rebelracewriter Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Green gets back-to-back USRA Truck win Steve Green picked up his second victory in a row after dominate leader Craig Roper suffered a flat tire in the later stages on the Magnum Trailers 50. Green patiently hung around the top three during the first half of the race then capitalized on Roper’s misfortune to back his last win and take a stranglehold on the points lead. Jason Marshall got the jump from the pole as green waved on the 12 truck field. Roper, quickly got by Marshall on the back stretch to grab the top spot on lap 1. The field sorted out single file on lap 2, with Roper already beginning to show his dominance. By lap 5 Roper had a three second advantage over Marshall and Green. Five laps later, Roper had increased his lead to nearly a full straightaway over Marshall, Green and Kevin Bendele. Roper lost his huge lead on lap14 when Mirth went up in smoke to bring out a caution. It didn’t take long after the green waved again that Roper was getting away from field again, while Green was pressuring Marshall for second. In the pack, Cameron Moore jr. and Brent Bell had their own fight going on for eighth. Jim Albert brought the yellow on lap 24 when he blew a tire and spun into the turn 1-2 wall. As Albert bounced of the wall and back down the track Moore tried to dodge him and collected Bell. The crossed flags were shown under caution with Roper, Marshall, Green, Bendele and Jody Buzbee in the top five. Once back to green, Roper wasn’t as fast as he had been with Marshall and Green hanging close. Buzbee got by Bendele for fourth with teammate Matt Howell running side by side with Bendele for fifth. Bendele continued to slow with John Kelly jr. picking up sixth. Green got around Marshall and was challenging Roper on lap 33. Green looked inside Roper on lap 35 as they went three wide around a lap car. Green secured the point on lap 36 as Roper continued to slide high in the corners. Yellow waved on lap 36 for Bendele whose truck finally gave up and stopped on track. Green got a big jump on green with Marshall, Buzbee and Kelly getting past Roper who was now slowing dramatically. Roper finally was forced to pit on lap 38 with slowly deflating right front tire. Up front, Green was increasing his margin over Marshall as the top five separated out. Roper returned to action but several laps down. With five to go, Green had built over two second lead on lead on Marshall and as he took the white flag was out front by nearly a half straightaway. Green, who won the last race at Thunder Hill Raceway easily took the checkers in the Magnum Trailers, Smokey J,s BBQ, Royal Vista Custom Homes, GM Crate motored, ARTS Chassis. “I thought we were running pretty even with him(Roper) and I really don’t know if I had anything for him,” stated Green. “I didn’t know what happened to him, but it happened fast. All of a sudden he picked up a big push and slid up the track in corners and we got around him.” “It didn’t come easy tonight. We practiced on Friday and it seemed like we’d take two steps forward and three back. The truck would be fast, we’d make a small change and lose ground. We’d go back the other way and lose some more. It really left us scratching our heads. Today it started coming around. We talked about setting up for long green runs. The longer I drove it the better it got. I think it was faster at the end of the race, than the beginning.” “I’ve been in Craig’s position before. You have a dominating truck, and you think something’s going to happen. Every lap, every turn you hear things, feel vibrations. You look up at the scoreboard to see what lap your on.” “The rest of the year we just have to be consistent. We need to keep the truck in good mechanical shape. Finish every race on the lead lap and we can be there at the end.” USRA Trucks, Magnum Trailers 50 results 1. 54 Steve Green 2. 42 Jason Marshall 3. 1 Jody Buzbee 4. 57 John Kelly jr. 5. 2 Matt Howell 6. 72 Brent Bell 7. 12 Kevin Bendele 8. 43 Chris Snocker 9. 40 Craig Roper 10. 31 Jim Albert 11. 38 Cameron Moore jr. 12 07 Rusty Mirth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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