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Posted: 09/05/10
11:57 AM
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The Starstruck Report-Season Finale.
Hello friends and welcome to the last Starstruck Report of the year. It's hard to believe that another season has come and gone and we are now talking about new champions who have been crowned. The show was wild at points and believe it or not, we had almost a 5 hour show when it was all over including the trophy presentations. Now let's get to the action. I will not be doing any awards this week. As you can see in some races, that would make the column too long. Will announce champions in the race recaps and rookie of the year.
Street Stock Race of Champions Open (30 laps): The show started with a short race to complete the field for the Street Stock race of champions. All past winners in the division were eligible. In this race, the first 9 cars would advance to the main event. Ethan Ayers (69) started this race on the pole. On the first lap, Charlie Thacker (70) spun in turn 4 but no caution was called. Lap 2, Jesse Hendricks (38) became the first car to retire from the race. Lap 7, Dan Crate (59) went out. On lap 10, Gary Turner (17) took the lead. Lap 13, Mike Bednar (9) spins but no caution. Lap 18, Wes Simons (3) was blackflagged. The caution did come out on lap 19 when Brian Wilson (32) started smoking and rode up the rail a litte in turn 1. This brought out a red flag on lap 21. Chris Kantlzer (01) was in the pits. On the restart, this got very interesting as Turner (17) went inside and Ricky Stotler (92) went out. Stotler (92) took the initial lead but lost it back to Turner (17) on the next lap. White flag came out and there was a spin but no caution came and Turner (17) claimed the flag.
Order Car # Driver
1 17 Gary Turner
2 92 Ricky Stotler
3 41 Jason Beck
4 25 Michael Sutphin
5 9 Mike Bedner
6 33 Dan Rogers
7 96 Alex Ayers
8 69 Ethan Ayers
9 70 Charles Thacker
10 29 Paul Clemons
11 32 Brian Wilson
12 1 Chris Kantzler
13 3 Wes Simons
14 59 Dan Crate
15 38 Jesse Hendricks
Grand Stock (30 laps): Grand stock Rookie of the year J D Eversole (98) had the fastest lap in qualifying. Justin Brown (55) started on the pole during the redraw. Tommy Tatum, the newly crowned Grand Stock champion, went in the pits during the warm up laps and Reno Marchetti IV drove the car. However, since Tatum (62) started the warm up laps in the car, the points went to him. The flag dropped and Mark Simpson (36) lead the first lap. However, the drag race continued and Justin Brown (55) took the lead on the second lap. On lap 3, Shawn Hopkins (01) went in the pits. On lap 5, Daniel Shelton (27) took the lead. On lap 27, the caution came out when Kevin Wilson (47) spun in the backstretch. Keith Mackta (00) was sent to the back for spinning Wilson (47) even though he claims they never touched. As the tower pointed out, that was not what they saw. LOL For the restart, Shelton (27) took the inside and the lead for one lap over Donnie Newman (69). Those two drag raced for the last laps and Newman (69) literally claimed the win by a nose at the finish line and on older tires. Tommy Tatum (62) announced his retirement from racing after receiving his championship trophy. J D Eversole (98) collected the first of his rookie of the year trophies for this division.
Car # Driver
1 69 Donnie Newman
2 27 Daniel Shelton
3 98 J. D. Eversole
4 62 Tommy Tatum
5 49 Bill Nixon
6 36 Mark Simpson
7 47 Kevin Wilson
8 55 Justin Brown
9 0 Keith Mackta
10 11 Woody Ellington
11 3 Troy Mason
12 15 James Overman
13 7 Cory Willoughby
14 1 Shawn Hopkins
Champ Karts (20 laps): Will try to run this one as much as I can. There was so much confusion on the officiating on what happened. Stanley Holmes (38) started this race on the pole. On the first lap, Daniel Davis (12) appeared to have the lead. There was a wreck in turn 2 but was hard to see what cars were involved. For the restart, Buzz Moore (11) took the lead and held off Davis (12). On lap 2, another caution was called for an incident in turn 4. Moore (11) took the inside on the restart and held off Davis (12) again. Lap 4, Jason Higginbotham (44) took the lead. Caution came out lap 5 for a Kart in turn 3. Higginbotham (44) took the inside and held off Moore (11) for the lead. Higginbotham (44) would claim the checkered flag in another very close finish this evening. Buzz Moore (11) crowned track champion. Second generation driver J D Eversole (98) was this years rookie of the year. My hats off to Eversole (98) to win that award in two divisions in one season.
