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Posted: 05/16/09
10:29 PM
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The Starstruck Report.
Hello friends and welcome to another edition of the Starstruck report. Friday night, we had a threat of rain all day. However the races got in without a hitch. The opening ceremonies included tributes to the recent losses of Wayne Patterson (LMS 14) and former Nascar Busch (now Nationwide series) driver Kevin Grubb (55/26). The cars even had tribute stickers to both drivers in all the classes. While the weather was comfortable, this was one of the lowest attendance nights I have seen in a long time. Let's go the action.
Ucar 1 (25 laps): Butch Mixell (22) started the race on the pole. Wes Simons (88) took the lead on the first lap. Lap 7, Justin Groome (82) was in the pits. This race was very clean till lap 23, when the caution came out in turn 4 and Casey Williams (45) flipped his car. This lead to a red flag for the event to get his car back up right and towed off the field. Williams (45) would not return to run the second race. Michael Harper (77) was parked after the cars were refired. Wes Simons (88) would hang on to win the race in a flag to flag performance. Here is the official finishing order. 1. (88) Wes Simons 2. (99) Daniel Thomas 3. (3) Charlie Simons 4. (24) Lauren Edgerton 5. (92) Rusty Bennett 6. (18) Mike Chapman 7. (6) Corey Lawrence 8. (91) Frank Silva 9. (5) Jody Young 10. (22) Butch Mixell 11. (87) Austin Dodge 12. (71) Lindsay Bryant 13. (40) Marty Whitlock 14. (57) Jason Marshall 15. (78) David Kerns 16. (34) Bryan Scott 17. (04) Jamie Hite 18. (12) Mike Shiflett 19. (61) Tony Mills 20. (77) Michael Harper 21. (45) Casey Williams 22. (09)David Gonce 23. (82) Justin Groome 24. (17) Jordan Bell
Late Model Sportsman 1 (50 laps): Defending champion Shayne Lockhart (51) ran the fasts lap in qualifying. Greg Fernandez (02) would get the pole on the redraw. Lap 1, Roy Hendrick (11) and Ryan Sigmon (43x) would go in the pits. Lap 6, T J Guthrie (12) was in the pits. Lap 9, caution comes out when Lockhart (51) makes contact and Doug Godsey (05) spins in turn 2. Both cars were sent to the back for being involved in the caution. Around lap 12-13, Brandon Hendrick (39) takes the lead. Lap 17, caution was called when Wayne Magee (2) spins in turn 4 due to some contact from Godsey (05). Chris Ward (1Va) was in pits. Lap 18, Godsey (05) and Magee (2) were blackflagged for the start. Lap 25, Godsey (05) spins Lockhart (51) in turn 1 and Mark Simpson (36) was taken out. The track officials saw that as a retaliation and Godsey (05) was parked for the night and disqualified. Lap 39, Greg Fernandez (02) turns in turn 2. Bubba Hubbard (14) was sent to the rear for contact. Brandon Hendrick (39) would go on to win this race. Here is the official finishing order. 1. (39) Brandon Hendrick 2. (0) Chris Dodson 3. (5) Billy Morris 4. (43) Chris Hopkins 5. (18) Brad Davis 6. (6) Shannon Marano 7. (51) Shayne Lockhart 8. (15) Jeff Oakley 9. (20) Sonny Allen 10. (27) Andy Kemp 11. (14) Bubba Hubbard 12. (02) Greg Fernandez 13. (2) Wayne McGee 14. (36) Mark Simpson 15. (1va) Chris Ward 16. (12) T. J. Guthrie 17. (43x) Ryan Sigmon 18. (11) Roy Hendrick 19. (05) Doug Godsey
UCar 2 (25 laps): All the lead lap cars from the previous race was inverted. David Kerns (78) started this race on the pole. Frank Silva (91) was in the pits before the start of the race. Lap 3, Lindsay Bryant (71) took the lead. Austin Dodge (87) was in the pits. Lap 8, Tony Mills (61) was blackflagged. Lap 10, Mike Chapman (18) takes lead but Lauren Edgerton (24) brings out the caution by hitting the inside retaining wall just after turn 4. Charlie Simons (3) was sent to the rear for being involved in the caution. Due to the last completed lap, Bryant (71) was given the lead. Lap 12, Mike Chapman (18) takes the lead. Lap 13, Charlie Simons (3) was shown the blackflag. Caution came out that lap as Butch Mixell (22) was in the wall. Bryant (71) had some contact and ended up in the pits. Her car was never the same since the toe was knocked out. Lap 17, David Kerns (78) was in the pits. Lap 23, Mike Hall (57) and Justin Groome (82) brought out caution in turn 2. This brought the race to end on a green white checkered and Mike Chapman (18) would hang on to win this race. Here is the official finishing order. 1. (18) Mike Chapman 2. (99) Daniel Thomas 3. (92) Rusty Bennett 4. (5)Jody Young 5. (40) Marty Whitlock 6. (3) Charlie Simons 7. (88) Wes Simons 8. (6) Corey Lawrence 9. (24) Lauren Edgerton 10. (04) Jamie Hite 11. (34)Bryan Scott 12. (12) Mike Shiflett 13. (71) Lindsay Bryant 14. (87) Austin Dodge 15. (22) Butch Mixell 16. (61) Tony Mills 17. (17) Jordan Bell 18. (09)David Gonce 19. (82) Justin Groome 20. (57) Mike R. Hall 21. (78)David Kerns 22. (77) Michael Harper 23. (91) Frank Silva
Late Model Sportsman 2 (50 laps): The top 6 from the last race was inverted. Shannon Marano (6) started this race on the pole. Billy Morris (5) had to have his crew assist him in getting the car started after the pace laps started. He was sent to the rear of the field for that assist. On the first start, Brad Davis (18) hit in turn 4 and was sent to the rear. A complete restart was called. Davis's crew argued that he should have had his spot back since there was no offical completed lap. Davis (18) was still sent to the back for bringing out the caution. On the restart, Roy Hendrick (11) and Chris Ward (1va) went in the pits. Lap 2, Brandon Hendrick (39) took the lead. Lap 4, Chris Hopkins (43) was blackflagged for sheet metal dragging on the right side. His right fender was completely removed. Lap 12, Mark Simpson (35) went in the pits. This race went very clean and green for several laps till the caution came out for T J Guthrie (12) in turn 4 on lap 48. Brandon Hendrick (39) would claim the win on the green white checkered finish.1. (39) Brandon Hendrick 2. (6) Shannon Marano 3. (0) Chris Dodson
