|
Posted: 08/22/09
08:02 PM
|
|
The Starstruck Report, Southside Speedway notes 8/21/09
Hello friends and welcome to another edition of the Starstruck Report. It was a nice very comfortable night at the races. The humidity was low. There had been some bands of showers in the area but they never hit the track during the races. It did rain earlier that day. This night featured triple 30's in modifieds, a street stock 50 lap feature and 25 laps of Ucar action. As you will see in this update, the night could be summed up as "tire tormoil." Let's get to the action.
Modifieds 1 (30 laps): Billy Morris (55) started this race on the pole. During the pace laps, Michael Johnson (38) needed a push from the tow truck to get started. On the first start, big accident in turn 4 including A J Winstead (99), Brooks Lawson (11), David Zimmer (20), and Stacey Wilbourne (23). Alan Purser (41) came in to check the toe on the car. On lap 7, Michael Johnson (38) spins in the front stretch and needed a push to refire the car. Lap 19, Brooks Lawson (11) spins in turn 4. Lap 26, Chris Johnson (36) hits hard in the backstretch and has the right front tire goe down. This moment mathmatically eliminated Johnson (36) from any chance of winning the points race. Billy Morris (55) hung on to win the race by leading all 30 laps. He would start 7th on the next one. Here is the finishing order.
1 55 Billy Morris
2 4 Thomas Stinson
3 50 Ryan Boggs
4 51 Kyle Wood
5 41 Alan Purser
6 8 Mike Rudy
7 77 Hunter Slayton
8 99 A. J. Winstead
9 14 Ronnie Davis
10 21 Ryan Wilbourne
11 23 Stacey Wilbourne
12 36 Chris Johnson
13 22 Scott Waters
14 11 Brooks Lawson
15 38 Michael Johnson
16 20 Dave Zimmer
Street Stock (50 laps): Shawn Sutphin (15) started this race on the pole. However, Ryan Hudson (07) would lead the first lap. Lap 2, the lead changes again with Grandstock regular Todd Ruggles (40). On the same lap, there was a spin in turn 3 but no caution was called. Lap 7, Michael Sutphin (25) takes the lead. Lap 12, Mike Ganoe (82) would take the lead and never look back. Lap 29, Jason Beck (41) went in the pits. Lap 31, Michael Sutphin (25) has a flat tire and hits teh retaining wall in turn 4 hard and goes in the pits backwards. Gary Turner (17) also went in the pits during the caution with a flat tire. Lap 36, the race restarted. Caution laps count in this division. Lap 41, Chris Bryant (6) was blackflagged to see if he was leaking fluid on the track. Lap 46, Nicholas Hemesath (81) went off the pace. However, the next lap was the Oh my God moment when Justin Dunkum (13) lost a tire. Since pace laps count, this put the race in overtime. Lap 54 was the restart of this race and Mike Ganoe (82) won a green-white-checkered finish. Three cars failed post race inspection.
1 82 Mike Ganoe
2 06 Brian Smith
3 51 Joe Henderson
4 15 Shawn Sutphin
5 92 Ricky Stotler
6 97 James Loving
7 911 Travis Nicely
8 70 Charles Thacker
9 29 Paul Clemons
10 32 O. K. Wilson
11 01 John Kantzler
12 59 Chris Jones
13 17 Gary Turner
14 25 Michael Sutphin
15 81 Nicholas Hemesath
16 13 Justin Dunkum
17 07 Ryan Hudson
18 6 Chris Bryant
19 26 Herbert LaRue
20 41 Jason Beck
21 31 James Groome DQ
22 79 Robbie Groome DQ
23 40 Todd Ruggles DQ
Modifieds 2 (30 laps): Thomas Stinson (4) started this race on the pole. Lap 3, David Zimmer (20) went in the pits. Lap 16, Hunter Slayton (77) hit hard in turn 4. Mike Rudy (8) went in the pits on this caution. Stinson (4) would take the checkered flag after leading every lap in this race. Here is the finishing order.
1 4 Thomas Stinson
2 50 Ryan Boggs
3 51 Kyle Wood
4 55 Billy Morris
5 41 Alan Purser
6 36 Chris Johnson
7 14 Ronnie Davis
8 21 Ryan Wilbourne
9 99 A. J. Winstead
10 11 Brooks Lawson
11 22 Scott Waters
12 23 Stacey Wilbourne
13 8 Mike Rudy
14 77 Hunter Slayton
15 20 Dave Zimmer
Ucar (25 laps): Rusty Bennett (92) started this race on the pole. Lap 1, a debris caution was called. Lap 5, Charlie Simons (3) claimed the lead. Lap 20, Caution was called when Chad Fimple (58) spun in turn 4 and David Gonce (09) seemed to be going off the pace. During this caution, Tony Mills (61) overheated and dumped water on the track. However, the restart was rough. Lauren Edgerton (24) and Michael Harper (77) made contact with each other. Edgerton (24) lost a tire and would not be able to continue. Lap 23, Butch Mixell (22) was off pace. Charlie Simons (3) would go on to win this race. Here is the official finishing order.
