USRA Races @ SAS

[ChuckLicata]

To all:

Just wanted to let you know that our race re-caps are expected to be out tonight.

 

Thanks for your patience!

Chuck

[Definitive]

Hurry up!Oh...wait...you said patience...my bad.Waiting patiently now.

[ChuckLicata]

Turbo, my man...

Thanks for your patience. Here's the USRA AllStar Race Trucks recap. Hope it was worth the wait..

 

Meredith holds off Lehman for first-ever USRA truck victory

 

ROMCO Equipment 50/USRA AllStar Race Trucks

April 4, 2005

By Chuck Licata

 

(San Antonio) The key to Brian Meredith’s victory in the inaugural United States

Racing Association (USRA-TX) AllStar Race Truck series race – the ROMCO

Equipment 50 – was not the fact he held off a hard-charging Shawn Paul Lehman

after a restart with three laps to go.

 

The key to winning the race last Saturday at San Antonio Speedway (SAS),

according to Meredith (the defending ARTS national champion from Austin), was

the fact Lehman (Manchaca) raced him clean to the finish.

 

“I appreciate Shawn Paul running me clean to the end,” said Meredith, whose 2003

Chevrolet Silverado is sponsored by South Austin Auto Supply, AMSOIL, Monarch

Transmissions, MRE Race Engines and TRC Race Cars. “He battled with me hard to

the end and I knew if I made one simple mistake he’d blow right by me. He could

have done a bump-and-run but he didn’t, and I appreciate that.”

 

“Bryan’s fast line (on the track) was on the high side and that would leave me

the inside (on the turns),” explained Lehman, whose Chevrolet Silverado is

sponsored by Junior Medlock (his grandfather), Washburn Cleaners, Terry’s Body

Shop, MRE Race Engines and TRC Race Cars. “However, we just didn’t have enough

to get around him. I could get into the turns faster than him but I couldn’t

get the truck nose to stay down to give me some momentum coming out of the

turns.”

 

Lehman added, “I didn’t want to bump him; I figured I’d have to wait for

something to happen to him. I want to be raced clean, and I will race other

drivers the same way. Also, SAS is a fast track and just a little tap can cause

some major damage to anyone’s truck – including yours. If you bump someone even

just a little, others – and yourself – could end up with some serious damage.

It’s not worth that to win a race.”

 

Keith Patrick (Helotes), Rusty Mirth (Austin) and Jon Denham (Austin) rounded

out the top five. Mirth won the Hard-Charger award, climbing to his

fourth-place finish after starting the race from the 21st position. Mirth is

sponsored by Quintero Construction, Austin Premier Homes and Victory Cleaners;

Patrick is sponsored by Westlake Automotive and Snap-On Tools (Richard Beamer,

dealer); and Denham is sponsored by Snap-On Tools and Denham Racing.

 

Meredith got a good start on the restart after the third caution flag was

brought out on Lap 47. However, Lehman stayed close to the end. He tried to

roll past Meredith on the inside one last time coming out of Turn 4 on the

half-mile asphalt oval but Meredith slammed the door and drove home to his

first win of 2005 after claiming 7 feature wins in his championship season of

2004.

 

Neither Meredith nor Lehman could keep pace with Jon Garrett (Tyler) early on.

Garrett – whose 2004 Chevrolet Silverado is sponsored by Rose City Racing –

qualified sixth behind Robert Walton (Del Valle) Meredith; Patrick; Lehman and

Steve Green (Marble Falls). Walton, whose 2004 Chevrolet Silverado is sponsored

by Miss Diane’s Dance, clocked a fast time of 21.229 seconds in qualifying

around the half-mile, banked track at SAS.

 

However, because of USRA’s unique invert method - six USRA hats numbered 1-6

are laid in front of the Top 6 qualifiers on the front straightaway; the

fastest qualifier picks one hat first followed by the other five in order and

each driver starts in the position designated by the number on their hat –

Garrett ended up starting on the pole.

 

Garrett was being chased hard by Green before the Marble Falls resident brought

out the first caution because of an accident in Turn 1 on Lap 17. “We got

tangled up with debris from the rear end of another truck ahead of us and we

cut down the right rear tire,” stated Green, who is sponsored by Magnum Custom

Trailers and Banner Signs. “We spun after the right rear went flat; it spun the

truck around going into Turn 1 and we were done when we hit the wall. We

suffered some damage to the left front and left rear damage to the truck. We’ve

got a little bit of front suspension damage and a broken tie-rod. We should be

able to fix it in time for the next race at Kyle (Thunder Hill Raceway on April

23).”

 

Garrett continued to hold the lead until Lap 37, when he hit the wall in Turn 3.

“Simply put, my motor blew up,” Garrett revealed. “I think the timing chain

broke right before let off the engine heading into Turn 3. At that point I was

headed for a ride into the wall. Before I was done with the crash I was on the

radio telling my crew that I lost the engine.” Garrett said he was fine outside

of a twitch of pain in his right ankle.

 

Garrett’s departure from the track paved the way for the late-race shootout

between Meredith and Lehman.

 

Thunder Hill Raceway (Kyle) will host the second USRA races of the season on

April 23 for the USRA AllStar Race Trucks and the USRA Super Late Models.

Information on USRA can be found at www.usraspeed.com, while information about

Thunder Hill Raceway can be found at the track’s web site,

www.thunderhillraceway.com.

 

Official Results – ROMCO Equipment 50

Race #1 - USRA AllStar Race Truck series

April 2, 2005 (at San Antonio Speedway)

 

Finish, Truck #, Name, Hometown, Laps Completed

1. 30 Bryan Meredith, Austin, 50

2. 28 Shawn Paul Lehman, Manchaca, 50

3. 21 Keith Patrick, Helotes, 50

4. 07 Rusty Mirth, Austin, 50

5. 26 Jon Denham, Austin, 50

6. 9 Larry Latham, Austin, 50

7. 5 Bill Hamilton, Red Oak, 50

8. 25 Kenny Gaddis, Hallsville, 50

9. 8 Jeff Rosenbeck, Austin, 50

10. 3 Neal Rogers, Lockhart, 49

11. 23 Matthew Howell, Sutherland Springs, 48

12. 72 Brent Bell, Katy, 47

13. 66 Jon T. Garrett, Tyler, 37

14. 10 Robert Walton, Del Valle, 37

15. 7 Pancho Mendoza, San Antonio, 36

16. 33 Josh Freeman, Austin, 22

17. 69 Jim Beasley, Willis, 21

18. 54 Steve Green, Marble Falls, 17

19. 18 JR (Bud) Carroll, Streetman, 15

20. 57 John Kelly Jr, La Vernia, 6

21. 40 Craig Roper, Wichita Falls, 1

[Definitive]

That's a pretty good write up Chuck.If you submitted articles like that to the express news,would they even think about printing it?Just another crazy Diesel thought.