rebelracewriter Posted September 5, 2007 Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 ASCS Gulf South Region @ 105 Speedway, 9/2/07 By J M Hallas Cleveland, Tx.(Sept. 2nd, 2007) The special Labor Day weekend Sunday show drew 30 ASCS Sprint Cars for the Gulf South Region event on the semi-banked 1/4 mile red clay oval just outside of Cleveland, Texas. The field was filed by about GSR regulars and local Houston area drivers, but it didn't take long to see who was looking to be the odds on favorite to pocket another A-main win. Ragin Cajun roars to 105 sweep Eunice, Louisiana's Jason Johnson swept the Sunday special, taking the third heat win after coming from the dead last, then came from the last row of the Dash to earn the pole for the A-main, and finally putting on a driving clinic to capture his 14th feature win of the season. At the start of the 20-car, 20-lap ASCS A-main, pole sitter, Johnson blasted away from the field leaving Travis Rilat and Tommy Bryant battling for the runner-up spot. It didn't take long for Johnson to hit lapped traffic. He caught the tail of the field on lap 4 and got his only real challenge on lap 5 after going three wide around slower cars and jumping the cushion in turn 4. Once Johnson got the ship righted he again set sail, leaving all others in his wake. Bryant and T. Rilat caught traffic on lap 6 and the veteran T. Rilat used it to his advantage to get past Bryant for second. On lap 8 the caution came out after Skip Wilson, running fourth at the time, got tangled with Justin Melton as the rest of the front group fought through the back of the pack. Series points leader Ray Allen Kulhanek, in a borrowed car got by Greg Rilat on lap 9 for fifth, while Melton rolled to a stop on track with a flat right front. During yellow, Kent Lewis jr. retired from fourth. Johnson had a lapped car buffer over T. Rilat as he race went back to green and easily rebuilt his lead. Coming to halfway the top five were Johnson, T. Rilat, Bryant, G. Rilat and Kulhanek. The yellow waved again on lap 17 when Bruce Crockett spun and collected Brad Stokes, running sixth. Once again Johnson jumped out with T. Rilat struggling to get by lapped cars in the line up. T. Rilat finally cleared traffic, but found himself 1/4 lap behind Johnson, who was motoring away. Johnson caught the field on lap 23 but never missed a beat as he sliced and diced his way through keeping his stranglehold on the lead. As the checkers waved it was Johnson in Lanny & Al Row, The Shop, Custom Equipment Design, Smileys, Wesmar Engines, Eagle Chassis taking the win by a full straightaway. ”The Shop Performance car has been working flawless the past couple weeks,” said Johnson. “I felt pretty confident I had the car to beat. When you have a nice handling car to drive it makes my job a lot easier.” “You always wonder where second place is. That’s one bad thing about leading, you never know where those guys are. You don’t want to drag your feet, but you know you have to be patient through lapped traffic. You just have to make the right calls. My crew was telling under caution that I was alright. So I stayed calm and patient and just kept doing what I was doing.” “It’s a good team effort. It shows how much communication and hard work we have in racing.” “The Gulf South Regional Series is more your working class guys that can’t race full time, versus the National Tour that has a few more real tough competitors. It’s just as fun to win the Regional races as it is the National Tour. We aren’t running for points so we kind of test and tune. There’s no stress and we try to put on the best show we can.” ASCS Main 1. 41 Jason Johnson 2. 29 Travis Rilat 3. 12m Tommy Bryant 4. 35 Greg Rilat 5. 21b(41) Ray Allen Kulhanek 6. 31 Brandon Berryman 7. 93 Chris Sweeney 8. 23 Darryl Wills 9. 65 Skip Wilson 10. 3 Gary Watson 11. 5 John Ricketts 12. 15 Brad Stokes 13. 8 Bruce Crockett 14. 13m Kathryne Minter 15. 61 Travis Knighton 16. 51 Jimmy Brooks 17. 4j Jamie Will 18. 64j Johnny Miller 19. 21T Kent Lewis jr. 20. 99 Justin Melton The Dash started with Bryant, T. Rilat and Johnson going three wide into turn 1. Bryant came out with the lead but it wasn't long until Johnson cruised past and pulled away to grab the win and pole for the A-main ASCS Dash 1. 41 J. Johnson 2. 12m Tommy Bryant 3. 29 T. Rilat 4. 65 S. Wilson 5. 21T K. Lewis jr. 6. 15 B. Stokes Gary Watson got out front of the first ASCS B-main, while Tommy Jones and Travis Knighton battled for second. Kent Lewis Sr. brought the action to halt when he spun on lap 2. Justin Melton got around Jones for third on the restart, while Watson pulled away. Jones brought out a yellow when he spun on lap 6. Watson again got ahead once back to green, with Melton challenging Knighton for second. ASCS B-Main #1 1. G. Watson 2. 