1 3 Charlie Simons
2 92 Rusty Bennett
3 99 Daniel Thomas
4 4 David Blankenship
5 87 Austin Dodge
6 34 Bryan Scott
7 91 Frank Silva
8 18 Mike Chapman
9 59 David Kerns
10 5 Jody Young
11 57 Jason Marshall
12 04 Jamie Hite
13 6 Corey Lawrence
14 77 Michael Harper
15 40 Marty Whitlock
16 12 Mike Shiflett
17 58 Chad Fimple
18 52 Chris Farmer
19 22 Timmy Mixell
20 88 Wes Simons
21 24 Lauren Edgerton
22 61 Tony Mills
23 09 David Gonce
Modified 3 (30 laps): Kyle Wood (51) started the race on the pole. Lap 2, Ryan Boggs (50) took the lead. Lap 3, A J Winstead (99) spins in turn 2. Lap 11, David Zimmer (20) goes in the pits. Lap 16, Mike Rudy (8) goes into the pits. Lap 28, in a hard moment lap cars including Scott Waters (22) gets sideways and collects Boggs (50) who was leading the race. Billy Morris (55) would take the lead and win the race.
1 55 Billy Morris
2 51 Kyle Wood
3 4 Thomas Stinson
4 41 Alan Purser
5 36 Chris Johnson
6 21 Ryan Wilbourne
7 14 Ronnie Davis
8 11 Brooks Lawson
9 50 Ryan Boggs
10 23 Stacey Wilbourne
11 22 Scott Waters
12 38 Michael Johnson
13 99 A. J. Winstead
14 8 Mike Rudy
15 20 Dave Zimmer
Now, let's review the night from a big picture standpoint.
Tough luck award Modified: I have to give it to three guys in this one. One for each race. Chris Johnson (36) takes it for the first race. That flat tire is the moment he was mathmatically eliminated from the points championship. In the second race, it would be Mike Rudy (8). This hasn't been his year but I do expect him to be more competitive next year and making a run for the title. In the last race, Ryan Boggs (50) got collected in the end by lap cars and ended up losing a race that he dominated.
Tough Luck Street Stock: This one is hard to call, however I will go with the bottom three cars who got disqualified in tech. I can't really think of any issue that lead to a change in the big picture for the points race.
Tough luck Ucar: I have to go with Lauren Edgerton (24) on this one. To take a hit and lose a tire in the race is a hard hit to take for a restart.
Performance of the week: Thomas Stinson (4) had a very productive week finshing 2nd, a win and 3rd in the triple 30's. Stinson is looking to hang on to history and win another championship as one of the tracks winningest drivers.
Our drivers on the road: Chris Hoylman (Modified 42) been absent from the track. However, he is currently third in points with the Rolling Thunder Modified tour. Ronnie Davis (14) is listed as the leader on their website. A J Winstead (99) is fourth and Robert Conner (12) is currently second. All four of those drivers are from this area so we will have a local champion at the end of this season.
Points races: The tightest points race right now is the Modified division. Currently, Billy Morris (55) leads Thomas Stinson by 20 points with one more race to go. This race will be officially decided on the last night of the season and will come down to the final checkered flag the last night of the season. In Late Model Sportsman action, Chris Dodson (0) is leading Brandon Hendrick (39) by 320. As of this writing, they are scheduled for 3 more 50 lap races. Donnie Newman (69) leads Tommy Tatum on the Grand Stock division. They currently are slated for 3 more 30 lap races. The Ucar division seems to be decided. Mike Chapman (18) leads Daniel Thomas by 220 points. However, they are only slated for one more race on the final night. In street stock action, James Loving (97) leads Mike Ganoe (82) by 260 points. They are only scheduled for one more points race next week. Their final race will be the annual race of champions featuring the top 10 in points. In another tight race, Stanley Holmes (38) leads Brad Davis (18) by 20 point in the MACKA division. This division is scheduled to race two more 20 lap races. This one can go down to the wire.
Looking ahead: Next week, Late Model Sportsman returns for twin 50's. The Street Stock cars will run their final points race of the season. The MACKA Karts will run 20 laps and we will also have twin 30's in the Grand Stock division.
As always, I want to thank the drivers and crews for sharing their stories every week and helping make the Starstruck Report the entertaining column it is. I want to thank each of you who take time to read my stories each week. That's all for now, I will see you at the races.
*Larry Starstruck*
|