Post by jkelly57 on Nov 5, 2006 8:22:33 GMT -6
10th Annual Stock Car Spectacular @ Thunder Hill Raceway 10/28/06
By J M Hallas
TexasSpeedZone.Com Qualifying:
In USRA Super Late Model qualifying, Todd McLemore, 14.420 second lap, in the Magnum Trailers, Wells Cargo, Smokey J's BBQ,
Cintas, Rays Marine, Umschied Race Services, Port City chassis powered by KAM Engines. Points contenders, Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell, qualified second and third respectively.
“We have had a lot of motor problems this year,” replied McLemore. We got a KAM motor out of Houston now and a we been running real good since then, that and Umschied Race Services has been helping us so any one can drive them.”
“I think that last year Steve(Green) and I both qualified, but that is all behind us now. He is going to hopefully win the points and we just hope to finish and get a good finish out it. Its been a long rough year and we’re looking forward to next year.
“No, we are going for the win,” added McLemore regarding his racing with Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell. “ Points, no points we are going for the win. They got their own battle and I got mine”
“We’re going to try not to get wrecked,” said points leader Chris
Davidson. We are going to go racing and see what happens.“No special preparation, what we have done all year has got us to the position we are in now so I don't think there is any reason to change anything just yet.” “As usual with qualifying as long as your in the top six your ok. “The track got away from a couple of us today. I know Casey(Smith) was struggling a little bit, I was, Matt(Merrell) was also, so I guess when it comes qualifying time we might actually learn something “The track is slicker today than it has ever been in all the years I have raced here. I don't know if adding coke syrup has anything to do about it but it hasn't benefitted us any of us.”
“We’ve had a long career,” said veteran John Kelly who announced his retirement. “It's just gotten to where it isn't fun anymore. It is getting to where I was spending a dollar and they where spending a thousand. I don’t know if either of the boys will move into my car, they will probably stay with their truck and dirt cars.”
Kelly ends his 34th season of racing with over 125 wins to his credit, including six championships, two of which came TIDA Super Late Models. “The most fun race I ever ran was a Street Stock race at Longhorn Speedway,” related Kelly on one of his past races. “ I put about 65 pounds of air in the right rear and I was dirt tracking it around for fifty laps. That was the best.”
The USRA Trucks saw McLemore's team mate, and current USRA Truck points leader, Steve Green, set the standard with a 16.142 second lap, driving the Magnum Trailers, Smokey J's BBQ, ARTS Chassis with a GM Crate motor. Craig Roper was only able to grab second best, but was able to draw the number one
spot on the invert for the start, with Green drawing the third starting spot. “It was a good lap,” stated Green. “I believe it was a track record, I believe 16.140 is the track record. It's been a long time coming because that record has stood for a long time.” “I am going to say it was hard work. We worked on it a lot today. We broke a transmission in practice last night and didn't get to practice. Today we missed one practice so we tried to catch up to the track today. It has been sitting here a long time with a lot of rain on it so the track has really changed since the last time we were here to where it is at right now.”
“It's not over till fifty laps tonight, so we are going to race every
one of them and see where we come out. We are happy there and we have the 40 truck in front of us and a truck out of our stable outside so we in good shape” “ I think in Houston last year where Todd(McLemore) and I both sat on the pole. I broke a rear end on the first lap, and Todd got crashed out on
the first lap. So we hope that doesn’t happen again.”
“ We came here to race, we are going to see if we can win this thing. The points are pretty much sewn up and I am not to much worried about that right now, but I want to go out there and win this race.”
“Well, it just happens to be the exact number of trucks,” said Roper on his chances of overcoming the points deficit. “I mean it's impossible to do I think, but in racing anything is possible.”
“There have been two races at San Antonio I would like to have back. It was the same thing, flat tires both times.”
Local area driver Ryan Englehardt was quickest of the twenty USRA Modifieds to take times, laying down the only sub 15 second lap, with a 14.953 in the Third Coast Motorsports, Shoreline Services, FRE Chassis powered by a KAM Racing Engine. Championship points leader, Billy Becka, qualified
fourth, while Bruce Beddoe (second in points), took the second qualifying spot.
“We have a real good car here,” stated Englehardt. “We just got this motor fresh out of the shop this week, they knocked it out for us and it's been nothing but awesome. We came out and worked on it a little bit, struggled a little last night and pulled it out today and it worked out” “Yes my experience here helps, absolutely, anytime you can get seat time, especially at one track it can help to get into the rhythm eventually Add
that to a good combination of a good race car and engine, and you can't go wrong sometimes” “Well since they bumped it up to 75 laps we will take our time, let the chips fall where they want to and hopefully we will be there at the end to
maybe do what we have to do to win.” “We drew a five, that's not too bad here. At least we will be starting on the inside.”
“We didn’t do anything special for this race,” said points leader Bill Becka. “We are just going to go out there and run. We were pretty good in practice, so I feel pretty good about our chances tonight. I know a couple of people that would lend me their car if I had problems, but I wouldn't want to take away anybodies ride. They came out to race and have fun too.” “We didn't do anything special for this race, replied defending Champion,
Bruce Beddoe. “All we did was fill it up with fuel and put on a new
right rear tire. We just hope to go out there to get a top six qualifying spot and get a good draw.”