61 T. Knighton 3. 99 J. Melton 4. 96 Rod Craddick 5. 04 Michael Hendrickson 6. 22L Kent Lewis sr. 7. 11 Tommy Jones 8. 2 Mike Decker The second ASCS B-Main saw Jamie Will get the early lead, stretch out his advantage and win going away over Kathryne Minter and Bruce Crockett ASCS B-main #2 1. 4j J. Will 2. 13m K. Minter 3. 8 B. Crockett 4. L23 Landon Brown 5. 70 Anthony Reeves 6. 14E Todd Evans 7. 69H Larry Howery 8. 02y Harry Yerrington--DNS ASCS Heats Bryant led nearly all the of the first ASCS heat until T. Rilat reeled him in and made and last lap pass in turn 1 to snatch the win away. Heat 1, T. Rilat, Bryant, Wills, Watson, Will, Minter, Melton, Hendrickson Stokes led the first attempt at heat 2, but Lewis sr. and Crockett made contact to set up a restart. This time it Lewis jr. getting out front and holding off Stokes for the victory. Heat 2, Lewis jr, Stokes, Ricketts, Brooks, Crockett, Howery, Lewis sr., Yerrington Kulhanek grabbed the top spot in heat 3 while Johnson worked his way from the back. Johnson caught and passed Kulhanek on lap 5 to score the win. Heat 3, Johnson, Kulhanek, Berryman, Miller, Brown, Craddick, Decker In the fourth and final heat, Wilson got the lead with G. Rilat in hot pursuit. The two pulled away with Wilson first to the checkers. Heat 4, Wilson, G. Rilat, Sweeney, Jones, Knighton, Reeves, Evans Ball Bests Big field for big payday With $1,000 put up by long time area racing supporter Ed Rinehart and another grand put up by Curtis & Sons, the 35-car field was pared down to the 24 fastest for Limited Modified A-main. Brad Ball drew the pole after taking his heat race win, then held off 23 hungry drivers to run green to checkers for the victory. Ball and Johnny Holden stayed wheel to wheel through turn 1, with Ball eking out the advantage coming out of turn 2 for the lead. Ball, Holden and Bobby Fehring held the top three spots while Travis Hudnell and Corey Babbitt ran side by side for fourth. Babbitt and Hudnell continued to run in tandem as Johno Whittington got by Vernon Bridwell for sixth. By lap 5 Ball was slowly easing away from Holden and Fehring, while Babbitt and Hudnell were still slugging it out for fourth. Babbitt finally secured the spot on lap 7, while Hudnell gave up another spot to Whittington on lap 8. Caution waved on lap 11 for John Burditt giving drivers, as well as fans, a chance to catch their breath. Once back under green, Babbitt got inside Fehring for third while Barry Moody used the high side to drive around Whittington for 5th. Caution waved just before halfway when Bridwell and Chris McDonald made contact sending Bridwell to the infield. On the restart there was plenty of action with Holden looking inside Ball, Babbitt and Fehring side by side, while Moody was retaking fifth from Whittington. At halfway the top five of Ball, Holden, Fehring, Babbitt and Moody were all within striking distance and capable of coming up with the win. Babbitt and Fehring continued their personal war for third and at one point Whittington got by back by Moody and temporarily past Babbitt. But Babbitt quickly retook third on lap 16. Holden caught a big break on lap 18 as he slapped the turn 4 wall, losing several spots. But caution would wave for Wood who blew up and stopped in turn 2. Going back a lap, Holden was back in second when green waved for the final seven laps. Once back to green positioned changed early and often as the laps wound down. Babbitt was trying the low side of Holden, while Moody and Whittington ran wheel to wheel for fifth. A little further back Justin Collins and Aaron Hudgeons were side by side for eight. Tim Boudreaux snuck up on both Moody and Whittington taking fifth on lap 22. As the flagman showed two to go, Babbitt got along side Holden for second. As those two fought it out for second, Ball inched ahead of the pair. On the final lap Babbitt cleared Holden for second as Bal in the Stealth Race Chassis as grabbing the big bucks and the checkered flag. Limited Modified A-Main 1. 78b Brad Ball 2. 4 Johnny Holden 3. 33 Bobby Fehring 4. 69b Tim Boudreaux 5. 8m Johno Whittington 6. 90 Barry Moody 7. 86 Justin Collins 8. 68 Aaron Hudgeons 9. 444 Travis Hudnell 10. 125 Casey Horton 11. 86b Bradley Foster 12. 292 Chester Chandler 13. 64 Thomas Downey 14. A1 Phil Dixon 15. 216 Vernon Bridwell 16. 38 Robert Smith 17. 55 David McClendon 18. 17x Wes Downey 19. 5P Brian Poulter 20. 26 John Burditt 21. J88 Ron Wood 22. 32c Chris McDonald 23. 