1 44 Jason Higginbotham
2 1 Stan Holmes
3 11 Buzz Moore
4 18 Brad Davis
5 2 Clint Gunn
6 98 J. D. Eversole
7 0 Randy Emory
8 16 Brian Nixon
9 31 Mike Matthews
10 22 David Emory
11 12 Daniel Davis
12 17 Hunter Ashworth
13 20 Tyler Davis
14 55 Ryland Craze
15 21 Tim Hammock
16 38 Stanley Holmes
17 4 Kenny Miller
18 67 Ryan Barksdale
Late Model Sportsman (75 laps): Chris Hopkins (99) ran the fastest lap in qualifying. Eddie Johnson (43) won the pole on the redraw. On the first race start, Brian Mislivy (10) spun hard in turn 1. E. Johnson (43) took the lead on the full restart. It went quiet for a while but business truly picked up in this race as you will see. Lap 22, Jeff Oakley (15) spun in turn 2. E. Johnson (43) took the lead on the inside and held off Brad Davis (18). Oakley (15) pitted again after the race restarted. On lap 25, Raymond Pittman III (50) rolled over the side of Mike Kersey (7) on the front stretch. The race was red flagged to seperate these two cars in turn 1. During this caution, Davis (18) was blackflagged for leaking fluid. One driver came out to see if Kersey (7) was okay, no sign of anyone trying to fight and Kersey (7) was parked. Sorry tower but you were wrong on this one. If that was the case, R. Pittman (50) should have been parked too. E. Johnson (43) took the inside lane and retained his lead over Hopkins (99). Lap 44, Greg Fernandez (02) hit hard in turn 4 and Neil J. Culley (44) had to stop. Mike Lee (46) went in the pits during this caution. There was an attempt to restart the race but Shannon Marano (6), Steve Zuskin (71) and R. Pittman (50) had an incident in the front stretch. This was declared no completed lap. The next restart was messy. Lin O'Neill (1) got in the back of Chris Hopkins (99) in turn 2. Jason Pittman (51) and Fernandez (02) also wrecked in a seperate incident. The race control tower decided it had seen enough and gave the signal that all laps, including caution laps now count. During this last caution, there was an injury in the pits and they wasted 17 caution laps waiting to see when that ambulance was going to be ready to go. They should have redflagged. I know the race was getting rough but 17 laps is alot of racing to waste. Chris Dodson (0) took the outside and the lead from E. Johnson (43) when Johnson's (43) tire went down. The race resumed on lap 65 when Dodson (0) took the inside and kept his lead over O'Neill (1). Dodson (0) claimed the checkered flag and put the icing on the cake for his championship win this year. For the record, only 8 late models finished this race on a starting field of 19. Mike Kersey (7) was named this series rookie of the year. I have to hand it to Kersey (7), he has had some rough races lately and kept on going.
Order Car # Driver
1 0 Chris Dodson
2 41 Chris Johnson
3 18 Brad Davis
4 1 Lin O'Neill
5 44 Neil J. Culley
6 39 Roy Hendrick
7 71 Steve Zuskin
8 3 Sam Mellichamp
9 43 Eddie Johnson
10 99 Chris Hopkins
11 6 Shannon Marano
12 2 Greg Fernandez
13 46 Mike Lee
14 51 Jason Pittman
15 7 Mike Kersey
16 50 Raymond Pittman III
17 15 Jeff Oakley
18 10 Brian Myslivy
Ucar (25 laps): This race started and it was announced in race control that this was a 25 lap shoot out and they wouldn't start counting laps unless they have to. Michael Hall (94) started this race on the pole. Jamie Hite (12) took the lead on lap 15. On lap 20, Rusty Bennett (92) brings out the caution on lap 20. Hite (12) takes the inside and keeps his lead over Hall (94). Hite (12) claimed the checkered flag and Hall (94) lost a tire on the last lap. Mike Chapman (18) repeated as champion of Ucars this year. Shawn Hendricks (44) was named this year's rookie of the year. My hats off to Bud Allen racing in their last year as a team. They had the top two cars in the division with Austin Dodge (87) finishing second in points. David Kerns (78) was DQ'ed in tech this week.
