This Week In Racing w/Daniel Culiver

This Week In Racing w/Daniel Culiver
April 11, 2009



Pro Buzz - The night kicked off with Chris Cole and the previous week's winner Rick Simmons on the front row. As the green flag dropped, John Pendergrass in the #28 quickly went to the front after starting near the back. As Pendergrass tried to escape from the rest of the field, Brandon Thornton made his way to the back bumper of Pendergrass to challenge for the lead. Lap after the lap, Thornton tried the high side, then the low side trying to pass the #28. While the 28 and 16 dueled for the lead, Simmons began to creep up into contention in the 156 car. On the final lap, Thornton made one last move, but just couldn't get by Pendergrass. Pendergrass went on to the race, which is also his first win in racing. Brandon Thornton finished second, Simmons third, the #5 fourth, Chris Cole, David Lacourse, and Mark Collins.

Super Stocks - The Super Stocks kicked off there race with Guile Hornbuckle and David Dean Jr. on the front row. On the start, Hornbuckle jumped out in front of the pack just a little too much...and the race was restarted. On the next restart, Hornbuckle and Dean were neck in neck going into the first turn. Hornbuckle quickly assumed control of the race while the real battling was left up to the rest of the field. As the race progressed, several drivers like Troy Gray and Bobby Varon battled up through the field trying to catch up to Hornbuckle, but nobody was able to do it. Hornbuckle won the 15 lap feature, followed by Michael Neely in second, Troy Gray in third, David Dean Jr. in fourth, and Bobby Varnon in fifth.

Sportsman - R.L. Vickers started on the pole alongside Greg Kruse in the Sportsman feature. On the start, Vickers held his ground to lead the opening laps. As the field spread out, it would be Kruse, Jones, and Carter trying to chase down Vickers. In the previous weeks, it had been Carter who had dominated the field, but in those drivers I listed....this time Jones was in it and thats all that has to be said. Wayne Jones in the #97 known as "Old Yeller" slowly began to pick off positions one at a time and finally he caught up to Vickers. After a two lap battle, Jones completed the pass on the outside to take the lead. It would be all Wayne Jones the rest of the race as he went on to win his first race of the season in his first start of the season. Bradley Carter pass Vickers in the closing laps to take second, Vickers finished third, Kruse fourth, and Bryan Faulkner in fifth.

Hot Shots - Richard McLemore and Cloudy Buchanan led the field to the start in the Hot Shot feature. Buchanan darted out to the early lead while second became a side by side battle between Mark Collins in the #2 and Billy Byrd in the #31. As the two battled, Buchanan continued to pull away. As Mark Collins and Byrd battled for second, Daniel Culiver in the #51 snuck in to do battle witht the two. The first caution flag came out when the #01 and the #7 made contact on the backstretch sending the #01 into the wall. On the restart, it would be Buchanan and Byrd followed by Collins and Culiver in the first two rows. Once again on the green, it would be Buchanan but Byrd would get his way by taking the lead on the outside and bringing Culiver with him. As Byrd held the inside lead, Culiver tried desperately tried to make a move and finally completed it with a "Bump and Run" on Byrd in turn 2. After completing the pass on Byrd, Culiver began to pull away from the field while Collins took second from Byrd....but would then lose control and spin in turn four....which would bring out the caution. On the single file restart, Culiver waited until turn three to fire and from there he would be uncatchable. Coming to the white, Buchanan would spin out in the #80 in turn four, but the white flag had already waved, which left Culiver and Byrd to race back to the checkers. After dodging Buchanan in turn four, Culiver would go on to pick up his first win of the season and his first since 2006. Billy Byrd finished in second, followed by Mark Collins, Cloudy Buchanan, and Richard McLemore.

Open Wheels - The open wheels would kick off with Gary Wade Finley Jr. on the front row alongside Jarod Land who had set fast time in qualifying. On the start, Finley would pull ahead of Land to hold the top spot. As the field quickly spread out, battles for positioned ensued all around the track. Then on lap 4, David Moyes who was making his very first start and running very well, took a scary ride when contact sent him up and onto the turn two wall. After cleanup on the backstretch, the restart would kick off with Finley and Lane doing battle Phillip Price would hold his third position but would then start inching closer and closer to Land's back bumper. As Price began to close in on Land, John Thomas in the #47 began to get closer to the back bumper of price. After laps of green flag racing, the caution would wave on lap 25 when debris was spotted on the backstretch. On the next restart, Price would try his luck at going to the outside of Finley, but once again Finley would prove to be way too strong. Land and Price would continue to do battle and that would lead to contact which would send Price up on the wall. The incident would leave the rest of the field scattering for position. Under the caution, Price would show his displeasure with Land by spinning him out on the frontstretch. The spin would cause Price to be removed from the race for "Unsportsmanlike Conduct". The next restart would be a battle with John Thomas taking the outside on Finley....but like the times before Finley would prove too strong. As Thomas would be shuffled back on the outside line, Land would soldier on from the previous incident to take his chance at catching Finley. The caution would wave once again on lap 28 when Craig Bell would spin his car in turn one. John Thomas would once again try to get Finley on the outside but would quickly take a place in line behind Finley. The race would be settled between the two veterans Finley and Thomas but it would be Finley the winner. John Thomas finished a close second followed by the #17 of Wade Redd, the #65 of Junior Seymour, and the #35 of Jacod Heard rounding out the top five.