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Dirt Track Racing
Clarksville Speedway
June 27th, 2009
Tyler O’Donnell
After great racing last week with the UMP Summer Nationals coming to town, drivers were back at it this Saturday for an exciting night of racing. It got kicked off with hot laps and qualifying, followed by the heat and feature races.
Pro Street led off the qualifying, with only four cars racing. Michael Zimmerman had the fastest time of the four, rounding the track in 14.234 seconds. In the crate late model qualifier, Caleb Ashby pulled ahead with a time of 13.704 seconds to lead the pack. Then came the mini sprints to qualify. Justin Rapp got the fast lap with a time of 12.697 seconds. Open Wheel came out to qualify next. Clayton Miller had the fastest time, timing in at 13.777 seconds. The last class to qualify for the night was the late model class. It looked like the lap that Terry English put down was going to hold up but Chuck Proctor had a time of 13.018 to snatch the pole.
The feature races got started with the mini sprints. Seven cars competed for the win in the 20 lap event. As the green flag came out, things got separated quickly. Justin Rapp, who got the pole, was in command at the front. After five laps, cars were all over the track. While Rapp was working on lap traffic, Chris Hunter and Brian Nance battled for second. Hunter edged ahead but had a lot of catching up to do in order to get the lead. With five laps to go, Rapp just had to avoid wrecking in order to get the win. He went mistake free to take the checkered flag. Hunter finished second and Nance third.
Next was the mini mod feature race. There were three cars that dueled it out. Evan Taylor got the early advantage with Gavin Smith and Joseph Schwenz Jr. close behind. Smith jumped ahead after diving to the inside of Taylor going into a turn. Taylor and Schwenz Jr. started to fall behind after Smith took the lead. Both drivers needed a caution or a mistake by the leader to have any chance of their own to win. That caution never came as Smith got a big lead and took home the win with Taylor and Schwenz Jr. finishing second and third.
Up next was the pro street feature where four cars competed for the win. It was neck and neck between Floyd Clinard Jr. and Michael Zimmerman early on. Zimmerman took the lead on the high side. Jennifer Barber brought out the caution after spinning out exiting turn four. That tightened up the field with 11 laps to go. After the race restarted, it did not take long for Clinard Jr. to have mechanical problems. He had to retire from the race. Brian Rapp took over second but was half a lap behind. Zimmerman was able to pace himself to the finish to get the easy win.
The street feature was next. The event had 12 cars battling it out for first place. Some quick spins early on prevented drivers from even completing a lap. One caution had a driver spin out in turn 4 while at the same time another driver lost a tire in two. It was setting up to be a wild race to the finish. The race was restarted single file. Chuck Bailey had the lead, but was closely pursued by Jeff Joiner. Jonathan Wicks also got involved in the action as it was a 3 way battle for the lead with five to go. However, Wicks soon got into major trouble when he was spun out by the car behind him. The contact drew heavy damage to Wick’s car. His car came to a stop on the front stretch, catching fire for a second. He was able to climb out of his car without any injuries. With Wicks out of the race, Bailey had one less thing to worry about as there were three laps to go. When the race restarted Joiner quickly got to the inside of Bailey for the lead. That did not last long as Joiner slowed down, having mechanical issues. Bailey got back to the front and never looked back, taking the win. Chase Reagan came up to second, while Andrew Allen finished third.
The next race was the crate late model feature. It was a 15 lap event. Matt Liner had no trouble leading the early laps. Most of the race moves came from the back of the pack. The race was running caution free until Ken Hooper hit the wall really hard, after making contact with Jacob McKinney. The red flag was out for the wrecker to take both cars off the track, and also to clear up all the debris from the crash. Liner brought the field back to the green with Caleb Ashby in second. Tait Davenport was battling Josh Harris for third. Another spin out in turn 4 made this a five lap shootout. Ashby tried to take advantage getting to the inside of Liner, but Liner seemed to be really strong. Liner was able to hold off Ashby on multiple occasions using the high line and eventually took home the win. Ashby was second and Harris took third.
The open wheel series was on the track next for their feature race. It was racy all over the track with cars two and three wide throughout the first few laps. Clayton Miller took the early lead. Michael Neighbors was working on Dustin Isom for second before Christopher Perrigo spun out in turn 1 to bring out a caution. Miller got the race back underway. Neighbors was in position with three to go, just two car links back. However, bad luck would fall upon him as he underwent mechanical issues nearing the last lap. Miller went on to win with Gregg Brown coming up for second and Isom rounding out the top three.
The next feature was the 20 lap feature for the late model class. Chuck Proctor led lap one and tried to fend off the fast guys behind him, which included Tony Albright, Charles Zimmerman, and Terry English. Proctor was standing his ground up front. Jason McBride was making his way into the picture, battling for second. A caution for a spin in turn 1 tightened up the pack with five to go. Proctor was able to pull away on the restart as English was in a battle with McBride for second. English made a charge at the end with Albright but they both came up just short. Proctor got the win, with English second and Albright third.
Last was the pure mini stock feature. The 12 lap event had drivers being aggressive early. Michael Rittenbury and Evan Taylor bumped into each other hard for the lead on the first lap, while drivers in the back of the pack were going at each other as well. A three car collision back in the pack proved just how hard these guys were racing. The wrecker came out to tow away Buster Smith’s car, who suffered the most damage. Jeff Murphy also had damage. There were still 12 laps to go in the race. Taylor restarted with the lead, but Rittenbury was right behind. The two drivers could not avoid each other. It showed with seven laps to go as Taylor got in the back of Rittenbury in turn 3 sending him spinning. Luckily Rittenbury did not hit the wall and managed to continue on. He was able to maintain his position and restart out front. Taylor was not so lucky, having to restart in the back of the field. Rittenbury was able to hold off Matt Baggett for the win. James Black finished third.
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