After the draw for the invert, fast qualifier, Todd McLemore found
himself starting sixth, with the two points chasers Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell starting side by side on the front row. At the start 125 lap USRA Super Late Model main event, Davidson got the jump on the green with Casey Smith trying to hang Merrell out on the high side.
Merrell tried to dive down in turn one and made contact with Smith. Merrell and Smith again made contact in turn three, with Merrell getting sideways and falling back. On lap two Merrell and 2005 USRA Super Late Model Champion, Heath Stewart got tangled and slide down the front straight away to bring out the first caution. Danny Pike got into the front stretch wall coming to the caution while Tom Grothues lost the side body panels from
the contact.
As the race went back to green, Davidson, Smith and McLemore continued to pace the field, while Merrell and Stewart tagged on to the back field. Merrell was able to pick off a spot getting by John Kelly, who announced his retirement earlier. Rookie Jonathon Beason was able to get by Greg Davis for fourth on lap 11. By lap 15 Davidson and Smith were pulling away from
McLemore, with gaps back to Beason and Davis. Kelly's night would end early on lap 18 when his car slowed and came to
a stop on the back stretch ending his night and career unceremoniously on the back of a wrecker. Once back to green Davidson was able to get a slight lead on Smith.
Smith continued to fade with McLemore pressuring him on lap 33, taking looks inside. McLemore continued to put the heat on Smith while Stewart and Merrell swapped seventh. The two again found each other on lap 42, when they tangled on the back stretch, sending Merrell around in turn 3. On the restart the top three of Davidson, Smith and McLemore stayed nose to
tail with Smith tapping on Davidson. On lap 51 Smith got into Davidson coming out of turn 4, Davidson was hard on the brakes to avoid spinning and bunched up the field. Davidson was able to get away from the pack, while Smith suffered front end damage. Beason slide high in turn 2 on lap 56 falling to the tail of the lead lap in sixth.
At half way it was Davidson with a good lead on Smith, McLemore, Davis and Beason. McLemore and Smith continued to battle for second, with McLemore able to get off the turns better. On lap 67 McLemore appeared to look high then go low in turn 1 and got into Smith out of turn 2 sending Smith around.
McLemore was sent to the tail, while Smith pitted for repairs. Smith was blacked flagged for speeding in the pits, ending his night. When the race resumed, Davidson quickly got two car lengths on Davis, and by lap 80 was increasing his lead. On lap 82 Beason again slid up in turn 2, giving McLemore the chance to get by for third. With 25 to go Davidson had a ten car length lead on Davis, who had a big gap to McLemore and Beason.
Davidson continued to inch away to a half straight away advantage on lap 115, while Beason was pressuring McLemore for third. Merrell, who saw his title hopes end early, finally pulled off on lap 121. Davidson continued his charge to the championship, increasing his lead in the final laps. At the checkers it was Davidson in the Turner Motorsports,
Oval Components, Westside Performance, Grand American Race Car Chassis, taking the easy win and second championship in the Super Late Model division. Davidson won the ROMCO Super Late Model title in 2002.
“It feels good,” said Davidson. “I’m just happy for car owners, Steve and Sandra Turner. They’re the ones that make this all possible for us. I’m more happy for them than us. We’re kind of relieved that it’s over with now." “This championship is the most gratifying. We had to battle for it all year. Through the year, we had some trouble, they had some trouble and we were the
only ones to show up for all the races. That took at least one other car out of the hunt. I kind of wish Matt(Merrell) would have been there to battle for the win, but I’m not going to complain about the results. I saw him shoot across my mirror, so I knew whatever was going with wasn’t good and he was a lap or two down. He was still there near the finish, so if we had any
problems he’d be the champion right now.” “I didn’t change my driving after that. I was more worried about everyone
else. They knew the guy that racing me wasn’t there anymore and maybe race me harder. Casey(Smith) and I got together in turns 3-4, but he let me up. I really have to thank him for that.”
