Early Bird Race 3-29-09

Race Recap W/Daniel Culiver
March 29, 2009
Sportsman:
The Sportsman Division kicked off the day's races with the #J18 of Jason Sanford on the pole. Defending champion Bradley Carter quickly took the lead on lap 1 and continued to pace the field the entire race. While Carter was out front, Josh Northcutt in the #81 kept his Batman schemed ride in second while Greg Kruse maintained third. Midway through the race, the yellow flag waved for a small piece of debris in turns 1 and 2. As the field lined up for the restart, Kruse took his Mopar Powered car to the outside of Carter in row 1, while Northcutt took the inside of row 2. On the restart, Carter got a great jump on Kruse and resumed the comfortable lead that he held before. The real battle was for 2nd as Northcutt tried desperately to get by Kruse. Finally as the white flag waved, Northcutt succesfully passed Kruse on the outside after Kruse wiggled off turn 4. Bradley Carter won the 25 lap feature with Josh Northcutt in second, Greg Kruse in third, Jason Sanford in fourth, the #15 of Josh Ross in fifth, and the #5 in sixth.
Super Trucks:
Parker Henagar started on the pole with fastest qualifier Robbie Edger on the outside. On the start, Henagar and Edge stayed side by side until Edger slipped up while trying to clear the pass on the #35. As Edger fell back, the defending champion Mitchell Walls made his way up into the second position. The caution flag waved on lap 12 when Shannon Berry made contact with the #9 of Chris Wagner in turn one. On the restart, Walls quickly got past Henagar on the outside and took control of the 50-lap feature. Henegar maintained second, but during that time Jay Robinson showed that he was a force to be reckoned with when he took the second position away after a great pass on the outside. As the field spread out, the #36 of Finley and the #12 of Berry engaged in an intense battle which resulted in a caution when Finley spun Berry in turn 4. Once again on the restart, Mitchell Walls showed that he was the top dog. Parker Henegar continued to keep his truck in second while Finley stayed in third. Again the caution flag waved when Robbie Edger spun entering turn 3. This time on the restart, Jay Robinson Jr. tried his luck on the outside of the front row, but was unable to challenge Walls for the lead. The green didn't stay out long due to a melee in turn 3, which was a result of contact between Berry and Finley. Both trucks spun around but were able to continue with no damage. Robbie Edge brought out the next caution when he once again lost it in turn 3 and 4. On the next restart, the field took the green in single file......and like the several restarts before, Mitchell Walls quickly stretched out to a comfortable lead. But just a few laps into the run, Parker Henegar showed that he still had some fight left in his #35 truck when he jumped to the back bumper of Walls. Walls went on to the win the 50 lap feature with Parker Henegar finishing in second, Jay Robinson Jr. in third, Chris Wagner with an impressive fourth, and Brittney Finley in fifth.

Late Model:

The race of the decade took place when the Southern Superstar Late Models took to the track. Johnny Brazier and Jeff Letson led the field to the green and trouble quickly ensued when Brazier and Letson made contact on lap 2 which in turn sent Brazier on a wild ride up onto the turn 1 wall. Brazier was not injured in the accident but his #71 machine was destroyed. On the restart, Letson led the field down with the #4 of Heath Hindman close behind. John Henegar made his way into the fourth position when he got by Chase Oliver. Brian Bentley also showed early strength when he began to make his way toward the front. Throughout the 100 lap race, the story was Letson and Hindman who lap after lap remained in a tight single file line. John "Boy" Wilkerson also kept his #11 right on the back bumpers of Letson and Hindman throughout the race and that would later pay off when the two leaders made contact late in the race. The second caution flag waved on lap 18 and as before on the restart, the story was Letson and Hindman. Just a few laps into the run on lap 20, the #27 brought out the third yellow flag of the day. When the green flag waved once again, Hindman desperately tried to get past the #131 of Letson. On lap 63, contact sent Brian Bentley for a spin in turn 1. Another caution was brought out by the #30 car on lap 75. As before when the green flag waved, the 131 and 4 remained nose to tail.The intense racing between the leaders finally took its toll when Hindman and Letson made contact in turn 4 in the late stages of the race. Not too pleased by the contact with Letson, Hindman sought revenge on the restart by waiting for the #131 to come back around. The incident triggered a multi-car accident which took out Brian Bentley and damaged the #16 of Mellner. Hindman was parked for incident and Letson went to the back after coming in the pits to make repairs. The white #16 brought out another caution when he lost it on the backstretch. Another multi-car accident took place when the #89 car lost it in turn 2 which resulted in hard contact with the #30 car. The accident removed the 30 car from the race and caused major cosmetic damage to the #89. The next scary incident took place just a few laps later on lap 92 when the #41 of Gary Nix slammed into the turn 1 wall after an apparent stuck throttle. Nix was not injured in the bad accident but his brand new #41 car was demolished. After the chaos of the Letson-Hindman incident, the race was left in the hands of John "Boy" Wilkerson and the #39 of John Henegar. With just a few laps to go, Wilkerson's car wiggled on the exit of turn 4 and that caused Henegar to just slightly tap and send the #11 into the spin cycle. Wilkerson was none to pleased with the bump from Henegar and expressed himself afterward. Henegar went on to win the Early Bird Shootout with Chase Oliver finishing in a great second place run. The #16, #89 who battled back from the earlier incident with the 30 car, and the #11 of Wilkerson rounded out the top 5.

