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Clarksville Speedway
Dirt Track Racing
Oct. 3rd, 2009
Tyler O’Donnell
It was a busy night at the Clarksville Speedway on Saturday night. A lot of drivers and their teams showed up this past weekend just in time to get into the thick of things for the point’s championship. Vintage cars were at the track along with the regular classes that come out every weekend. The vintage class is not regularly ran at the track so fans were excited to see what kind of racing these cars would bring to the track.
Drivers had to qualify first and it began in the pro street class. Mike Hodges took the pole position with a time of 14.190. Next was the crate late model class out to qualify. Matt Liner held the number one spot with a time of 13.512 seconds. The mini sprints were next. Ben Rushing with a time of 12.418 sec., got the top spot. In the late model class, qualifying was in three groups. Chuck Proctor had the fastest time in group one. Steven Ashby was the fastest in group two and Josh Putnam was fastest in group three. The top three of each group would go on to race in the late model dash that preceded the feature race. Last to qualify was the open wheel class. Gregg Brown got the pole even after hitting the wall with a time of 13.496 sec.
The first feature race of the night was with the outlaw mini sprints. Rushing and Chris Hunter were tied for the lead in point’s before the race started. These two drivers had created quite a rivalry on the track. Ironically, the two drivers would start on the front row during the race. The racing spread out quickly after the green flag was brought out. Drivers tried to make their moves early before the field opened up too much. Rushing managed to jump ahead at the start. Hunter was right there in second. Brian Nance was in third. After only five laps, the leaders were about to come up on some lap traffic. Rushing was putting some cars a lap down before he hit the wall hard going into turn one. It came as a surprise as he always seemed to avoid any trouble. This time, when trying to get by the traffic, he tagged a slower car which got him loose that sent him up in the wall. His machine surprisingly did not suffer too much damage and he was able to continue. He was able to retain his position as the leader when the race got restarted. It did not take long for Hunter to dive to the inside on him for the lead. Hunter was starting the pull away while Rushing was about to let go of the second spot as Nance was pressuring him. Jason Goodwin and Jeremy Anderson were also there pressuring Rushing for the second spot. Anderson tried a move down low but got too loose and lost a lot of ground. Rushing was also losing ground as he fell back to fourth. Goodwin got up to second before the checkered flag flew. Hunter went on to pull away from everyone and win it. Anderson finished third, right in front of Rushing. Hunter is now the point’s leader on his own after the win.
Next was the mini mod feature race. Gavin Schmidt was leading the standings coming in. He had his car on the front row to begin the race. He gave up the race lead right from the start as Thomas Clinard Jr. was able to sneak by on the outside. Larry Seabourn also got by him for the second spot. Schmidt’s early troubles did not carry over during the rest of the race. He was able to eventually get back by Seabourn and Clinard Jr. to take back the race lead. Floyd Clinard Jr. got past Seabourn to take over the third spot. There would be no other changed in the top three. Schmidt would hang on to win followed by Thomas Clinard Jr. and Floyd Clinard Jr. Schmidt would extend his points lead on the rest of the field.
The pro street feature was next. Mike Hodges, the point’s leader, had the race lead at the start. Michael Zimmerman was in close pursuit. Brian Rapp was in third and not close enough to make a move on the leaders. Hodges and Zimmerman were pulling away from everyone and had to settle it between themselves to see who would win. Hodges would ultimately lap all but two cars to go onto win. Zimmerman and Rapp finished second and third.
The street class was on the track next. Ronnie Hedgepath had a huge point’s lead going into the race. Too make matters worse for the other drivers, he also started on the pole. He got a great jump at the start. Josh Taylor and Chuck Bailey were dueling for second. They were going at each other for a couple of laps. The top three were pulling away from the rest of the field. Hedgepath was hugging the inside line as Taylor was trying to make the high line stick. He was gaining ground on Hedgepath and got side by side with him. He could not make the pass work. Hedgepath stormed back ahead. Bailey was still right there, waiting for the front two drivers to make a mistake. A fluid leak on the track brought out a caution. This tightened up the field with two laps to go. Hedgepath got a good restart. He hit every one of the corners perfectly to go onto win. The battle was for second with Taylor holding off for second in front of Jonathan Wix.