Ya, I’m surely disappointed,” replied Merrell. “We had a chance to win and had a guy come out for one race that decided the points. It was good year all-in-all. We took Rookie of the Year so I’m happy with that.” “After that(wreck), we went back out to see how things would go. Something bad would have had to happen to Chris, but he had a good car and did what he needed to do. With five to go, there was nothing that would help so we
just pulled off. “
USRA Super Late Models
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed1
. (41) Chris Davidson, Pearland, TX, 14.582, 125 Laps
2. (35) Greg Davis, Waxahachie, TX, 14.775,125
3. (54) Todd McLemore, Austin, TX, 14.420, 125
4. (36) Jonathan Beason, Broken Arrow, OK, 14.930, 125
5. (14) Heath Stewart, Austin, TX, 14.658, 122
6. (03) Matt Merrell, Portland, TX, 14.657, 116
7. (9) Casey Smith, Austin, TX, 14.817, 69
8. (04) Cory Roper, Vernon, TX, 15.059, 48
9. (11) Tommy Grothues, San Antonio, TX, 15.354, 31
10. (57) John Kelly, La Vernia, TX, 15.330, 17
11. (16) Danny Pike, Red Oak, TX, 15.816, 3
Craig Roper and Jason Marshall paced the thirteen truck field for the 50 lap feature. On the first attempt, Roper with the jump got the lead but Rusty Mirth and Shawn Paul Lehman spun in the pack, sending James Lynch into the grass to avoid them. On the second start Roper got a big jump on Green as Marshall fell back on the high side. At the end of lap 1 the points chasers,
Roper and Steve Green were one and two, with former ARTS Champion, Bryan Meredith in third. Roper and Green quickly began moving away from Meredith, Marshall, Jim Albert, and past ARTS National Champion, Colt James.
Lap 5 saw Albert putting pressure on Marshall, with occasional raps on the bumper. As Albert challenged Marshall, James looked high on Albert. James ducked low on Albert as the two rubbed and James got by for fifth. By lap 10 Green was closing on Roper as the two continued to build their lead on the field. James picked off another spot on lap 11, getting by Marshall for
fourth. Yellow waved on lap 12, when Chris Snocker slid off on turn 4.
On the restart, Roper got two truck lengths on Green, with James
pressuring Meredith for third. Mirth spun on lap 20, but was able to keep going with no caution. Up front, James was able to get by Meredith, then Green for second, as Roper got away
to a huge lead. At the crossed flags it was Roper, James, Green,
Meredith, and Albert rounding out the top five. Green closed back in on James, and was putting heat on him to take second back. On lap 33 Green got inside James running side by side for a lap, until the two made slight contact in turn 1 and James spun, bringing out a caution.
The top five got away clean as green waved again, with Jody Busby slowing and splitting the field. Albert and Meredith ran door to door with some contact in turn 4. Meanwhile, up front, Green was pressuring Roper for the lead as they put a full straight away on the field. Roper was able to hold
Green off in the final laps to win the battle in the CCC Group,
Bradford's Transmission, McGinnis Welding Supply, Brian's Tire crate motor powered ARTS chassis. Green's second place was enough for him to win the war, as he secured his second USRA Truck Championship.
“I couldn’t think of a nicer guy to lose the championship to,” said
Roper. “I’m not too disappointed. We’re disappointed at a couple previous races, but I’m glad he won. All we could do was win the race. That’s the best we can do. I saw him in my mirror the whole night, so there was never a doubt that he was going to win the championship. Winning the race was the best we could do, and I got that done. We did all we could do. We won five races
this year, so I’m happy with that”
“This is my first championship, and it’s great.” replied the elated Green. “The first one’s good. I came here to race tonight and I wanted to win it. I think we had a truck good enough to. We kind of lost a little ground when my spotter said the caution was out and it wasn’t. We just had to go chase them back down. We lost 10-12 laps there trying to get back to the front and we
just did what we could and had a good run.” “The Roper’s are good folks. We have a good time with them. We went
over to Florida a couple weeks ago to run the Late Models and Trucks with them and had thought about heading to Altus with them tomorrow. “
USRA Trucks
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed
1. (40) Craig Roper, Vernon, TX, 16.353, 50 Laps
2. (54) Steve Green, Marble Falls, TX, 16.142, 50
3. (42) Jason Marshall, Leander, TX, 16.477, 50
4. (31) Jim Albert, Lockhart, TX, 16.467, 45
5. (30) Bryan Meredith, Austin, TX, 16.586, 50
6. (13) James Lynch, Cedar Park, TX, 16.977, 50
7. (72) Brent Bell, Katy, TX, 16.805, 50
8. (1) Jody Buzbee, Waco, TX, 16.769, 49
9. (38) Cameron Moore, Jr., Buda, TX, 17.062, 49
10. (43) Chris Snocker, San Antonio, TX, 16.817, 49
11. (60) Colt James, Buda, TX, 16.472, 44
12. (07) Rusty Mirth, Austin, TX, 16.636, 21
13. (28) Shawn Paul Lehman, Manchaca, TX, 16.622, 9
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Veterans Chris Swenson and H.E. Naumann led the stellar field of 20 for the 75 lap USRA Modified main event. Swenson got the jump on Naumann when the green waved and led out of turn 2. Billy Becka, not showing any signs of points racing, dove inside Swenson on the back stretch and got the point on lap 1. Ryan Englehardt followed into second leaving Swenson and Mark
Chrudimsky wheel to wheel for third.
Ralph Burris drifted high off turn 2 losing several places and moving Jason Ray up to seventh. The top four had just began to check out when Larry Hughes blew a motor going into turn 1. The leaders, who were close behind, slid and spun through the fluid with Swenson getting into Hughes, putting both on the trailer for the night.
