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ARTS at Altus results and recap, 5/29/04


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Rough Night in ARTS vs. USST

 

By Kelly Freeman

 

ALTUS, OK - On Saturday night the Lone Star Region of the AllStar Race Truck Series (ARTS) held it’s first race of Memorial Day Weekend at Altus Speedway in Altus, OK. The event was combined with the United States Super Trucks (USST). The USST competitors are allowed larger motors, 4 barrel carburetors, and 10 inch wide tires unlike ARTS that use 305 cubic inch motors, 2 barrel carburetors, and 8 inch tires. Even though the trucks are mismatched in a way, it was not very obvious as it made for a great night of close racing.

 

Unfortunatly the defending ARTS Lone Star Region Champion, #10 Robert Walton, experienced engine trouble in practice. He was not able to continue so the team left early to go chase parts and make repairs for the next night of events taking place at Red River Speedway in Wichita Falls, TX.

 

In qualifying at Altus the USST competitor of Mark Denton in his #07 would set the fast time of 15.562 seconds around the 1/3 mile oval. The 2nd fastest qualifier would be the current points leader in ARTS, #30 Bryan Meredith, with a time of 15.755 seconds. The third fastest time of 15.791 seconds was set by the #52 of Steve Green. These three trucks would start the three heats on the pole.

 

In heat 1 Denton’s #07 would blast into the lead with #59 Jimmy Spillar from the ARTS series following. In the back of the pack the #89 USST ride of Will Whiteman would start last and made a couple passes during the 10 lap heat. The winner was Denton followed by Spillar and then the ARTS competitor Chett Gehrke in the #93. Whiteman was 4th with ARTS trucks #29 Larry Latham and #69 Jim Beasley in 5th and 6th.

 

Heat 2 had the #30 Meredith leading from the pole with ARTS driver Jon Garrett in his #66 following. Meredith pulled away for the win as the field battled for position. The #7 USST driver Eric Caudell would work his way past Garrett on the last lap to take 2nd by less than 4 inches at the line. Keith Patrick was 4th in his ARTS #21 and 5th was the USST #44 of Danny Day.

 

The 3rd and final heat started with the #52 of Steve Green on the inside and the #5 Bill Hamilton on the outside, both from the ARTS tour. Green would lead from the start with Hamilton tagging along. The #99 of Greg Davis, also from ARTS, would start last to pass 3 trucks and finish 3rd behind Green and Hamilton. The 4th truck was the #9 Rick Perry from the USST series. Bud Carroll was in the #18 ARTS truck that finished 5th followed by 6th place finisher, Bob Holbrook in his #8 USST ride.

 

The feature was lined up directly by the heat finishes, then an invert of 4 rows was put into place when Green, the winner of the final heat, drew a #4 out of the stack. Garrett would now be on the pole along side of Gehrke who would be on the outside. Hamilton and Caudell would be on row 2. The 3rd row contained Spillar and Green with Meredith and Dent in row 4. The rest of the field would line up in the order of Davis, Whiteman, Patrick, Perry, Latham, Day, Carroll, Beasley, and then Holbrook in the last row by

himself.

 

Jon Garrett in his #66 truck would take the lead from the start followed by Hamilton and Gehrke. On the 3rd lap the #30 of Meredith lost a fender when he, Caudell, and Spillar all rubbed. After the restart, the #52 of Steve Green was hit from the rear by the #07 of Denton. Green spun to the infield and had to restart at the rear while Denton got away with one and held his position in the middle of the pack.

 

A few laps after the restart Caudell and Denton were side by side as he charged to the front. On the 12th circuit the #5 of Hamilton passed the leader Garrett on the outside. One lap later Denton passed Garrett and then on lap 14, Denton took the lead from Hamilton. Eventually a caution would fly on lap 20 when the USST competitors Perry and Whiteman got together. The result would be Whiteman in the infield in a cloud of dust on the hot windy night. He would restart on the rear.

 

During laps 24 through 27 saw some of the best racing when the 66, 5, 7, and 93 were stacked up inside one another battling for 2nd. Then disaster struck when the field caught the #8 of Holbrook. He dropped fluid coming out of turn 2 and down the back stretch. Drivers involved included Patrick, Garrett, Green, Davis, Meredith, Gehrke, Hamilton, Caudell, and Spillar.

 

After a red flag cleanup the field would line back up with Dent still out front. Gehrke, Caudell, and Spillar were close behind. On lap 33 the 89 of Whiteman again spun in turn 4 to bring out a caution. In laps 34 through 36 the #9 was pressuring the #29 for 5th when Meredith took his #30 to the high side and passed them both along with the #44 of Day.

 

Lap 40 saw Perry roughing up Latham for a nasty pass and then on the next straight Latham repaid the favor but couldn’t move Perry. Latham ended up fishtailing down the front stretch and in the process made contact with Hamilton. At the same time the #89 spun in turn 4 for the third time in the feature. The #93 of Gehrke spun to avoid hitting #89 and decided to pull off under the caution and save his truck for another night.

 

In the last few laps Meredith, Perry, and Hamilton made thier way by the #59 of Spillar. Meanwhile it was the #07 of Mark Denton taking the win with the #7 of Eric Caudell in 2nd, both USST competitors. The #30 of Bryan Meredith would be the 1st ARTS driver crossing the line with a 3rd place finish. USST driver Rick Perry was 4th in his #9 and Bill Hamilton’s #5 ARTS truck was 5th.

 

 

FEATURE RESULTS

Place / # / Driver / Series / Laps

1. 07 Mark Denton USST 50

2. 7 Eric Caudell USST 50

3. 30 Bryan Meredith ARTS 50

4. 9 Rick Perry USST 50

5. 5 Bill Hamilton ARTS 50

6. 59 Jimmy Spillar ARTS 50

7. 44 Danny Day USST 50

8. 21 Keith Patrick ARTS 50

9. 89 Will Whiteman USST 50

10. 29 Larry Latham ARTS 50

11. 18 Bud Carroll ARTS 49

12. 69 Jim Beasley ARTS 42

13. 93 Chett Gehrke ARTS 41

14. 66 Jon Garrett ARTS 33

15. 99 Greg Davis ARTS 27

16. 52 Steve Green ARTS 27

17. 8 Bob Holbrook USST 26

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