Southern Challenge @ Abilene Spwy. Fri. Results

[rebelracewriter]

Southern Challenge @ Abilene Speedway 10/14-16/05

By J M Hallas

Abilene, Tx., Racers from across the Texas/New Mexico area, as well as Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kentucky and Iowa were greeted with Chamber of Commerce weather as the 10th Annual Southern Challenge kicked off on Abilene Speedway’s newly recut 1/4 mile, semi-banked red clay track. Despite soaring gas prices, the pits were full as nearly 100 IMCA Modifieds, 60 IMCA Stock Cars, 30 IMCA Southern SportMods and 30 IMCA Hobby Stock teams signed in.

 

IMCA Modifieds(All heats 8 laps), Winner only to A-qualifier

Heat 1. 911 Josh McGaha, Brownwood

Heat 2. 302 Tom Briley, San Angelo

Heat 3. 454 Shane Killingsworth, Dallas

Heat 4. 70 George Egbert III, Salado

Heat 5. 01 Mark Patterson, Abilene

Heat 6. 118 Tim Clonch, Quinlan

Heat 7. 431 Robbie Edwards, Eastland

Heat 8. 48 Ronnie Sigman, Dallas

Heat 9. 02 Bo Briley, Miles

Heat 10. 17 Ben Hoesing, Boone, Ia.

 

IMCA Stock Cars, Winner only to A-qualifier

Heat 1. 007 Chris Meyers, Eunice, NM.

Heat 2. 341 Tommy Kays, Hobbs, NM.

Heat 3. 31 Eric Ripple, Palmyra, Nebr.

Heat 4. 87 Kevin Sustaire, Emory

Heat 5. 22 Duain Pritchett, Combine

Heat 6. 83 Chad Estes, Troy

 

Southern SportMod, Top 2 to A-qualifier

Heat 1. 23 Greg Atwood, Georgetown, 71 Billy Garza, Forney

Heat 2. 18 Tim Clonch, Quinlan, 13 Sam Hodges, Eunice, NM.

Heat 3. 31 Kevin Sustaire, Emory, 48 Bradley Poor, Abilene (1 Keith White DQed from 1st--wheel base)

Heat 4. 7 Ronnie Sigman, Dallas, 690 Todd Bartlett, Abilene

 

IMCA Hobby Stock, Top 2 to A-qualifier

Heat 1. 9 Jerry West, Fort Worth, 23 Tanner Cox, Colorado City

Heat 2. 19 Jon Moffett, Azle, 199 Jason Bell, Abilene

Heat 3. 103 Matt Drottz, Fort Worth, 37 Dean Abbey, Comanche

Heat 4. 38 Allen Montgomery, Rhome, 60 Nathan Sodek, Temple

 

Modified B-qualifiers(15 laps), Top 2 to A-qualifier

M BQ-1. 83 Darryl Campbell, Everman, 715 JP Dowell, Killeen

M BQ-2. 701 Henry Witt, Waco, 81 Danny Caldwell, Princeton

M BQ-3. 79 Charlie Newton, Brownwood, 19 David Elliott, Eastland

M BQ-4. 1 Keith White, Academy, 133 Chris Watkins, Blue Ridge

M BQ-5. 85 Neal Flowers, Hobbs, NM. 7 Steve Hayes, Eastland

 

IMCA Stock Car B-qualifiers(15 laps), Top five transfer to A-qualifier

IS BQ-1. Bill Brzezinski, Tim Pyle, Jeff Hill, Cody Burkhart, Levi Ely

IS BQ-2. Thomas Earl III, Bradford Benson II, Chris Hale, Philip Houston, Buck Dempsey, (Bobby Sikes jr--DQ from 2nd--Carb)

IS BQ-3. Jason Gore, Justin McGaha, Dustin Locke, Michael Sheen, Robert Ferron

 

Southern SportMod B-qualifiers(15 laps), Top 6 transfer to A-qualifier

SSM BQ-1. Jerry Graves, Paul Martin, Henry Witt, Scott Pyle, Matt Mueller, Michael Martin

SSM BQ-2. Keith White, Thomas Earl jr, Dillon Smith, Mike McDougal, Brandon Williams, Cody Thomas

 

Hobby Stock B-qualifiers(10 laps), Top six to A-qualifier

HS BQ-1. Paul Norman, Dale Roys, Buddy Baker, Jason Lingnau, James Lusk, Billy Taylor

HS BQ-2. Don Sheen, Justin Burleson, Everett Keel, Justin Shaw, Daniel Davis, James Denton

 

Clonch Captures Challenge Pole

At the start of the 20 car, 20 lap IMCA Modified A-Qualifying feature polesitter Ronny Sigman got the jump as the green waved. Shane Killingsworth, from outside row 1, was able to slide down into second, but was quickly challenged by Josh McGaha. McGaha was under pressure himself from Mark Patterson who took third on lap 2, while S. Killingsworth was still trying to get under Sigman for the lead.