Super Stocks:

The Super Stocks opened the season with a field full of Veterans. Clayton Hopkins and Troy Gray made up the front row with long time racers Bobby Varnon and Billy Byrd in the second row. Guile Hornbuckle brought up the rear in his #27. On the start, Hopkins car struggled getting up to speed which helped Troy Gray jump out to the lead. In the opening laps, Gray paced the field with the #57 of Byrd right on his back bumper. Hopkins meanwhile made his way back up to the front slowly but when he did catch the field, he stormed past Varnon and then set his sights on Hornbuckle. The yellow flag waved for Hornbuckle on lap 13 and the caution was a big break for Hopkins in the #49. On the restart, Hopkins took his blue #49 to the outside of Gray and the two raced in close quarters for several laps until Gray finally managed to clear Hopkins. Gray went on to win the Super Stock feature with Hopkins in a close second, Billy Byrd in third, Bobby Varnon in fourth, and Guile Hornbuckle in fifth. Gray's win was a great relief for the kid who just hours before, had a transmission fail in practice. After a long trip to Harvest, Gray and his crew put in the new transmission and went on to take home the trophy.



Amateur Buzz:

The 15 lap feature for the Amateur Buzz kicked off with Chris Cole taking an early lead. The battle for second was between four cars and finally someone had to give when contact from the #12 sent the #38 car into the outside turn 2 wall, which brought out the first caution. On the restart, the #37 of Garrett Finley remained right on the back bumper of Cole in second, and newcomer John Barnett joined the battle with the #12. After several laps of close racing, the #12 lost control and spun in the middle of turns 1 and 2. Once again on the restart, Finley stayed right on Cole's back bumper and he continued to stay close for the remainder of the race. Cole went on to win the buzz feature, but not without a strong last lap charge from Finley who went on to finish second. John Barnett brought his new ride home in third, while the 12 car finished fourth, the #12 in fifth, the #01 in sixth, and the #38 in seventh.


Hot Shots:

2008 Hot Shot champion Mark Collins of Lacey's Spring led the field to the green flag in the Hot Shot division along with Burl Barton in the #95. Collins paced the field the majority of the race and the real battle was between the #95 of Barton, the #3 of Byrd who also competed in the Super Stock race, and the #51 of Hobbs Island's Daniel Culiver. Barton and Byrd battled lap after lap side by side and Byrd finally cleared Barton who was then left to battle with Culiver. When Culiver made his move to the outside of Barton on the backstretch, the two made contact which in turn sent Barton for a wild ride onto the concrete. Barton's car came back down on all four but was unable to continue. On the restart, Collins quickly shot out ahead of the field with Byrd close behind. The field had a fine time driving through the fluid left down by Barton in turn 3 and 4 and that helped Billy Byrd make his move on the last lap. Byrd took his #3 Chrysler 300m to the outside of Collins in turn 3 and cleared him coming out of four. Byrd went on to the win the race with Mark Collins in second, Daniel Culiver in third, the #25 in fourth, and Burl Barton in fifth.