4. (51) Shayne Lockhart 5. (15) Jeff Oakley 6. (02) Greg Fernandez
7. (20) Sonny Allen 8. (14) Bubba Hubbard 9. (5) Billy Morris
10. (18) Brad Davis 11. (2) Wayne McGee 12. (27) Andy Kemp
13. (12) T. J. Guthrie 14. (43) Chris Hopkins 15. (36) Mark Simpson
16. (43x) Ryan Sigmon 17. (1va) Chris Ward 18. (11) Roy Hendrick
Street Stock (50 laps): Alex Ayers (96) started this race on the pole. Lap 1, James Loving (97) took the lead. Joe Henderson (51) was blackflagged for jumping the start. Keep in mind, caution laps do count in this division. Lap 5, Paul Clemons (29) was blackflagged. Lap 7, Michael Sutphin (25) and another car wrecked in turn 4. Lap 9, Clemons (29) was blackflagged again. There was a concern that he had a gas leak. The race restarted on lap 13. Around this time, Alex Ayers (96) was in the pits. Lap 17, Mike Ganoe (82) took the lead after coming all the way from the back. Lap 21, Paul Clemons (29) was given another black flag to see if he was still leaking gas. Travis Nicely (911) left the race in the back pits. Lap 27, Herbert LaRue (26) spins in turn 2 but no caution was called. Lap 39, Gary Turner (17) spins and makes contact with race leader Mike Ganoe (82). No caution was called. Ganoe was so far ahead of the second place car that he was able to regain control and keep his lead. Lap 42, Ricky Stotler (92) and Kevin Lee (25) make contact in turn 4. O K Wilson (32) was caught in it. Both Stotler (92) and Lee (35) were parked. Lap 48, Robbie Groome (79) and Justin Dunkum (13) make contact in turn 1 but no caution called. Mike Ganoe (82) took the checkered flag and so far has been the only race winner in that division. Here is the official finishing order. 1. (82) Mike Ganoe 2. (97) James Loving 3. (06) Brian Smith 4. (08) Wayne Groome 5. (17) Gary Turner 6. (15) Shawn Sutphin 7. (51) Joe Henderson 8. (31) James Groome 9. (13) Justin Dunkum 10. (6) Chris Bryant 11. (25) Michael Sutphin 12. (79) Robbie Groome 13. (01) Chris Kantzler 14. (32) O. K. Wilson 15. (92) Ricky Stotler 16. (35) Kevin Lee 17. (26) Herbert LaRue 18. (29) Paul Clemons 19. (911) Travis Nicely 20. (96) Alex Ayers 21. (41) Jason Beck 22. (69) Ethan Ayers (DQ)
Now let's move on to the commentary side.
Performance of the week: Brandon Hendrick (LMS 39) gets the nod for winning the twin 50's with the late model sportsman division. This division is very competitive as Chris Dodson (0) holds a 20 point advantage over Hendrick.
Tough Luck Ucar (race 1): This was hard to call but I will give it to Bruce Mixell for losing 9 positions from the start of the race.
Tough Luck LMS (both races): Doug Godsey (05) gets the nod for being disqualified in the first race and not being allowed to start the second one.
Tough Luck Ucar 2: Frank Silva (91) took a huge hit in the points by finishing dead last and having car problems before the race started.
In Memory of: The last couple of weeks have been tough for local race fans. First, we had Kevin Grubb's death the week before. This week, we also lost Wayne Patterson, one of the winningest drivers in Southside Speedway history. While I won't review the cause of death here, I want to send out my sympathies to both families and also thank them for sharing these talented individuals with us fans. Both men will be missed. I found that to be a great gesture by the series to put memorial stickers dedicated to both drivers on their cars.
No Coolers: Since the Denny Hamlin 175, Southside Speedway has now eliminated all coolers from being brought in the track. Most fans were okay with the rule initially since it was understood to be just for the charity event and the fact that race was standing room only. However, the track has brought that rule in effect for all races. This matter has truly caused a rift with fans and drivers alike. For starters, this is a bad economy and some of the fans may have recently been laid off. I was in a similiar situation 3 years ago where I had spent my last 10 bucks to see racing. It's seen as a diversion from your problems. To me, that rules slaps them in the face big time. Racing has long been the only sport that allows coolers. That alone is one of the things that distinguishes racing from other sports. The other being race scanners where you can see and hear the race on the inside. In the long run, I think this will hurt attendance. If the track is going to have any level of success, they need to focus more on attendance. Sure, we want bigger car counts and everything else but that would all take care of itself if the box office grows. The racing may be hot but in the long run, doesn't really improve matters till you get people in those seats.
The track will have an off weekend for Memorial Day weekend and the action resumes on Friday May 29th. The Starstruck Report will be on vacation those first two weeks. I look forward to resuming the column after vacation. That's all for now, I will see you at the races.
*Larry Starstruck*
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