Once back under green, the field tip-toed through the oil dry as Becka got ahead of Engelhardt by three car lengths. As the lead group settled in, Bobby Teer jr. got by John Witzsche for ninth. Points contender, Bruce Beddoe was looking to pick up a spot on lap 28 as he pressured Ray for fifth. Yellow waved on lap 29 for spins by David Machen and John Shultz between turns 3-4.
After a little bumper tag in the field coming to green, Englehardt
stayed on the bumper of Becka, with Chrudimsky a couple lengths back. Chrudimsky closed up on the back of Englehardt and got a run inside down the back stretch. The two made contact sending Englehardt spinning off the track into
the grass.
Becka and Chrudimsky inched away from the field once back to green with Naumann, Ray and Beddoe rounding out the top five at halfway. Yellow came back out on lap 39 when the corner cone got knocked up onto the track. Ray tagged the cone coming to yellow, scattering little cone-ettes down the front stretch.
Becka and Chrudimsky got a good jump on the restart with Chrudimsky quickly looking inside on the 48 and got a slight margin on Becka who had gap back to Naumann. Machen
brought out another caution on lap 52 when he spun in turn 1.
Just as the green waved again, Witzsche got sideways coming out of turn 4 and clipped Shultz sending him airborne for a second. Milton Krauss, Machen and points chasers, Bob Slezinsky and Trey Mitchell all got collected in the melee on the front straight. All drivers were ok and walked away from
the grinding crash.
Once back to green, Beddoe picked up fourth from Ray and the lead duo crept ahead of Naumann. Beddoe then started to put the heat on Naumann, but got loose losing ground on lap 53. Chrudimsky began to pull away Becka, Naumann
and Beddoe, who had caught back up the second place battle.
As the top six separated themselves out, Bruce Barber was looking to get by Jim Meyers for seventh. In the waning laps Burris caught Ray for fifth, but never mounted a major challenge. Chrudimsky was on cruise control as he built a one second advantage on Becka. As the checkers waved it was
Chrudimsky in the Austin Vol-Tech, Westside Performance, FRE Chassis taking the victory.
“Our car took five or six laps to come in,” stated Chrudimsky. “The car was good but it needed a few laps. We got to working on Billy(Becka), he slipped a little, I got under him and went on. I have to thank my Mom, Dad, wife, kids and crew. The car was great. We did what we came to do. We won the
last two races and came up a few spots short in the championship battle. My hat’s off to Billy and his guys.”
“We were all racing, racing for the win, the big picture tonight was there too. There was only 39 points between the five of us. I race ever lap hard, try to keep it clean. That’s all you can do.”
“In should have just wrecked Mark(Chrudimsky) and got the win and championship,” joked new USRA Modified Champion, Becka as Chrudimsky listened in on the tech pad. “No really, it feels really good. This is my first ever championship. I’ve never points raced before in my life. This is actually the first full season I’ve ever run so that makes it even nicer.” “He was a little better than me tonight. We had a good car. The car was a little better than the driver tonight. I messed up and let it get up high and he just got under me. When they told me was there I just let him
go. I tried to follow him, but he had the better car.”
“I was just running my race, not worried about where Bruce(Beddoe) or the other points racers were. I can only do what I can do. Stay out of trouble and run smart, that’s all you can do.”
“Now that I’ve got a championship, I’ll probably go Nextel Cup next season,” added the always entertaining Becka. “I want to thank all my sponsors, Rays Auto & Truck, Insurance Auto Salvage, R&B Fleet Service, Demarithis Tire & Auto Sales, Tim McGallon, Victoria Auto Auctions, and a big, big thanks to
John Heil it’s one of his chassis’ and his motor.”
USRA Modifieds
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed
1. (39) Mark Chrudimsky, Hutto, TX, 15.163, 75 Laps
2. (29) Billy Becka, La Vernia, TX, 15.182, 75
3. (40) H.E. Naumann, Del Valle, TX, 15.199, 75
4. (18) Bruce Beddoe, Robstown, TX, 15.121, 75
5. (77) Jason Ray, New Braunfels, TX, 15.403, 75
6. (28) Ralph Burris, Jr, Pearland, TX, 15.343, 75
7. (6) Jim Myers, Corpus Christi, TX, 15.652, 75
8. (71) Bruce Barber, Robstown, TX, 15.995, 75
9. (2) Bobby Teer, Jr, Comfort, TX, 15.393, 75
10. (22) John Paul Kliewer, Boerne, TX, 15.826, 75
11. (96) Milton Krauss, Bulverde, TX, 15.991, 74
12. (45) Clare Randell, Portland, TX, 16.287, 73
13. (97) John Witzsche, Corpus Christi, TX, 15.538, 52
14. (44) John Schultz, Round Rock, TX, 15.695, 52
15. (47) Trey Mitchell, Wimberley, TX, 15. 700, 52
16. (26) Bob Slezinsky, Beeville, TX, 16.043, 52
17. (81) David Machen, Del Valle, TX, 15.847, 52
18. (53) Ryan Engelhardt, Lake Travis, TX, 14.952, 33
19. (15) Chris Swenson, Boerne, TX, 15.174, 8
20. (88) Larry Hughes, Arlington, TX, 17.089, 7
By J M Hallas
TexasSpeedZone.Com Qualifying:
In USRA Super Late Model qualifying, Todd McLemore, 14.420 second lap, in the Magnum Trailers, Wells Cargo, Smokey J's BBQ,
Cintas, Rays Marine, Umschied Race Services, Port City chassis powered by KAM Engines. Points contenders, Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell, qualified second and third respectively.
