TRP Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 from J M Hallas Edna Tx., (July 3rd, 2009) Texana Raceway Park kicked off the big Independence Day weekend of racing with the first of two night's worth of racing on the 5/16 semi-banked clay oval. The Lucas Oil, ASCS Gulf South Region headlined the show making it's return, after debuting at the track last year. Jason Johnson scored the inaugural race win over the 2008 Labor Day weekend, after the initial Fourth of July race was canceled by Mother Nature. With Johnson in West Memphis, Ark. running a National Tour show, Texana Raceway Park looked to add a new name to the record books for the ASCS Sprint Cars. Current Gulf South points leader Aaron Reutzal topped the list of candidates, along with two-time and defending series champion Brandon Berryman, Ray Allen Kulhanek, Tommy Bryant and Channin Tankersley, all in top five points standings. Also racing on the Friday night card were the Super Stocks, Hot Stock Trucks, Texana Classic Dwarf Cars and Mini Stocks, running for added purse money. White gets it right for ASCS Gulf South victory Early in the 25-lap ASCS Gulf South feature it didn't look like Ft. Worth ace George White had anything for early leader Tommy Bryant. As the track came around, White found the bottom groove to his liking slowly working his way forward. After cutting the margin Bryant had built, White ducked low and got under Bryant for the lead on lap 17. From there White eased away to a half straightaway lead, for the win. As green waved on the 20-car ASCS Gulf South Region field, Kent Lewis jr. bolted into the lead with White, Bryant and Gary Watson wheel to wheel with Skip Wilson in the top five. Bryant sailed around the top to take second from White and reeled in Lewis. In the pack, points leader Reutzal quickly made it to the top ten before red waved when Bean Elliott rolled in turn 2. On the restart, Bryant jumped up top and around Lewis, but Lewis fought back on the bottom holding the lead. The two continued to slug it out, While Channin Tankersley moved in on Watson for fifth. Bryant finally completed the pass on Lewis for the during the fifth circuit. Wilson took third from White and tracked down Lewis for second. Bryant had just hit the back of the pack when Ray Allen Kulhanek stopped in turn 2 to bring out a yellow. Bryant got a huge jump on green, while White worked his way under Lewis for third and Reutzal picked off seventh from Larry Howrey. Wilson ran Bryant back down and coming to halfway got along side leading by a bumper on lap 13, with Bryant, White, Lewis and Tankersley rounding out the top five. Bryant got the top spot back on lap 14, with Scottie McDonald getting fifth from Tankersley. Yellow waved on lap 15 after Travis Knighton rolled to a stop high in turn 4. Under caution, Wilson was forced to give up second pulling to the infield with problems. When green waved again White gave Bryant a try on the low side, as Reutzal got by Tankersley for sixth. White continued to challenge Bryant on the bottom getting along side and by for the top spot on lap 17. Daryl Wills looped his mount in turn 3 to slow the action with a caution on lap 19. On the restart Bryant tried the high side, but had McDonald looking low for second. Behind the lead trio, Reutzal and Lewis had their own personal battle going for fourth with the two swapping the position back and forth. Out front White was now beginning to assert himself while Bryant and McDonald fought it out for second. With two to go, White had increased is margin to about a half straightaway, with McDonald now second. No one had anything for White the final two laps as he took the checkers in Builders Electric, Pro Shocks, Swofford Electric, Paul Cook Racing, Wells Race Engines, Maxim Chassis. “It takes a lot of hard work to beat these guys,” replied White. “That and good equipment. I actually thought I was in trouble right off the bat. We had the car a little loose just to make sure we could get the car to turn. The race track tightened up a bit, took some rubber in one and two and the old car got better and better. I think everyone else's car fell off and mine stayed pretty even.” “We decided we wanted to run the bottom. That's why we loosened it up more than the heat race. We're running about 15 1/2” of stagger and the others are running around 12”. You just try to go off your basic stuff and adjust as the night goes. When you start changing a bunch of stuff you can get out in left field and not know how to get back to base. It was good enough to win tonight.” “We didn't have anything going on back home and I always try to take my family to south Texas during the holiday. They all ended up staying home though, so my little brother and I came down to race.” “We'll have to put some new rubber on it for tomorrow, that's about $600. Stick to the basics, and if it's good it's good, if it's not it's not.” ASCS Gulf South Sprint Cars 10 George White 30 Scottie McDonald 21t Tommy Bryant 1b Kent Lewis jr 87b Aaron Reutzal 71 Channin Tankersley 14E Eric Baldacinni 35 Greg Rilat 69 Larry Howrey 3 Gary Watson 23 Daryl Wills 17c Ray Allen Kulhanek 40 Jr. Jenkins 51 Jimmy Brooks 65 Skip Wilson 61 Travis Knighton 21 Blake Roberts 5 Jack Spencer 96 Rod Craddock 30x Bean Elliott B-Main #1(top 3 from each) 23 Daryl Wills 21 Blake Roberts 30x Bean Elliott 70 Anthony Reeves 5m Glen Martin 17 Bruce Griffith 12$ Steve Hubbard 31 Brandon Berryman---DNS B-main #2 87 Aaron