Clarksville Speedway

Dirt Track Racing

October 10^th, 2009

Tyler O’Donnell

Drivers got ready for another night of racing at the Clarksville Speedway on Saturday night.    The points championship was already decided in three of the classes last week. 

It was Caleb Ashby winning the crate late model championship.   He would finish 78 points ahead of Matt Liner who placed second.  Tony Albright ended up finishing in third. 

In the open wheel class, Gregg Brown won by 93 pts. over A.J. Garber.  Michael Zimmerman ended up third.  Lastly, Chuck Procter was able to hang on to win the late model championship.  He won by 40 pts. over Chris Shelton in second.  Four time track champion, Tony Albright, settled for third.  The rest of the classes would not be decided until next week.  Until then, drivers had a lot to race for this past weekend.    

Qualifying began with the pro street class.  Anthony Jackson got the pole with a time of 13.921 seconds.  Ashby ran of time of 13.589 sec. to take the pole in the crate late model class.  Ben Rushing grabbed the top spot for the mini sprint class with a time of 12.462 sec.  The open wheel class was on the track next with Brown having the fast lap with a time of 13.455 sec. 

The mini sprint feature was the first feature of the night.  Chris Hunter had just a four point lead coming into the night over Ben Rushing.  Hunter was on the pole but Rushing got by him on the outside on lap one.  Hunter did not lose much ground and was staying within five car links of Rushing.  Jeremy Anderson was running in third but was pressured by Brian Nance.  The front two cars were pulling away from everybody.  Rushing took the white flag with a two car link lead.  He managed to hold of the pressure from Hunter’s machine and go on to win the race.  Anderson held off Nance for third.  Rushing would take over as the point’s leader with just one race to go.    

The next feature was with the pro street class.  Mike Hodges had a 50 point lead over Michael Zimmerman coming into the night.  The green flag was out and Jackson was able to grab the early lead.  Zimmerman was having trouble protecting his third spot with Bobby Proctor getting into the back of him.  A few other cars were back there as well.  There was a battle for the lead with Hodges looking on the inside of Jackson.  Jackson was able to prevail on the high side for about two laps before Hodges made a power move down low to take the top spot.  There would be a caution with six laps to go as Ronny Russell spun out his machine.  Zimmerman, sitting in third, would have a shot to get by Hodges and tighten up the point’s battle.  He was third at the restart.  Jackson did not get a good start and was in the clutches of Zimmerman.  Proctor was getting in the mix as well.  Hodges started to pull away.  He would take the checkered flag.  Zimmerman had a look on the inside of Jackson on the last lap but could not make the pass.  Hodges would extend his point’s lead. 

The street class raced its feature next.  Ronnie Hedgepath came in with a 128 point lead over Chuck Bailey.  Bailey would start the race third while Hedgepath would ninth.  Jeremy Wix’s would lead the field down to the green flag alongside Jonathan Wix.  Jonathan would slingshot by on the outside on lap one.  Bailey was creeping up on Jeremy for second.  He would make the pass.  Bailey now had his sights set on the lead.  He would get to the inside of Jonathan but had trouble making the pass.  He eventually made the pass with one lap to go.  He managed to hold on to margin the gap between him and Hedgepath.  Hedgepath came up to finish the race in third. 

The crate late model class came onto the track next.   Ashby and Ronnie Cooper started on the front row.  Ashby got a good jump at the start.  So did Matt Liner who blew by Cooper for second.  Ashby was under fire from Liner who was right on his bumper.  Tony Albright was trying to get in the mix, sitting in fourth.  Ashby found a groove on the bottom of the track to separate himself from Liner.  Ashby went onto win with Liner and Cooper finishing second and third. 

The open wheel class raced next.  Brown led them to the green flag.  Ronnie Short was trying to hang tough in second but Steve Copeland made the pass on him.  David Garber was up to fourth, after battling three wide with a couple of cars.  The battle was for third with A.J Garber and Short going at it.  Garber eventually made the pass.  Brown would go on to win leading every lap.  Copeland was second and Garber ended up third.   

The late model feature was next.   Stephen Ashby and Chuck Proctor started on the front row.  Proctor led the first lap.  Chris Shelton moved into third.  The field spread out quickly with Ashby the only one close enough to make a move on Proctor.  He was about three car links back with only a few laps to go.  Proctor took the white flag with Ashby’s car right there to make a move.  Proctor put on a block and held him off for the win.  Shelton was third. 

The pure mini’s had their feature race next.  Justin Booth had a 35 point lead over Michael Rittenberry heading into the race.  Evan Taylor was only 36 points back.  Aaron Wilson led the first lap.  Taylor had early troubles as his car slid down to the infield.  He car was sideways for a moment but he got it back on track.  He would end up at the back of the field, having to race his way forward.  Rittenberry was closing in on Wilson.  Booth was right there as well.  Taylor made his way back up to fourth and still was gaining ground.  Taylor and Booth ended up touching as Taylor got by for third.  With one lap to go, Rittenberry got to the inside of Wilson.  They got together coming out four but both were able to hang on to it.  Wilson was the one who would win it.  Rittenberry would have to settle for second.  Taylor was third. 

The last race of the night was the mini mod race.  Gavin Schmidt started on the front row and had a 109 point lead going into the race.  Thomas Clinard was second in the standing and Joseph Schwenz Jr. was third.  John Neal and Brian Woodley led the field to the green.  Woodley got an amazing start.  After one lap, he had a ten car length lead over Schmidt.  Neal fell back to third.  Woodley had to deal with some lap traffic but that did not bother him a bit.  He continued to pull away.  That was until a caution came out from Neal colliding with another car.  This brought the field together.  Schmidt would have a chance to make a pass on him.  Woodley got another good start and pulled away once again.  Clyde Petty got his car up to third before Roger Merritt passed him for that spot.  Woodley was once again lapping cars and easily took the checkered flag.  Schmidt was second and Merritt finished third.