The crate late model class raced next. It would be the last race for point’s for this class. Caleb Ashby was the leader in points going in. Tony Albright and Matt Liner started on the front row. At the start, Albright got pushed back to third. He was in a battle with Phil Gregory for that third spot. Credence Mott was charging through the pack. He pulled into second. His next target was Liner who was about five car links ahead. Gregory, Liner, and Caleb Ashby all were going at it for the third spot. Liner was starting to work on lap traffic. Albright was solidifying his spot in third. He kicked it into gear and was now trying to hunt down Mott. Ashby was able to get by Gregory. Liner took the white flag and had no challenge at the end. Liner got the win. Mott fended off Albright for second.
The pure mini stock race was next. Evan Taylor got the lead early. Michael Rittenberry and Justin Booth were in a tough battle for second. Booth was on the inside sliding all over the place. He eventually gave up that spot to Rittenberry. Booth continued his slide, as he fell back to fifth. Rittenberry was trying to get back to the lead car and gaining some ground. Bradley McGhee was battling to keep the third spot. As the white flag came out, Rittenberry got to about two car links back and could not get any further. Taylor would win it. McGhee would hold off Booth for third.
The next race of the night was the Southern Regional Racing series event. It involved all of the late model cars competing for the championship. Chris Shelton had a five point lead over Proctor coming in. The race was 40 laps. That meant drivers in the back of the pack had to be on the wheel the whole race and not make any mistakes to get to the front. The drivers who could avoid any trouble and make those split second decisions on the race track were destined to have a good race. Chuck Proctor and Steven Ashby were on the front row. Right from the start however, Ashby had a flat tire and was forced to the back of the field of the field. Tony Morris would therefore take over the second spot just at the green flag was brought out. Proctor would lead the first lap but Morris was not sitting back. He was up on the wheel up top trying to get the lead. Meanwhile, Terry English got caught up in an accident in the back of the pack. He was one of the favorites to win it. Ashby then got involved in another accident with Shelton among others to bring out another caution. This ended Shelton’s hopes of winning the championship as his machine sustained heavy damage. Not long after that, Albright connected with another car causing a crash. Albright was charged with the wreck and sent to the rear of the field for the restart. Proctor pulled ahead, with Morris in second and Josh Putnam in third. Jay Brinkley and Anthony Burrows were the cars on the move. Burrows restarted back in fifth but it took only a few laps to get up to second. Brinkley managed to get the third spot from Putnam. Burrow’s was on the bumper of Proctor for a couple laps before he ran him down on the back stretch to make the pass for the lead. Brinkley managed to get by Proctor as well. Burrow’s was pulling away. Proctor trying to get that second spot back as him and Brinkley were running side by side. With 12 laps left, there was a single car crash that brought out the caution. That erased Burrows big lead. Brinkley would restart second and Proctor would be in third at the restart. Proctor was losing even more ground as the laps wound down. David Earl Gentry got by him for third. Gentry and Brinkley collided with two laps to go. That slowed both of them up. It allowed Burrows to pull out. Burrows took the checkered flag. Brinkley beat out Gentry for second as they crossed the line. Proctor was fourth.
The last race of the night was the open wheel feature. This was the last night to determine the point’s championship in this class. Gregg Brown had a 70 point cushion in front of Michael Neighbor’s before the race. Clayton Miller grabbed the race lead in front of Brown at the start. Brown snatched it right back on the high side. Neighbor’s was in third and got to the back door of Miller. Kyle Robertson was in fourth, trying to power by Neighbor’s on the high side. Brown had set sail from the rest of the field. He would get the checkered. It was a good battle for second with Miller able to hold off Neighbor’s on the outside for the spot. Robertson was fourth followed by A.J. Garber.
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