Reutzal 35 Greg Rilat 61 Travis Knighton 15t Travis Elliott 12 Kent Lewis sr 19 Klint Angelette 13 Matt Brooks 88 Bubba McDonald 20 Terry Monroe---DNS Heat #1 65 Skip Wilson 14E Eric Baldacinni 21t Tommy Bryant 87 Aaron Reutzal 30 Scottie McDonald 15t Travis Elliott 19 Klint Angelette 70 Anthony Reeves Heat #2 3 Gary Watson 40 Jr. Jenkins 96 Rod Craddock 17 Bruce Griffith 5 Jack Spencer 12$ Steve Hubbard 20 Terry Monroe 31 Brandon Berryman Heat #3 17c Ray Allen Kulhanek 71 Channin Tankersley 21 Blake Roberts 51 Jimmy Brooks 35 Greg Rilat 61 Travis Knighton 23 Daryl Wills 13 Matt Brooks Heat #4 1b Kent Lewis jr 10 George White 12 Kent Lewis sr 69 Larry Howrey 30x Bean Elliott 5m Glen Martin 88 Bubba McDonald AJ Dancer finally shook the monkey off his back, and did it in convincing fashion. After being plagued with early season woes, Dancer grabbed the Super Stock lead out of turn 2 and never looked back. Eric Floyd gave chase early while GW Hessong and Mike Davenport battled for third. As the field strung out, Dancer built a commanding lead over Floyd and continued pulling away. Jerry Neal spun out of turn 4 on lap 8, but kept going giving up fifth to Mike Moseley. As Dancer motored away to the win, Neal retook fifth on the final lap. Super Stocks 52 AJ Dancer 26 Eric Floyd 47 GW Hessong 70 Mike Davenport 50 Jerry Neal 5 Mike Moseley 83 Randy Stevenson 36 Lucky Gilbert Super Stock heat winner, 26 Eric Floyd, The Hot Stock Truck feature started out to be a rock-n-roll affair with John Lieta getting out front, Dustin Brandl fell in line second and Bob Ort moved up to third. Greg Turner and Justin Bloom spun on lap 1 collecting Lary Paris, ending his night. Lieta got away clean on the restart with Brandl and Ort staying side by side for second. As Brandl and Ort continued their fight, Johnny Thomas and Kenneth Johs ran door to door for fourth. Once clearing Johs, Thomas closed in on Ort and Brandl, who finally secured second. Thomas picked off Ort for third on lap 6 and ran down Brandl for second. After a brief side by side battle, Thomas got the spot on lap 9. With the top three now running nose to tail, Thomas put the heat on Lieta for the lead. The two made some contact coming out of turn 4, banged their way down the front stretch, and got together again turn 1 ending the night for both. Brandl inherited the lead, and was able to pull away from Turner and Ort to grab the victory. Hot Stock Trucks 24x Dustin Brandl 13 Greg Turner 43 Bob Ort 15 Gordon Boehm 49 Kenneth Johs 84 Justin Bloom 24 John Lieta 76 Johnny Thomas 39 Nathan Kildair 8 Lary Paris 55 Russell Bloom---DNS Hot Stock Truck heat winners 24 John Lieta, 24x Dustin Brandl In the Mini Stock feature, Garrett Hayes got the early lead, while Zach Tesch and Jason Bloom battled for second. Yellow waved o lap 2 after Lauren Chamberlain and Ashley Perks made contact sending Perks spinning out of turn 2. On the restart, Bloom got inside Garrett and finally snared the top spot going into turn 3. By halfway, Bloom was pulling away, as Chamberlain worked her way back up to fifth getting by Patricia Lucas. Chamberlain then moved in to battle with Chase Sanchez, going three wide past a lapped car on lap 10. Up front Bloom continued easing away from Hayes and Tesch taking the win by a comfortable margin. Mini Stock 49 Jason Bloom 9 Garrett Hayes 72 Zach Tesch 55 Lauren Chamberlain 63 Chase Sanchez 22 Patricia Lucas 14 Roger Churan 03 Justin Sickle 12 Ashley Perks Mini Stock heat winner, 9 Garrett Hayes With an extra $100 bounty on Andrew Cline, the Texana Classic Dwarf Car feature turned into a real free-for-all. Sammy Veach got lead coming out of turn 1, but Frank Fruia executed a perfect cross-over move in turns 3-4, to lead lap 1. Buck McFarlin spun in turn 3 with Douglas Schmidt getting caught up to bring out the yellow. Joseph Snow tried a big high side run on Fruia once back to green, while Veach tried the bottom. Veach inched ahead on lap 2, but Fruia fought back retaking the top spot on lap 4. In the pack, the hunted man, Cline was moving up, taking fifth from Mike Christians. Dave Tedford did a half spin on lap 7 that collected Snow and brought out the caution. Once back to green, Cline put on a charge getting by D. Tedford, Brad Wright and Veach for second. Cline then took a quick look under Fruia but was unable to get by. Snow got past Veach for fourth on lap 11, before caution waved for a spin by Brandon Dorsey. Once back to green Fruia got three car lengths on Cline, with Snow and Wright side by side for third. As the lead duo pulled ahead they quickly caught slower traffic, splitting a lapped car three wide. Just as Fruia began to put some breathing space on Cline, Don Hunt spun in turn 2 to bring out the final yellow. Fruia got the jump on green leaving Cline trying to fend off Wright for second. Cline closed the gap on Fruia and gave it his best shot ducking inside in turn 1-2. Fruia was able to hold Cline off on the final lap to take the checkers. Texana Classic Dwarf Cars 3x Frank Fruia 19 Andrew Cline 1 Brad Wright 25 Dave Tedford 01 Joseph Snow 13 Mike Christians 4 Sammy Veach 99 Brice Baros 35 Eddie Tedford 55 Bryan Heady 8 Don Hunt 2ez Easy Casey 82 Brandon Dorsey 14 Greg Sexton 24 Victor Vargas 65 Buck McFarlin 79 Douglas Schmidt 41 Willy Veach---DNS 15 Gary Faris---DNS TCDCS heat winners, 4 Sammy Veach, 3x Frank Fruia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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