Flashpoint Pro Series: North Carolina Speedway Rocks to Pro Series' Second Race of Season
- NR4
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- Flashpoint Racing Series
2002 (Pro) Newsletter
Site: Rockingham, N.C. Nickname: "The Rock" Configuration: Tri-oval, 1.017 miles, 22 degrees, banking in Turns 1-2, 25 degrees in Turns 3-4.
Blue Cobalt Motorsports' William Hills Takes Rockingham Win
William Hills of Timmins, Ontario, Canada arrives 0.48 seconds ahead of Joe Penland's #1 Ford, to win 158 lapper at North Carolina Speedway. The #40 Ford took Hills to the lead for a total of 32 laps, and the outside pole position with a speed of 155.809 mph. Hills first place finish combined with his eight-place performance at Daytona last week moved him to second in the points standings. "I really don't know what to say, except yahoo my first Pro win !!!! The drivers here are some of the best I've raced with and didn't think I would ever get a win, but luck was on my side. Troy (Worrick) and Gary (Truman) where the fastest all day. I was in third behind them when they pitted with 13 to go under yellow. I knew my only shot was not to pit and hope for the best and I got lucky. We had two more yellows during the last 10 laps, so nobody had much of a chance to pass. I would like to thank my teammates for the testing and setup help and to Flashpoint and all its crew for the amazing job you guys do. Thanks guys."
Jose Jimenez took the pole position in the #7 Team Ordnance Dodge with the top speed of 156.248 mph. Jimenez finished dead last on the field of 22 drivers who started when his Internet connection was again broken through no fault of his own after only 9 laps. Jose gets the Goody's Headache award for the race hands down. Troy Worrick who took home the winner's trophy at Daytona finished fourth after leading the most laps with 78. His top five and bonus points kept him atop the season points race as one of only two drivers with two top five finishes, the other being Tom O'Hara of Mountlake Terrace, Washington. O'Hara who finished fifth just behind Worrick started seventeenth on the field. Tom is now third in the Pro Division points race. Finishing in six was Gary Truman in the #199 Chevrolet of Excalibur Racing Shield.
Dana Lee of Cape Coral, Florida, and Excalibur Racing Sword took his preferred provisional start, this time from dead last on the field (officially 23rd as the 18th place qualifier final to make the start) and as is becoming all to common moved his #48 Chevrolet up to third by the final flag. While Lee missed the Daytona race, he nevertheless is now eleventh in the Pro Division point's race. The Daytona winner was slammed by the Rock. Starting fourteenth, the #07 Chevy of Greg Austin retired on lap 143 finishing eighteenth. The fourth place starter did not fair as will as the #12 Ford of Jeff Russell, having lead four laps, retired on lap 139 in nineteenth. The fifth place starter Christian Blalock lead for thirteen laps in the #74 Chevy but was 12 laps down at the wire finishing sixteenth. Ian Kaul of Blue Cobalt Motorsports who took the pole and finished second at Daytona managed a top ten in tenth having led only one lap. Kaul's # 84 Chevrolet started twelfth.
Former Semi-Pro drivers Jon Nelson and Brad Blake continued to impress. Nelson took his #166 Chevrolet to seventh and Blake drove his #45 Chevy to eighth. Nelson also led for eleven laps and is now sixth in the season points. David Schaeffer also up from the Semi-Pro's, who finished last at Daytona as the result of an accident, got to show his stuff starting tenth and finishing ninth in the #56 Pontiac. Ray Meizoso, Jr., who started his #77 Chevrolet twenty-first both at Daytona and the Rock improved on his fifteenth place finish from last week to finish twelfth at North Carolina for Team Nemesis Black.
The weather for the race at North Carolina Speedway was 61 degrees with a 7 mph Northeast wind and clear skies. There were 15 lead changes among nine drivers, and the yellow flag appeared eleven times as the race took 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Rich Ganser Takes North Carolina Speedway Win in Caution Fess
While there were a few long green runs, there were periods of what appeared to be endless caution flags. Unfortunately the caution situation as well as the results was further flawed by an illegal entry that did not go unnoticed and unappreciated for long. Nevertheless, this report is based on the latest official results. At Daytona last week, Rich Ganser's #115 Dodge had a bad day retiring on lap 76 from an accident. But how things can change in just a week's time. Ganser took his Team Gasmor car to the winner's circle at Rockingham leading a total of 23 laps after starting from the fifth position. From Rome, Georgia, Ganser offer a short statement, "It was a good race at the end. Held Dave (Hopple) off for the win. Had a good car off turn 4 think that helped a lot with the win." Starting next to Ganser in the sixth spot was Rene' Steinkamp of Loose Cannons Racing. Over two segments, Steinkamp place his #118 Ragin Cajun Chevrolet out front for the most laps of all with a total of 53, but he was cau ght up in a late race accident that he could not avoid and finished disappointed in eighth. Nevertheless, Steinkamp is second in the Semi-Pro points race. Russell Smith of Columbia, South Carolina also saw too much yellow to suit him. His #98 Chevrolet with a speed of 154.266 mph took the pole for Team Ordnance (which team also took the pole in the Pro Division race). His speedy car was out front a total of 36, but he finished also disappointed in eleventh and one lap down.
