Flashpoint: Pro Series Recap From Bristol Race #6
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- Flashpoint Racing Series
Bristol Finds Gary Truman in Winner Circle for Second Time This Season
Gary Truman took the pole with a speed of 122.482 and was in victory lane for the second time out of five races. Problem is Bristol was the sixth race of the season, so afterward Truman finds himself behind the points leader by 143 points in fourth position. In the 200 laps at the bullring that is Bristol, Tennessee, Truman’s #199 Chevrolet shared nearly three-fourth’s of the laps with Tom O’Hara in the #11 Dodge of Excalibur Racing Sword. As Truman races for Excalibur Racing Shield, Excalibur Racing had a very fine day. But vying for the win at the end was the current points leader, Troy Worrick in the #4 Chevrolet. The Super Sport Racing 1 team driver lead a total of 41 laps, but lost by 0.05 seconds. Worrick is 97 points ahead of Tom O’Hara, who finished eighth, but is now second in the points race, replacing Joe Penland, Jr., who missed the event and dropped down to fifth. Tied for second in the points Championship is William Hills of Blue Cobalt Motorsports, who placed his #40 Ford out front for 10 laps, finishing fourth.
- Site: Bristol Motor Speedway
- Nickname: Thunder Valley
- Banking/Turns: 36 degrees
- Distance .533 miles
- Shape: Oval
After the race, a spokesperson for Gary Truman indicated that he had a very pressing engagement and apologized for not be available for interview. However, the spokesperson indicated that Truman wanted to thanks his teammates for their assistance and particularly Tom O’Hara and the other competitors for racing clean. He acknowledged that Bristol is a tough track and he was delighted with the win.
Michael Matthews (#68 Dodge), Ian Kaul (#84 Chevy), and Colin Hurd (#30 Chevy) apparently banged on each other so much that they become joined at the bumpers as they finished respectively ninth, tenth, and eleventh just as they had started. Kaul and Hurd each lead a lap, but Matthews finished ahead of them. These guys are apparently jealous of the relationship obviously existing between Ray Meizoso, Jr., Steve Grehn, and Scott Gilroy. Speaking of our trio, they apparently have given way to the new set as they finished respectively fourteenth, nineteenth, and twelfth. Surely, they will get back together again.
Joe Simmons in the #86 Chevrolet, who has captured on pole this season started twelfth and improved on that by six positions to finish sixth for Super Sport Racing 1 team. However, his teammate, Christian Blalock finished third having started just outside the pole position in the #74 Chevy. With Troy Worrick taking second place, Super Sport Racing took home the most team points with 27. Speaking of Worrick, he is the only driver to have six consecutive top five finishes, two of which were wins. The only other driver close to that is Chad Moore in the Stock Division with five top fives in five starts, and one win.
Our come from the back superstar, Dana Lee, did it again by starting seventeenth and finishing fifth in his Excalibur Racing Sword #48 Chevrolet, and thereby advancing further than any other driver in the field. And since we have mentioned the rear of the field, Roger Hurley’s #33 Chevrolet retired on lap 21 to finish dead last, but he did not get the Goody’s Headache Award. That went to Greg Austin who started sixth in the #07 Chevy and retired on lap 196 in fifteenth spot. He narrowly nosed out David Schaeffer for the award, whose # 56 Pontiac started fifth and ended up two laps down in thirteenth.
The caution bug bite for only eight times, one of which eliminated the #51 Chevrolet by accident on lap seventeen. This TeamUSA Stars car started sixteenth. With the except of Dana Lee, just about everyone that started near the rear of the field had bad luck, including the #45 also of TeamUSA Stars that finished eighteen when it retired on lap 61. Jonathan Frey and Brad Blake where seen having an intense discussion about something after the race. A total of five cars retired from the race, three of which have no team association.
The Pro’s had the second fastest race with a time of 1:10 hours, resulting in an average speed of 91.307 mph. The weather was clear and 66 degrees with a Southwest win of 12 mph.
Shreveportian Tre Landry Takes Second Win in Only Fourth Start
“Man what a race! We qualified the Circuit City Chevy on the outside pole, and that kept us out of a lot of the early troubles. I decided to just settle in and develop a rhythm, so I could be sure we would be there at the end. The short green runs played into our hands since we were not to good on the extended runs. My pit crew today was awesome. I don’t think I lost any positions today in the pits. I considered us lucky to be able to pull this one out. If it hadn’t been for the caution with nine to go Steve Richard would have walked away with this one. But once again my pit crew came through and put me out front with five to go. I'd like to offer congratulations to my TeamUSA teammates Mick Chrisman, and Glen Pitman. They were strong today too. Three top fives today for Team USA, so all in all not a bad day. You know our series is full of good drivers, so it was a privilege to be the last NASCAR 4 winner in Flashpoint. See y'all at Texas. Oh, who dat say dem Cajuns can’t race?" That is how Tre Landry from Shreveport, Louisiana summed up the race and his victory.
