NickHolt Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Meredith Tops Another ARTS Event by Kelly Freeman KYLE, TX - On Saturday night the AllStar Race Truck Series dropped in on Thunder Hill Raceway for another great night of side by side and bumper to bumper action. Bryan Meredith, from Austin, TX, came into the event with almost a 300 point lead in the Lone Star region of ARTS and he's also on top of the natioanl standings. After practice was interrupted by a brief light shower, the trucks set out for qualifying. Greg Davis, in the 99 truck, earned the fast qualifier award with a time of 16.639 seconds around the 3/8 mile D shaped oval. Only 0.024 seconds behind was the 30 of Bryan Meredith. Taking the third qualifying spot was last years ARTS Lone Star Region champion, Robert Walton in the 10 truck. The forth and fifth spots were taken by the 21 of Keith Patrick and the 77 of Todd McLemore. Davis would draw a two for the invert placing him on the outside of row one for the start. Meredith would now be on the pole for the start of the 50 lap feature event. After a meet and greet autograph session on the front straight away with many of the Thunder Hill Raceway fans, the trucks would line up for the start. With his truck failing to start, the 93 of Chett Gehrke, from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, would have to be pushed to the pits, missing the start of the race. The field took the green flag and after a couple laps the trucks sorted themselves out with Meredith as the leader followed by Walton and McLemore. The 59 of Jimmy Spillar would move to the fourth position. On the completion of lap 4, Gehrke would enter the race on the tail end of the field. During lap 7, the 22 of Shane Harris out of Fairfield, TX already down a lap would pull off after smoke started coming from under the truck. Meanwhile the action was heating up at the front as the leaders were bump drafting down the straights and looking to the inside of each other in the turns. Lap 13 saw the 42 of Josh Freeman pull high and out of the groove as his truck fell off of the pace with apparent engine trouble. On lap 14, Gehrke, Patrick, Mendoza, and Bunte were having a great battle as the leaders started to catch them. A few laps later Spillar and the 20 truck of rookie driver Richard Bunte made contact in turn 2. Bunte slid through the infield grass making a nice recovery and falling back in line. For many laps Walton was pressuring Meredith for many laps all the way around the track. On lap 23, Walton would get a great run and dart to the inside of Meredith in turn 3 with them making contact. The rubbed through turn 4 and onto the straight as McLemore looked to pass both on the inside. Across the line they were 3 wide with Walton out front and McLemore in second. Behind the leaders, Bunte spun in turns 3 and 4, bringing out the caution and voiding the passes as the field is reset to the last completed lap. During caution the 99 of Greg Davis went to the pits and did not return. At the halfway point Meredith was the leader followed by Walton, McLemore, Spillar, and Shawn Paul Lehman in the 28. The 22 of Harris would rejoin the race to only pull off a lap later. A few laps later the 5 of Bill Hamilton would work past Lehman as the trucks up front were still bumping and rubbbing trying to gain positions. On lap 33, McLemore would make contact with Waton, starting a chain reaction with Hamilton into Spillar and Spillar into McLemore. Robert Walton would spin to the infield off of turn 2 bringing out the yellow. On the restart Walton would be given his second place position back while McLemore would be sent to the rear of the field. On that restart, Spillar and Walton would get together out of 4 and slide sideways all the way down the front straight together waving off the green flag. Walton would have to restart at the back for visits to the pits under caution as the clean up crew checked the track for debris. After a few laps Meredith was still out front as the leader followed by Spillar, Hamilton, Lehman, and the 29 of Larry Latham. Closing in on the final laps of the race, McLemore would work his way back into the top 5 and on lap 47 he was running 4th and catching Hamilton quickly but could not pull off a pass in the final laps. Bryan Merdith in his #30 Chevrolet would win his 5th race of the year at Thunder Hill and his 7th ARTS win overall in 2004. The next ARTS event for the Lone Star region will be held on September 25th with the last visit of 2004 to Thunder Hill. Also running that night during the 8th Annual Stock Car Spectacular will be the Romco Texas Tornado Series Late Models, TSRS Super Late Models, Texas Pro Sedans, Texas Asphault Modified Series, Legacys, and Dwarf Cars. This will prove to be the biggest and most exciting night of racing of the year for Texas short track racing. Results Finish/Number/Driver/Laps Completed/Start/Qualifying Time 1. 30 Bryan Meredith 50-1-16.663 2. 59 Jimmy Spillar 50-9-16.919 (Hard Charger Award) 3. 5 Bill Hamilton 50-6-16.745 4. 77 Todd McLemore 50-5-16.739 5. 28 Shawn Paul Lehman 50-8-16.906 6. 10 Robert Walton 50-3-16.704 7. 29 Larry Latham 50-10-16.984 8. 21 Keith Patrick 49-4-16.734 9. 20 Richard Bunte 49-14-17.118 10. 7 Pancho Mendoza 49-13-DNQ 11. 93 Chett Gehrke 44-7-16.872 12. 42 Josh Freeman 23-12-DNQ 13. 99 Greg Davis 22-2-16.639 (Fast Qualifier/Drew 2 for Invert) 14. 22 Shane Harris 6-11-17.825 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gundogC3 Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 hard charger award please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwracingmom Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 I second that one Gunnar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTR73 Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 i agree with gunnar and Racing mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyhorse Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 what do you disagree with- he did pick up the most positions..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KELLY83 Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 What the?? A non-biased story.... posted on many national and local websites giving exposure to ARTS and I take it people are putting it down? A Hard Charger award is given at every single ARTS race... nothing different from when some of your drives have won it. Why pick on this guy? Maybe I am taking it wrong. Please correct me if I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Let me see? The winner's trophy is given to the first racer to cross the finish line. A hard charger award is given for the racer who finishes the most places above where he started. 10th Place is given to the person who finishes behind the first 9. What part of the joke am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 I don't think it has anything to do with the merit of the award in general...I think maybe the RWR people think it is "ironic" Jimmy won a "hard charger" award in a race where the 10 and 59 were involved in a contact incident where they both left the track...there was a truck in front of me at the time and I have no idea what actually happened to start it...the 10 ended having to pit as a result and that forced them to go to the back in a race where they had been in contention... The 10 and 59 both have had some hard luck this season and are both due for wins... It is also ironic it's on TSZ because Jimmy's old school and doesn't use the internet...he don't www Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jont66 Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 $100 x 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gundogC3 Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 you hit the nail on the head 29ll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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