 

Sigman and S. Killingsworth were side by side for the lead when caution came out on lap 3 for debris on the track. On the restart, Patterson got past S. Killingsworth, bringing Tim Clonch along to third. S. Killingsworth got sideways and took a trip through the infield nearly finding the infield dirt pit in the process. Clonch then moved in the battle McGaha for second as they ran wheel to wheel on lap 5.

 

With the top five running nose to tail, David Elliott and George Egbert III were side by side in a fight for fifth. Clonch then get along side Sigman and was able to wrestle the lead away on lap 7. McGaha and Patterson both moved by Sigman on lap 8 as Elliott closed on the lead quartet. McGaha took over second from Patterson lap 8, while Regional Champion, Henry Witt grabbed sixth getting around Bo Briley and G. Egbert.

 

At halfway the top five were Clonch, McGaha, Elliott, Patterson and Sigman, with Clonch beginning to inch away from the pack. Witt then snagged fifth from Sigman leaving him in a three wide fight with B. Briley and Egbert on lap 14. JP Dowell caught that battle making nearly four wide before they sorted out on lap 15. Witt chased down Patterson and putting the heat on him for fourth as the laps wound down.

 

The best battle on the track was a four car scrap for sixth through tenth, that became a six car fight for the final transfer spots when Robbie Edwards and Neal Flowers joined in. That pack swapped position and a little paint corner for corner till the finish. Clonch was able to continue to build his lead and was able to grab the checkers,and the pole for Sunday’s Big A-Main, by a comfortable margin in his Bill Brown Racing, Smileys Chassis.

 

Mod. A-qualifier, top five to big A-main, 6-10 to big B-main

Tim Clonch, Josh McGaha, David Elliott, Henry Witt, Mark Patterson, Bo Briley, Neal Flowers, George Egbert III, Robbie Edwards, JP Dowell, Keith White, Ronnie Sigman, Ben Hoesing, Chris Watkins, Danny Caldwell, Charlie Newton, Steve Hayes, Darryl Campbell, Tom Briley, Shane Killingsworth

 

Last Lap Pass Gives McGaha I-Stock Win

In the 21 car, 20 lap IMCA Stock Car A-Qualifier, Duain Pritchett beat Chris Meyers to turn 1 to grab the point, while Chad Estes made a quick charge to third. Estes, Tommy Kays and Meyers then slugged it out three wide for the second spot on lap 1. Kevin Sustaire began to flex his muscle as he got by Estes for fourth on lap 2. Pritchett began to show that he may be the man to beat, he put some distance on the field by lap 3.

 

Eric Rempel and Sustaire both moved past Meyers on lap 4 for second and third. Dustin McGaha and Bill Brezezinski then got the better of Meyers as they took fourth and fifth, with the rest of the field two-three wide behind them. Pritchett was reeled in by both Sustaire and McGaha on lap 6. Sustaire then took a look inside Pritchett for the lead, while McGaha was trying the high side, putting Pritchett in the sandwich.

 

Sustaire was able to clear Pritchett on lap 8 to take the top spot. At the mid point the top five were Sustaire, McGaha, Rempel, Pritchett and Brezezinski, with McGaha again looking on the top side to get by Sustaire. In the meantime a war was raging for the last transfer position, with plenty of sheet metal getting the worst of it. The top three of Sustaire, McGaha and Rempel then began to pull away to settle the fight among themselves.

 

Jason Gore took over the fifth spot from Pritchett on lap 12 as Pritchett began to slow with problems. On lap 14 Sustaire and McGaha were side by side for the top spot, while Gore snared fourth from Brezezinski. With five to go the lead trio had a good lead on the next three car battle, who had a gap back to the rest of the pack.

 

McGaha regrouped in the final laps for one last charge at Sustaire for the lead. The two were again door to door as the white flag waved. McGaha patiently worked his way on the high side through turns 1-2 and stayed tied at the door posts down the back stretch. Sustaire had one slight bobble in between turns 3-4 that allowed McGaha to get the run he needed out of turn 4 to get to the line by maybe a bumper for the win in Accell Mobile Homes car.

