, was on the pole and led the first 30 laps, but Ward was just behind, putting on pressure. With Ward and Roberts in the two top spots, last week's winner, Roger Powell, was third. John Lewis Hightower was fourth, with Anthony Anders fifth. Toby Porter was sixth, with Jeremy Burns, Michael Cherry, Randy Porter and Kenneth Headen rounding out the top ten.    

 The top seven positions were inverted for the second race, which put Jeremy Burns on the pole and Toby Porter outside of the front row. Anders was third, with John Lewis Hightower fourth. Roger Powell followed with Roberts, Ward, Cherry, Porter and Headen starting the nightcap.    

 But the start of the race is not the most important part. It's the finish that really matters, and it was Anthony Anders who found the victory lane in the nightcap. Ward fought his way up from seventh to second, and Headen took third. Roberts, who was running a solid fourth with just four laps to go, slid into the way between the first and second turns and was out of the race. That put Powell into fourth and Toby Porter was fifth.     

"My crew worked hard all week getting this car ready to race, and the car was terrific," Anders said.     

Randy Ballew was getting pressure in the Sportsman main event as C.M. Knight was running him down from his fifth starting spot, but seven laps into the event Knight suddenly spun in the third turn. He had suffered a mechanical failure and once he was out of the picture, Ballew had clear sailing. Tim Lollis moved up to second, with Jamie Altop in third. Rob Horton was fourth and Tony Bridgeman fifth.      

Jamie Tate, who collected his first victory of the season in the Charger division, backed that up with another victory in the first race. Ricky Stephens, who married Brooke Stephens earlier in the afternoon, took an early lead, but engine problems put him back in second place. Chad Hunter was third, with Brad Scott fourth. Chris Headen was fifth.

     James Johnson took the win in the second Charger main, getting by Andy Norris coming out of the turn for the opening lap. Tyler Stephens was third, with Bryan Davis fourth and Zach Pressley fifth.     

In the first Renegade main event, T.J. Lollis found the victory circle for the first time, coming up from his fourth place starting position. J.D. Griffin was second, and Ricky Burnett took third. Percy Proctor took fourth and Scott Smith came all the way from the rear to take fifth.     

In the second Renegade race, Eric Stokes led from start to finish, with Matt Hale coming up from ninth to take second. Jimmy Mullinax was third, with Travis King and Freddy Hale, Jr., completing the top five.