Ten cars finished on the lead lap. Among them outside pole starter Mick Chrisman of Front Royal, Georgia, who led for eighteen laps but finished fifth, but a far cry from his sixteenth place finish at Daytona last week for the #09 Chevy of TeamUSA Stripes. The third place starter, Dave Hopple of Team Gasmor started just ahead of his winning teammate in his #144 Pontiac. Needless to say, Hopple's win at Daytona and second at the Rock places him first in the Semi-Pro point's race. Starting eighth and finishing third, Mike Barlow for TeamUSA Stripes improved on his sixth placed performance from last week for the #40 Chevrolet. Given his performance at Daytona, Dave Hopple must have been somewhat pleased with his fourth place start and fourth place finish for the #69 Dodge. Plus he pressed the eventual winner hard. The Team3d #24 Dodge of Felix "the Cat" Koerner continued to improve by starting tenth and finishing sixth. The TeamUSA Patriots' #98 Chevrolet may have decided that starting twelfth was also a good place to end the race, because that is exactly where it was at the checker. Driving injured, last week's Daytona pole-sitter, Richard Perry began in eleventh spot and drifted back to thirteenth at the end. Although hurting, Perry completed 152 of the 158 laps and was still running at the finish. Andy Bacio of Loose Cannons Racing was forced to retire his #58 Chevy on lap 101 finishing fourteenth. Steve Salvatore's #66 Ford matched its Daytona finish of tenth, but effectively was out matched, but not as one would like, by Glen Pittman of TeamUSA Stars. The #5 Chevrolet matched exactly its performance at Daytona by starting again sixteenth and finishing again fifteenth, which perfectly matches his fifteenth position in the season points. At least the number of laps completed rose from 36 to 90. Glen's bad luck is sure to turn soon; after all, he had two wins and one pole during the 2001 Pro Season. And finally, the Goody's Headache award for the Semi-Pro event goes to the Chevrolet of Scott Thomas on who started seventeenth, finished sixteen, and completed only 10 laps. It will get better Scott, please believe us.
While the Semi-Pro race official results reflects a total of 17 cautions, the illegal "competitor" had a bearing on this figure. As a direct result the race took nearly two hours to run, with an official time of 1 hour 51 minutes. There were nine lead changes among seven drivers. The weather was clear, 61 degrees, with a Northeast wind of 7 mph.
Stock Drivers Show Pro and Semi-Pro Drivers How to Race as Gary Vega Takes Stock Rock Win in #35 Pontiac.
With a race time of just under one hour and ten minutes, an average speed of 137.845 mph, and five lead changes among five drivers, the Stock Division drivers gave an example to the Pro and Semi-Pro Division drivers to follow as they had only one caution period. To be far to the higher elite, true the race started with only ten competitors, and after nineteen laps, only eight remained, and before 46 laps were finished, only six continued on the track. But it was fun under clear skies, little wind and mild temperature of 61 degrees.
With qualifying, Kip Miller in the #39 Chevrolet of Miller Motorsports took the pole with a speed of 154.059 mph. However, Miller retired on lap 45 after leading a total of 19 laps. The outside pole sitter Scott MacDougall of Team Storm Chaser finished third in the #119. Thomas Stinson of Greenville, Minnesota, covered the most ground starting ninth, led three laps, and finished fourth. The #60 Fantasy Racein Dodge driven by Roy Wurgley started seventh and was fifth at the checker. Wayne Hales who started besides Wurgley in eighth, finished just behind him in sixth in the #44 Chevy.
While Miller, MacDougall, and Stinson all saw the front, the race was really fought out between the fourth place starter and last week's winner, Perry Malavolta. Although Malavolta did not capture the pole as he did last week at Daytona, his fifth place start put him up with the leaders. Malavolta's #73 Dodge of the CCR/RTR team lead a total of 65 of the 158 laps, but the winner out did him by one lap and it turned out to be the most important one - the last lap. By doing so, Gary Vega and the #35 Pontiac took home the win for Kenosha, Wisconsin of the Arachnid Racing team. Vega's margin of victory was 1.51 seconds. This is now Gary outlined his win. "Well, I'm just thrilled to win this race. This is my first win as a member of Arachnid Racing, and in many respects it was a team win. My teammates gave me some pointers on improving my line, and it really helped. I did kind of miss the setup, though. I was way too loose the entire race; I felt like I was chasing the rear of the car coming out of every corner. Perry Malavolta was very fast; I could stay with him for part of a run, but he was faster over the length of the run. Since it was run nearly entirely under green, the green flag stop was pretty critical. It's really what won it for me; Perry was faster at the end of the last run. I just got lucky and had a quick stop, and that was the difference." While Vega won this week and Perry Malavolta won last week, after two races it is still Malavolta ahead in the season points by 25 points. And speaking of last week, you might recall that Rex Adams finished second. While Rex started third in the 38 Chevrolet of 1st R Racing this time, he retired after 40 laps and finished eighth. And yes, the weather was still the same as the Pro and Semi-Pro race.
Team Points Race Moves to Second Week and New Leader
After Daytona, the team in first place was the team of Blue Cobalt Motorsports and although Blue Cobalt's William Hills won at North Carolina Speedway this week, it is now Super Sport Racing 1, but just two points ahead of Blue Cobalt. The combined finishes in the top ten of Super Sport Racing 1 team members Joe Penland, Jr., Troy Worrick, and Bradley Blake was sufficient to put their team form third place after Daytona to first place. It was also sufficient to pull past Super Sport Racing 2 team, which was in second place last week, but has now dropped to fifth. Excalibur Racing Sword moved up from fourth to occupy the third spot.