 

 

Stock Car A -qualifier, top five to Big A-main, 6-10 to big B-main

Justin McGaha, Kevin Sustaire, Eric Rempel, Jason Gore, Bill Brezezinski, Chad Estes, Cody Burkhart, Tim Pyle, Bradford Benson, Philip Houston, Chris Hale, Buck Dempsey, Michael Sheen, Chris Meyers, Jeff Hill, Levi Ely, Duain Pritchett, Dustin Locke, Tommy Kays, Thomas Earl III, Robert Ferron

 

Sigman Sails to SportMod Victory

Polesitter Ronny Sigman quickly jumped out front as green waved on the 20 car, 20 lap IMCA Southern SportMod A-Qualifier. Tim Clonch grabbed second from Billy Garza on lap 2, with Kevin Sustaire and Greg Atwood side by side for fourth. Sustaire then snagged third from Garza on lap 3, while National Champion, Keith White moved into the seventh spot getting by Jerry Graves.

 

Sustaire got loose and slid sideways on lap 5 falling several spots and lots of ground, but caught a break when Atwood got tagged and spun as the field stacked up. On the restart, Clonch took a peek inside Sigman for the top spot, but fell back in line as White moved by Garza for third. Sustaire retook fourth from Garza as the race reached halfway showing Sigman, Clonch, White holding the top three positions.

 

With the fight up front now settling down, the focus turned to the scrap for ninth through eleventh between Paul Martin, Dillon Smith and Sam Hodges for the last transfer. As that battle was going on, Sigman was running off to nearly a full straightaway lead by lap 13. Graves and Garza then started their own little battle for fifth running wheel to wheel for two laps and giving Tom Earl jr the chance to close in.

 

Sigman caught traffic with three to go, but made quick work of the slower cars and never lost any ground to Clonch. Graves and Earl jr both got the best of Garza taking fifth and sixth in the final laps. Smith was able to get by Bradley Poor on the last lap for eighth. But at the checkers it was Sigman in his Town East Ford SportMod cruising to the easy victory.

 

Southern SportMod A-qualifier, top five to big A-main, 6-10 to big B-main

Ronny Sigman, Tim Clonch, Keith White, Kevin Sustaire, Jerry Graves, Tom Earl jr., Billy Garza, Dillon Smith, Bradley Poor, Paul Martin, San Hodges, Michael Martin, Matt Mueller, Todd Bartlett, Cody Thomas, Greg Atwood, Scott Pyle, Henry Witt, Brandon Williams, Mike McDougal

 

West Wallops Hobby Stock Field

Tanner Cox got the early lead coming out of turn 2 at the start of the 20 car, 20 lap IMCA Stock A-Qualifier. That lead was short-lived as Matt Drottz and Jerry West both got by Cox with Drottz leading lap 1. West wasted little time disposing of Drottz to capture the point on lap 2 and it was pretty much all over but the crying from there. Drottz tried to hang with West for a lap or two, while Nathan Sodek, Jon Moffett, Allen Montgomery and Dean Abbey had a four car fight going on for third.

 

West methodically put distance on Drottz lap after lap to build a good lead by lap 5. Don Sheen joined the four car fight for third as they slugged it out for the Big A-Main transfer spot. Montgomery moved around Sodek on lap 7 to take the third spot. At halfway the top five were West, Drottz, Montgomery, Sodek and Moffett, with West holding a straightaway advantage over Drottz.

 

Moffett and Sodek were forced to go three wide as they negotiated through slower traffic on lap 12. Montgomery caught Drottz on lap 13 in the fight for second, while Sodek, Moffett and Sheen continued their own personal battle for fourth. west caught a group of slow traffic on lap 16, but like a hot knife through warm butter, was quickly clear and sailing away. Montgomery got by Drottz for second, on lap 17 but West was long gone. On the final lap Sodek, Sheen and Moffett were three wide for fourth, but it was West in the Ace Tire Service, Paws for a Cause, Hobby Stock taking the checkers.

 

Hobby Stock A-qualifier, top five to big A-main, 6-10 to big B-main

Jerry West, Allen Montgomery, Matt Drottz, Nathan Sodek, Don Sheen, Dean Abbey, Jon Moffett, Dale Roys, Jason Bell, Paul Norman, Justin Burleson, Buddy Baker, Jason Lingnau, Justin Shaw, Daniel Davis, Everett Keel, James Lusk, James Denton, Tanner Cox

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Ronny Sigman

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Justin McGaha

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Tim Clonch

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Jerry West