“We have had a lot of motor problems this year,” replied McLemore. We got a KAM motor out of Houston now and a we been running real good since then, that and Umschied Race Services has been helping us so any one can drive them.”
“I think that last year Steve(Green) and I both qualified, but that is all behind us now. He is going to hopefully win the points and we just hope to finish and get a good finish out it. Its been a long rough year and we’re looking forward to next year.
“No, we are going for the win,” added McLemore regarding his racing with Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell. “ Points, no points we are going for the win. They got their own battle and I got mine”
“We’re going to try not to get wrecked,” said points leader Chris
Davidson. We are going to go racing and see what happens.“No special preparation, what we have done all year has got us to the position we are in now so I don't think there is any reason to change anything just yet.” “As usual with qualifying as long as your in the top six your ok. “The track got away from a couple of us today. I know Casey(Smith) was struggling a little bit, I was, Matt(Merrell) was also, so I guess when it comes qualifying time we might actually learn something “The track is slicker today than it has ever been in all the years I have raced here. I don't know if adding coke syrup has anything to do about it but it hasn't benefitted us any of us.”
“We’ve had a long career,” said veteran John Kelly who announced his retirement. “It's just gotten to where it isn't fun anymore. It is getting to where I was spending a dollar and they where spending a thousand. I don’t know if either of the boys will move into my car, they will probably stay with their truck and dirt cars.”
Kelly ends his 34th season of racing with over 125 wins to his credit, including six championships, two of which came TIDA Super Late Models. “The most fun race I ever ran was a Street Stock race at Longhorn Speedway,” related Kelly on one of his past races. “ I put about 65 pounds of air in the right rear and I was dirt tracking it around for fifty laps. That was the best.”
The USRA Trucks saw McLemore's team mate, and current USRA Truck points leader, Steve Green, set the standard with a 16.142 second lap, driving the Magnum Trailers, Smokey J's BBQ, ARTS Chassis with a GM Crate motor. Craig Roper was only able to grab second best, but was able to draw the number one
spot on the invert for the start, with Green drawing the third starting spot. “It was a good lap,” stated Green. “I believe it was a track record, I believe 16.140 is the track record. It's been a long time coming because that record has stood for a long time.” “I am going to say it was hard work. We worked on it a lot today. We broke a transmission in practice last night and didn't get to practice. Today we missed one practice so we tried to catch up to the track today. It has been sitting here a long time with a lot of rain on it so the track has really changed since the last time we were here to where it is at right now.”
“It's not over till fifty laps tonight, so we are going to race every
one of them and see where we come out. We are happy there and we have the 40 truck in front of us and a truck out of our stable outside so we in good shape” “ I think in Houston last year where Todd(McLemore) and I both sat on the pole. I broke a rear end on the first lap, and Todd got crashed out on
the first lap. So we hope that doesn’t happen again.”
“ We came here to race, we are going to see if we can win this thing. The points are pretty much sewn up and I am not to much worried about that right now, but I want to go out there and win this race.”
“Well, it just happens to be the exact number of trucks,” said Roper on his chances of overcoming the points deficit. “I mean it's impossible to do I think, but in racing anything is possible.”
“There have been two races at San Antonio I would like to have back. It was the same thing, flat tires both times.”
Local area driver Ryan Englehardt was quickest of the twenty USRA Modifieds to take times, laying down the only sub 15 second lap, with a 14.953 in the Third Coast Motorsports, Shoreline Services, FRE Chassis powered by a KAM Racing Engine. Championship points leader, Billy Becka, qualified
fourth, while Bruce Beddoe (second in points), took the second qualifying spot.
“We have a real good car here,” stated Englehardt. “We just got this motor fresh out of the shop this week, they knocked it out for us and it's been nothing but awesome. We came out and worked on it a little bit, struggled a little last night and pulled it out today and it worked out” “Yes my experience here helps, absolutely, anytime you can get seat time, especially at one track it can help to get into the rhythm eventually Add
that to a good combination of a good race car and engine, and you can't go wrong sometimes” “Well since they bumped it up to 75 laps we will take our time, let the chips fall where they want to and hopefully we will be there at the end to
maybe do what we have to do to win.” “We drew a five, that's not too bad here. At least we will be starting on the inside.”
“We didn’t do anything special for this race,” said points leader Bill Becka. “We are just going to go out there and run. We were pretty good in practice, so I feel pretty good about our chances tonight. I know a couple of people that would lend me their car if I had problems, but I wouldn't want to take away anybodies ride. They came out to race and have fun too.” “We didn't do anything special for this race, replied defending Champion,
Bruce Beddoe. “All we did was fill it up with fuel and put on a new
right rear tire. We just hope to go out there to get a top six qualifying spot and get a good draw.”