As Landry indicated, he started on the outside pole and right next to the pole sitter, Joe McKinley. Joe had a qualifying run of 121.744. And he appeared to have the car to give Landry and the rest of the field a run for their money, but it was not to be. You see McKinley instantly won the Goody Headache Award. How’s that? Well, what Landry didn’t mention was that McKinley is also a TeamUSA member which helps explain why he indicated, “…so all in all (it was) not a bad day.” Turns out that Joe was forced against his will to retire before competing one lap. So sadly, the McKinley saga continues unabated. Yes, TeamUSA actually had a very good day and their Semi-Pro drivers pretty much out shined their Pro counterparts at Bristol this day.
Running independent in the #69 Dodge, John Holocomb had an interesting race. He started seventh and during the course of the race lead a total of 37 laps. But on lap 133 he was involved in an accident which ended his otherwise promising day. Starting next to Holocomb in eighth was Scott Thomason, driver of the #39 Chevrolet of TeamUSA Patriots who was also purged from the race by an accident, but on lap 50. Had it not been for McKinley catastrophe, Andy Bacio in the #40 Chevrolet for Loose Cannons Racing would have won the Goody’s award. He was forced out on lap twelve with a clutch problem. His teammate, Rene’ Steinkamp (#118 Chevrolet) almost continue his string of eighth places finishes, but was saved from that fate (or record) when John Johnson in the #49 Chevrolet of Super Sport Racing 2 team, who started seventh dropped another lap down to him late in the race. Steinkamp’s seventh place performance nevertheless continued his streak of top ten finishes with one for each of the six events this season. Also, his seventh place finish from eleventh starting spot moved him up to third in the Semi-Pro Division Championship race, but only because Rich Ganser missed the Bristol event. However, Ganser only slipped to fourth. Russell Smith, Sr., had another strong performance starting sixth, but not as strong as his runs at the speedway of Daytona and Darlington. Smith also lead a total of 37 laps but then he found himself two laps down and finishing where he started. Surely he was disappointed in his finish and because of that he may not have realize that Johnson’s and Steinkamp’s misfortunes, combined with Ganser’s DOS, were to his favor. After Darlington last week, Johnson had the points lead by only one point and he was only three points a head Ganser and four points ahead of Steinkamp. In any event, for the first time this season, Russell Smith, Sr., and the #63 Dodge of Team Ordnance are a top the points and now on the hot seat.
Daniel White’s #114 Chevrolet limped along in the final laps to finish fifth, having started fourth. Also limping quit a bit was Richard Perry’s #42 Chevy that finished ninth, one spot ahead of where he started. A pretty remarkable accomplishment, since Richard, as you may recall, is still driving injured. But apparently not without a big enough handicap as far as N4 was concerned. So N4 up and give him a black-flag and then held him in the pits for 26 laps. Bad as that might sound, Richard is nevertheless sixth in the points. Actually, I have heard that Richard was behind on candy bar payments to his pit crew, which went on strike until he paid up. And by the way, Steve Richard’s second place finish leaped his #81 Chevy up to fifth in the points.
There is a anecdote or rumor going around that if the Semi-Pro drivers continue that overwhelming, unflagging record with regard to caution periods that it will be the top five Stock drivers moving up to the Pro level and not the Semi-Pro drivers. There have been many reasons pushed around as to why the Semi-Pro drivers can’t get their act together. One such viewpoint is that the Semi-Pro guys actually prefer to drive around at a snail’s pace. More valid might be that most, if not all of them get high on earsplitting crashes, screaming tires, the sound of metal against asphalt and concrete, and wrecked car parts. You know, sought of like some people actually like the sound of fingernails starching on a chalkboard. Ah yes, there is nothing liking waking up in the morning to the smell of boiling hot radiator coolant and hot, burning oil. Whatever the reason, real or imagined, the Semi-Pro guys continued their crashing and banging at Bristol with a total of 17 yellow flags resulting in a race length of nearly one and a half hours. In contrast, the Stock drivers had only seven and the Pro’s only eight at Bristol. At one point during the Semi-Pro event, a Tennessee State Trooper was seen pulling one of the Semi-Pro drivers over and issued him a citation for driving “too fast”. Seems he exceeded the average allow race speed of 70 mph by 1.812 mph. It is no wonder the race took 1:29 hours to run. Nevertheless, there were eleven lead changes among six drivers.
Arachnid Racing’s Gary Vega and Two Teammates Finish in Sweep at Bristol
It was the day for second time winners; as Gary Vega of Kenosha, Wisconsin picked up his second win in his sixth start in the #35 Pontiac. While he “only” lead for 149 of the 199 laps (official one lap got misplaced) having started from seventh, Gary shared the lead with six other drivers, but there was only a total of eight lead changes. However, Gary’s margin of victory was 2.40 seconds over the second place finisher Chad Moore.