2 James Bailey 747 Corey Babbitt--DQ(Vacuum) originally 2nd It took three tries for the Limited Modified B-main to get under way. On the first shot Mike Walling spun from the front row with everyone but Randy Bridges able to avoid Walling sitting under the flag stand. On the second attempt, it was a mid-pack multi-car tango involving Wes Downey, Donald Mick, Wade Moyer and Walling. The third time was a charm with pole sitter Brian Poulter getting the lead Chester Chandler second and James Bailey third. On lap 3 Thomas Downey, Mick and Bridges got together for an unscheduled meeting in turns 1-2. On the restart Bailey got into Chandler, giving Ron Wood the opening to get by for second. David McClendon moved in to run three wide with Chandler and T. Downey for fourth. At halfway the battle was on for the transfer between W. Downey, Aaron Codeaux and Bradley Foster. Codeaux and Robert Smith spun on lap 11 with one of them losing a bumper or rub rail. George Pharris had the debris come into the car hitting him on the leg. Pharris stopped on the track near a corner worker who quickly summoned the rescue team. After being checked out, Pharris was alright, but parked the car for the night. On the restart Kevin Sellers slid high with flat right front giving up the final transfer spot at the time. Up front Poulter had put a little distance on Wood, Bailey and T. Downey as they battled for second. Poulter snared the checkers and the chance to make the A-Main along with the other top nine. LTD Mod. B-main(top 9 to A-Main) 1. 5P B. Poulter 2. J88 R. Wood 3. 2 J. Bailey 4. 64 T. Downey 5. 55 D. McClendon 6. 86b B. Foster 7. 292 C. Chandler 8. 17x W. Downey 9. 38 R. Smith 10. 02 David Jackson 11. 152 Aaron Codeaux 12. 391 Kevin Sellers 13. 78T Charlie Pharris 96 Donald Mick--DNF 46 Randy Bridges--DNF 14m Wade Moyer---DNF 29 Mike Walling---DNF 191 Steve Bullock 23 Randy Trimm 78x Kamron Campbell Ltd Mod heat winners, Holden, Ball, Fehring, Hudnell, Babbitt Pevateaux Pockets Pure Payday The $500 to win Pure Stock feature would be a rock 'em, sock 'em affair from the beginning. As green waved Charlie Posey jumped out front with three wide racing for second. Moose Small spun and collected Alisha Graham to bring the yellow out for a complete restart. The second try wasn't much better as Luke Johnson and Jeff 'Wiggly' Wooten got together on the backstretch. Wooten did a full roll, with a half twist before landing on all fours, and quickly bringing out a red flag. Wooten was uninjured, with both he and Johnson done for the night. Posey again led the way as green finally waved, while Bradley Hellman fell back allowing Trenton Pevateaux, Chad Rockefeller and Phillip Seals to get by. Posey's chance at the payday went away on lap 4 as he slowed with a flat tire handing the top spot to T. Pevateaux. Hellman's trouble continued as he slowed and spun with yellow flying on lap 4 for debris. The restart saw Jim Smith spin Faye Kinnebrew also collecting Rick Owens. Once back to green the top three broke away clean with 2-3 wide racing in the pack. Once breaking out of the melee, Ronnie Mekalip and George Multon were able to run down the top three. Rockefeller slipped high on lap 8 with Seals jumping at the chance to take over second. At halfway the top five were T. Pevateaux, Seals, Rockefeller, Mekalip and Moulton as they ran up on slower traffic. Seals was just beginning to put pressure on T. Pevateaux when he slowed and stopped to bring out the yellow. Under caution Mekalip pitted from third. When green waved for the final five laps, T. Pevateaux, Rockefeller, Multon, Leslie Graham and Robert D Stanfield pulled out to settle things among themselves. Rockefeller would take looks lo on T. Pevateaux coming out of turns 2 and 4. Rockefeller gave it the ol' college try on the final lap but came up a little short as T. Pevateaux held on for hard earned victory. Pure Stock feature 1. 316 Trenton Pevateaux 2. 2 Chad Rockefeller 3. 131 George Multon 4. 000 Leslie Graham 5. 21s Robert Stanfield jr. 6. 00 Alisha Graham 7. 09 Allen Jones 8. 84 Randall Page 9. 52k John Kelley 10. 8s Moose Small 11. 11F Bernard Finney 12. 10 Ronnie Mekalip 13. 92 Rick Owens 14. 136 Andy Pevateaux 15. 184 Tommy Page 16. 19 Phillip Seals 17.1H Bradley Hellman 18. 521 Faye Kinnebrew 19. 2x Jim Smith 20. L2 Charlie Posey 21. 18x Billy Russom 22. K9 Alex Brock 23. 3H Jeff Wiggly Wooten 24. 1 Luke Johnson **L. Graham was award the bonus for the highest finishing two-barrel car, or in this case truck Leslie Graham in his V-6 powered truck jumped into the lead of the Pure Stock B-main and was able to hold off the field, leading flag to flag for the win. Pure Stock B-main(top 8 to feature) 1. 000 L. Graham 2. 521 F. Kinnebrew 3. 21s R. Stanfield 4. 92 R. Owens 5. 184 T. Page 6. 09 A. Jones 7. 136 A. Pevateaux 8. 84 R. Page 9. 97 Travis Mize 10. 40 Darren Clifton 106 Steven Saunders--DNF 16L Lucy Mann--DNF Heat Winners, Small, T. Pevateaux, Posey, Hellman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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