After the draw for the invert, fast qualifier, Todd McLemore found
himself starting sixth, with the two points chasers Chris Davidson and Matt Merrell starting side by side on the front row. At the start 125 lap USRA Super Late Model main event, Davidson got the jump on the green with Casey Smith trying to hang Merrell out on the high side.
Merrell tried to dive down in turn one and made contact with Smith. Merrell and Smith again made contact in turn three, with Merrell getting sideways and falling back. On lap two Merrell and 2005 USRA Super Late Model Champion, Heath Stewart got tangled and slide down the front straight away to bring out the first caution. Danny Pike got into the front stretch wall coming to the caution while Tom Grothues lost the side body panels from
the contact.
As the race went back to green, Davidson, Smith and McLemore continued to pace the field, while Merrell and Stewart tagged on to the back field. Merrell was able to pick off a spot getting by John Kelly, who announced his retirement earlier. Rookie Jonathon Beason was able to get by Greg Davis for fourth on lap 11. By lap 15 Davidson and Smith were pulling away from
McLemore, with gaps back to Beason and Davis. Kelly's night would end early on lap 18 when his car slowed and came to
a stop on the back stretch ending his night and career unceremoniously on the back of a wrecker. Once back to green Davidson was able to get a slight lead on Smith.
Smith continued to fade with McLemore pressuring him on lap 33, taking looks inside. McLemore continued to put the heat on Smith while Stewart and Merrell swapped seventh. The two again found each other on lap 42, when they tangled on the back stretch, sending Merrell around in turn 3. On the restart the top three of Davidson, Smith and McLemore stayed nose to
tail with Smith tapping on Davidson. On lap 51 Smith got into Davidson coming out of turn 4, Davidson was hard on the brakes to avoid spinning and bunched up the field. Davidson was able to get away from the pack, while Smith suffered front end damage. Beason slide high in turn 2 on lap 56 falling to the tail of the lead lap in sixth.
At half way it was Davidson with a good lead on Smith, McLemore, Davis and Beason. McLemore and Smith continued to battle for second, with McLemore able to get off the turns better. On lap 67 McLemore appeared to look high then go low in turn 1 and got into Smith out of turn 2 sending Smith around.
McLemore was sent to the tail, while Smith pitted for repairs. Smith was blacked flagged for speeding in the pits, ending his night. When the race resumed, Davidson quickly got two car lengths on Davis, and by lap 80 was increasing his lead. On lap 82 Beason again slid up in turn 2, giving McLemore the chance to get by for third. With 25 to go Davidson had a ten car length lead on Davis, who had a big gap to McLemore and Beason.
Davidson continued to inch away to a half straight away advantage on lap 115, while Beason was pressuring McLemore for third. Merrell, who saw his title hopes end early, finally pulled off on lap 121. Davidson continued his charge to the championship, increasing his lead in the final laps. At the checkers it was Davidson in the Turner Motorsports,
Oval Components, Westside Performance, Grand American Race Car Chassis, taking the easy win and second championship in the Super Late Model division. Davidson won the ROMCO Super Late Model title in 2002.
“It feels good,” said Davidson. “I’m just happy for car owners, Steve and Sandra Turner. They’re the ones that make this all possible for us. I’m more happy for them than us. We’re kind of relieved that it’s over with now." “This championship is the most gratifying. We had to battle for it all year. Through the year, we had some trouble, they had some trouble and we were the
only ones to show up for all the races. That took at least one other car out of the hunt. I kind of wish Matt(Merrell) would have been there to battle for the win, but I’m not going to complain about the results. I saw him shoot across my mirror, so I knew whatever was going with wasn’t good and he was a lap or two down. He was still there near the finish, so if we had any
problems he’d be the champion right now.” “I didn’t change my driving after that. I was more worried about everyone
else. They knew the guy that racing me wasn’t there anymore and maybe race me harder. Casey(Smith) and I got together in turns 3-4, but he let me up. I really have to thank him for that.”
Ya, I’m surely disappointed,” replied Merrell. “We had a chance to win and had a guy come out for one race that decided the points. It was good year all-in-all. We took Rookie of the Year so I’m happy with that.” “After that(wreck), we went back out to see how things would go. Something bad would have had to happen to Chris, but he had a good car and did what he needed to do. With five to go, there was nothing that would help so we
just pulled off. “
USRA Super Late Models
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed1
. (41) Chris Davidson, Pearland, TX, 14.582, 125 Laps
2. (35) Greg Davis, Waxahachie, TX, 14.775,125
3. (54) Todd McLemore, Austin, TX, 14.420, 125
4. (36) Jonathan Beason, Broken Arrow, OK, 14.930, 125
5. (14) Heath Stewart, Austin, TX, 14.658, 122
6. (03) Matt Merrell, Portland, TX, 14.657, 116
7. (9) Casey Smith, Austin, TX, 14.817, 69
8. (04) Cory Roper, Vernon, TX, 15.059, 48
9. (11) Tommy Grothues, San Antonio, TX, 15.354, 31
10. (57) John Kelly, La Vernia, TX, 15.330, 17
11. (16) Danny Pike, Red Oak, TX, 15.816, 3
Craig Roper and Jason Marshall paced the thirteen truck field for the 50 lap feature. On the first attempt, Roper with the jump got the lead but Rusty Mirth and Shawn Paul Lehman spun in the pack, sending James Lynch into the grass to avoid them. On the second start Roper got a big jump on Green as Marshall fell back on the high side. At the end of lap 1 the points chasers,
Roper and Steve Green were one and two, with former ARTS Champion, Bryan Meredith in third. Roper and Green quickly began moving away from Meredith, Marshall, Jim Albert, and past ARTS National Champion, Colt James.