Order Car # Driver
1 12 Jamie Hite
2 91 Frank Silva
3 18 Mike Chapman
4 87 Austin Dodge
5 36 Andrew Condrey
6 51 Rick Powers
7 9 Charlie Simons
8 44 Shawn Hendricks
9 34 Jonathan Doane
10 92 Rusty Bennett
11 94 Michael R. Hall
12 9 Mark Richards
13 8 Brad Sayler
14 78 David Kerns
Modifieds (50 laps): Chris Johnson (36) had the fastest lap in qualifying. Ryan Boggs (50) won the pole on the redraw. The race goes and Stinson (41) almost spins in turn 2. On lap 8, C. Johnson (36) had a flat tire which had him hit in turn 1. Boggs (50) took the inside lane on the restart but lost the lead to Kyle Wood (19). Lap 9, Michael Johnson (38) and Ryan Wilbourne (21) hit hard in turn 2. Woods (19) took the inside again and held off Boggs to keep the lead. However, there would be no complete lap since there was a slight pileup and Warren Lipford Jr. (43) getting the worst of it. Woods (19) took the inside again and retained his lead over Boggs. Lap 14, Bryan Scott (34) hit in front stretch. The tower ruled there was contact from Michael Johnson (38). Wood (19) took the inside and held off Boggs (50) for the lead. The caution flag came out on lap 34 when Lipford (43) was leaking fluid. Wood (19) retained his lead on the inside lane beating out Thomas Stinson (41). Lap 44, Stinson (41) took the lead for good and put the icing on the cake for this championship series. Timothy Layne (22) was this year's rookie of the year.
Order Car # Driver
1 4 Thomas Stinson
2 36 Chris Johnson
3 19 Kyle Wood
4 8 Mike Rudy
5 50 Ryan Boggs
6 23 Stacey Wilbourne
7 77 Hunter Slayton
8 38 Michael Johnson
9 34 Bryan Scott
10 43 Warren Lipford
11 21 Ryan Wilbourne
Street Stock Race of Champions (25 laps): The season ended with the Street Stock's race of champions. All of the competitors drew numbers for their starting spot. Michael Sutphin (25) started this race on the pole. On lap 2, Ricky Stotler (92) claimed the lead. On lap 10, Ethan Ayers (69) retired from the race. Lap 13, it appeared that Bryan Smith (06) took the lead, however, Jason Beck (41) and Dan Crate (59) wrecked on the front stretch. On the restart, Stotler (92) took the inside and Smith (06) took the outside but Mike Ganoe (82) took the lead before the lap was complete. Lap 15, M. Sutphin (25) spins but no caution. Jeff Arnett (3) retires from the race on lap 17. Ganoe (82) took the flag in the non points race. Mike Ganoe already claimed the championship in last weeks race. Justin Groome (8) was rookie of the year.
Order Car # Driver
1 82 Mike Ganoe
2 6 Brian Smith
3 17 Gary Turner
4 92 Ricky Stotler
5 97 James Loving
6 59 Dan Crate
7 9 Mike Bedner
8 29 Paul Clemons
9 25 Michael Sutphin
10 70 Charles Thacker
11 33 Dan Rogers
12 3 Jeff Arnett
13 13 Justin Dunkum
14 41 Jason Beck
15 69 Ethan Ayers
In closing: It's hard to believe that another season of Southside Speedway racing has come and gone and this is the sign off for the year for me. I have enjoyed covering and telling the stories as usual. As always, I want to thank my readers for keeping me going even at moments I felt discouraged. I want to thank the drivers and teams for sharing their stories each week and being part of the Starstruck Report from week to week. I want to thank the track for staying open and keeping us on track to finish the season. Without any of those parties mentioned above, there would be no Starstruck Report. Till next year, this is Larry Starstruck saying so long and I will see you at trackside in April.
*Larry Starstruck*
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