While celebrating in victory lane, Gary Vegas was excited, "Man, I'm in a state of shock. I didn't go into this race thinking about winning it. I was hoping for a top five. Even after Rex (Adams) and Bruce (English) had their problems, I still didn't figure I could win. But you just never know sometimes. The car was solid all day; I don't think I adjusted anything during the race. It was really comfortable. My crew did a great job getting the car ready. They made a spring change late in the practice session, and that really made the difference. I'd like to thank my teammates at Arachnid Racing and my sponsor, Culver's Restaurants. Our deal with Culver's is about over, and we've had a great run with them. Gonna miss the free Butterburgers."
Only five drivers out of the thirteen-member field finished on the lead lap. Chad Moore started second and led for 22 laps in his #13 Dodge and is Gary’s teammate. Chad’s home is Jacksonville, Florida and he has replaced Rex Adams in the third spot in the points. Arachnid Racing also took home the third spot with Bruce English of White Rock, British Columbia at the wheel. English in only three races has moved up to thirteenth position in the points. Bruce drives the #099 Chevrolet and lead for a lap. With the win and the second and third place finishes by the team, Vega displaced Scott MacDougall a top the driver points race in the Stock Division. Scott’s fourth place finish in the Team Storm Chaser #109 did not set him back too much. He is only 18 points out of the lead. Taking the last of the top five positions at the finish (for those of you who missed that ice cold Friday morning fifth grade math class back ten or twenty years ago, that’s the “fifth” position) was the #97 Ford driven by Thomas Stinson of Greenville, Minnesota.
Speaking of seconds, the pole went to Perry Malavolta with a speed of 121.852 mph for his second pole of the season. The advantage only got Malavolta out front for two laps and he #73 Dodge finished in the middle of the field in seventh. Rex Adams of Grand Junction, Colorado started fourth, but a brunt piston in the #38 Chevrolet cost him to drop to fourth in the point via his twelfth place finish. Rex departed on lap 43. He ended up sharing the Goody’s Headache award with Rick Cunningham, who started thirteenth and will, yes, finished thirteenth with the fewest laps turned at 38. The #31 Pontiac driven by Rick Burdette for Team Nemesis Silver lead for one lead but then retired on lap 74 in ten spot. Kip Miller got to start sixth on the grid in the #39 Chevy of Miller Motorsports, but had to retire on lap 78 in ninth position. Ed Jarold started and finished in eleventh bowing out on lap 70. Moving the opposite direction (i.e. towards the front) was Ken Vega in the #8 Pontiac of VEGCO Racing. Ken moved up from tenth to finish sixth two laps down, while Wayne Hales pushed the #44 Chevrolet up from twelfth to take eighth being eight laps down.
The Stock Drivers had the shortest time for the race, but only about one minute less than the Pro Drivers. The race was done in 1:08:57 hours, with an average speed of 92.28 mph. They had the fewest cautions at seven.
Team Points Race Sees Little Movement
Super Sport Racing 1 team increased its points lead atop the team points race over Excalibur Racing Sword from 24 points to 30 points at Bristol. Blue Cobalt Motorsports returned to its third place spot by overcoming Excalibur Racing Shield by one point. Super Sport Racing Shield remains in fifth place but lost more ground to fourth place. Seventh spot Team Ordnance made ground on TeamUSA Stars, which remained in sixth. Moving from tenth to ninth was Team Nemesis Black.
Voodoo Majek Prediction for Texas
Well now Flashpoint race fans, you might recall that last week the Voodoo Majek Chicken predicted that Jonathan Frey was going to win the Bristol race. And he would have too if not for that very nasty “accident” that took him out just a few laps from victory on lap 137. Fellow drivers, the Voodoo Majek Chicken requests you get over your green-eyed, jealous rage concerning his/her support of the “selected” driver. I mean forcing a fellow driver off the track just so the Chicken would be proven wrong is a crying shame. Don’t you “Pro” guys ever do that again. Besides everyone knows, the Stock drivers are the best in the league. And now, on with the prediction for Texas. Sure the Chicken knows that the drivers have two weeks to prepare for this wind blown track and that the track most likely will be very hot and very slippery, but then that only makes it easier to predict the winner. So the Voodoo Chicken has ascended from the boiling pot and onto the strong-bow, and the gut has been pulled to its fullest extent. FIRE!! Wang, pong ---- gar splat. Messy! Messy! All right assistants, clean the crap from target so we can all see the “Voodoo Majek” of this prediction. OK, OK, stop the laughter. Please, this is very serious business. The Voodoo Chicken predicted winner is ------------ Drum roll, please (Please pretend to hear the drum roll, as our sound system is currently shot-to-hell). The winner will be Daniel Finkel for Excalibur Racing Sword in the #26 Dodge. There you have it race fans, the unabashed prediction of the Voodoo Majek Chicken. {Listen, listen to me! Next time don’t let the assistants get drunk on twenty gallons of Tabasco Sauce before they load that darn rubber chicken. All right! Now, how much are we being offer on the next perdiction? Are you kidding me?! Only what?}