Lap 5 saw Albert putting pressure on Marshall, with occasional raps on the bumper. As Albert challenged Marshall, James looked high on Albert. James ducked low on Albert as the two rubbed and James got by for fifth. By lap 10 Green was closing on Roper as the two continued to build their lead on the field. James picked off another spot on lap 11, getting by Marshall for
fourth. Yellow waved on lap 12, when Chris Snocker slid off on turn 4.
On the restart, Roper got two truck lengths on Green, with James
pressuring Meredith for third. Mirth spun on lap 20, but was able to keep going with no caution. Up front, James was able to get by Meredith, then Green for second, as Roper got away
to a huge lead. At the crossed flags it was Roper, James, Green,
Meredith, and Albert rounding out the top five. Green closed back in on James, and was putting heat on him to take second back. On lap 33 Green got inside James running side by side for a lap, until the two made slight contact in turn 1 and James spun, bringing out a caution.
The top five got away clean as green waved again, with Jody Busby slowing and splitting the field. Albert and Meredith ran door to door with some contact in turn 4. Meanwhile, up front, Green was pressuring Roper for the lead as they put a full straight away on the field. Roper was able to hold
Green off in the final laps to win the battle in the CCC Group,
Bradford's Transmission, McGinnis Welding Supply, Brian's Tire crate motor powered ARTS chassis. Green's second place was enough for him to win the war, as he secured his second USRA Truck Championship.
“I couldn’t think of a nicer guy to lose the championship to,” said
Roper. “I’m not too disappointed. We’re disappointed at a couple previous races, but I’m glad he won. All we could do was win the race. That’s the best we can do. I saw him in my mirror the whole night, so there was never a doubt that he was going to win the championship. Winning the race was the best we could do, and I got that done. We did all we could do. We won five races
this year, so I’m happy with that”
“This is my first championship, and it’s great.” replied the elated Green. “The first one’s good. I came here to race tonight and I wanted to win it. I think we had a truck good enough to. We kind of lost a little ground when my spotter said the caution was out and it wasn’t. We just had to go chase them back down. We lost 10-12 laps there trying to get back to the front and we
just did what we could and had a good run.” “The Roper’s are good folks. We have a good time with them. We went
over to Florida a couple weeks ago to run the Late Models and Trucks with them and had thought about heading to Altus with them tomorrow. “
USRA Trucks
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed
1. (40) Craig Roper, Vernon, TX, 16.353, 50 Laps
2. (54) Steve Green, Marble Falls, TX, 16.142, 50
3. (42) Jason Marshall, Leander, TX, 16.477, 50
4. (31) Jim Albert, Lockhart, TX, 16.467, 45
5. (30) Bryan Meredith, Austin, TX, 16.586, 50
6. (13) James Lynch, Cedar Park, TX, 16.977, 50
7. (72) Brent Bell, Katy, TX, 16.805, 50
8. (1) Jody Buzbee, Waco, TX, 16.769, 49
9. (38) Cameron Moore, Jr., Buda, TX, 17.062, 49
10. (43) Chris Snocker, San Antonio, TX, 16.817, 49
11. (60) Colt James, Buda, TX, 16.472, 44
12. (07) Rusty Mirth, Austin, TX, 16.636, 21
13. (28) Shawn Paul Lehman, Manchaca, TX, 16.622, 9
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Veterans Chris Swenson and H.E. Naumann led the stellar field of 20 for the 75 lap USRA Modified main event. Swenson got the jump on Naumann when the green waved and led out of turn 2. Billy Becka, not showing any signs of points racing, dove inside Swenson on the back stretch and got the point on lap 1. Ryan Englehardt followed into second leaving Swenson and Mark
Chrudimsky wheel to wheel for third.
Ralph Burris drifted high off turn 2 losing several places and moving Jason Ray up to seventh. The top four had just began to check out when Larry Hughes blew a motor going into turn 1. The leaders, who were close behind, slid and spun through the fluid with Swenson getting into Hughes, putting both on the trailer for the night.
Once back under green, the field tip-toed through the oil dry as Becka got ahead of Engelhardt by three car lengths. As the lead group settled in, Bobby Teer jr. got by John Witzsche for ninth. Points contender, Bruce Beddoe was looking to pick up a spot on lap 28 as he pressured Ray for fifth. Yellow waved on lap 29 for spins by David Machen and John Shultz between turns 3-4.
After a little bumper tag in the field coming to green, Englehardt
stayed on the bumper of Becka, with Chrudimsky a couple lengths back. Chrudimsky closed up on the back of Englehardt and got a run inside down the back stretch. The two made contact sending Englehardt spinning off the track into
the grass.
Becka and Chrudimsky inched away from the field once back to green with Naumann, Ray and Beddoe rounding out the top five at halfway. Yellow came back out on lap 39 when the corner cone got knocked up onto the track. Ray tagged the cone coming to yellow, scattering little cone-ettes down the front stretch.
Becka and Chrudimsky got a good jump on the restart with Chrudimsky quickly looking inside on the 48 and got a slight margin on Becka who had gap back to Naumann. Machen
brought out another caution on lap 52 when he spun in turn 1.
Just as the green waved again, Witzsche got sideways coming out of turn 4 and clipped Shultz sending him airborne for a second. Milton Krauss, Machen and points chasers, Bob Slezinsky and Trey Mitchell all got collected in the melee on the front straight. All drivers were ok and walked away from
the grinding crash.
Once back to green, Beddoe picked up fourth from Ray and the lead duo crept ahead of Naumann. Beddoe then started to put the heat on Naumann, but got loose losing ground on lap 53. Chrudimsky began to pull away Becka, Naumann
and Beddoe, who had caught back up the second place battle.
As the top six separated themselves out, Bruce Barber was looking to get by Jim Meyers for seventh. In the waning laps Burris caught Ray for fifth, but never mounted a major challenge. Chrudimsky was on cruise control as he built a one second advantage on Becka. As the checkers waved it was
Chrudimsky in the Austin Vol-Tech, Westside Performance, FRE Chassis taking the victory.
“Our car took five or six laps to come in,” stated Chrudimsky. “The car was good but it needed a few laps. We got to working on Billy(Becka), he slipped a little, I got under him and went on. I have to thank my Mom, Dad, wife, kids and crew. The car was great. We did what we came to do. We won the
last two races and came up a few spots short in the championship battle. My hat’s off to Billy and his guys.”
“We were all racing, racing for the win, the big picture tonight was there too. There was only 39 points between the five of us. I race ever lap hard, try to keep it clean. That’s all you can do.”
“In should have just wrecked Mark(Chrudimsky) and got the win and championship,” joked new USRA Modified Champion, Becka as Chrudimsky listened in on the tech pad. “No really, it feels really good. This is my first ever championship. I’ve never points raced before in my life. This is actually the first full season I’ve ever run so that makes it even nicer.” “He was a little better than me tonight. We had a good car. The car was a little better than the driver tonight. I messed up and let it get up high and he just got under me. When they told me was there I just let him
go. I tried to follow him, but he had the better car.”
“I was just running my race, not worried about where Bruce(Beddoe) or the other points racers were. I can only do what I can do. Stay out of trouble and run smart, that’s all you can do.”
“Now that I’ve got a championship, I’ll probably go Nextel Cup next season,” added the always entertaining Becka. “I want to thank all my sponsors, Rays Auto & Truck, Insurance Auto Salvage, R&B Fleet Service, Demarithis Tire & Auto Sales, Tim McGallon, Victoria Auto Auctions, and a big, big thanks to
John Heil it’s one of his chassis’ and his motor.”
USRA Modifieds
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed
1. (39) Mark Chrudimsky, Hutto, TX, 15.163, 75 Laps
2. (29) Billy Becka, La Vernia, TX, 15.182, 75
3. (40) H.E. Naumann, Del Valle, TX, 15.199, 75
4. (18) Bruce Beddoe, Robstown, TX, 15.121, 75
5. (77) Jason Ray, New Braunfels, TX, 15.403, 75
6. (28) Ralph Burris, Jr, Pearland, TX, 15.343, 75
7. (6) Jim Myers, Corpus Christi, TX, 15.652, 75
8. (71) Bruce Barber, Robstown, TX, 15.995, 75
9. (2) Bobby Teer, Jr, Comfort, TX, 15.393, 75
10. (22) John Paul Kliewer, Boerne, TX, 15.826, 75
11. (96) Milton Krauss, Bulverde, TX, 15.991, 74
12. (45) Clare Randell, Portland, TX, 16.287, 73
13. (97) John Witzsche, Corpus Christi, TX, 15.538, 52
14. (44) John Schultz, Round Rock, TX, 15.695, 52
15. (47) Trey Mitchell, Wimberley, TX, 15. 700, 52
16. (26) Bob Slezinsky, Beeville, TX, 16.043, 52
17. (81) David Machen, Del Valle, TX, 15.847, 52
18. (53) Ryan Engelhardt, Lake Travis, TX, 14.952, 33
19. (15) Chris Swenson, Boerne, TX, 15.174, 8
20. (88) Larry Hughes, Arlington, TX, 17.089, 7