Opening Night Delivers Exciting Racing
USCS Sprints Fast As Expected
The opening night of the 2007 season for Peach State Speedway was an exciting one. The local divisions were on hand for their season opening races, along with the USCS Sprint series.
In USCS qualifying Doug Day from nearby Winder, Georgia set fast time and a new all-time track record of 15.482 seconds around the high-banked half mile oval.
Kenny Adams won the 6-lap Lucas Oil Power Trophy Dash. He also roared from his fourth place start in the Butlerbuilt Second Heat Race to win that eight-lap race. Five-time O'Reilly USCS Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee won the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat race then drew a four inversion awarding himself the K&N Pole award and placing Adams outside row two for the start.
When the green flag flew for the 35 lap feature, Terry Gray lead the pack down to turn one with Baumgartner tucked in behind. Adams went high on the track and raced past Darvalics then Baumgartner down the back stretch and grabbed the lead from Gray in the middle of turns three and four and never looked back to lead all thirty-five laps. The battle was on for second place.
For the first five laps, Gray battled with Baumgartner to hold him off and retain the runner-up spot. Darvalics held onto fourth behind Baumgartner until lap four. On lap five fourteen year-old teenage driving sensation, Trey Robb from Newcastle, Oklahoma in his paved track debut drove past him and into to fourth place. Baumgartner hung close in third until lap six when the impressive Robb got past him as well.
For the next 20 laps Baumgartner had a great view of Robb trying high and low to get past the veteran Gray for the runner-up spot. Stephen Darvalics followed in fifth at that point. On lap twenty-four 2005 O'Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, Bryn Gohn from Malabar, Florida raced past Darvalics into the top five. On lap twenty-six Gohn passed Baumgartner for the fourth position. Then on lap twenty-seven Darvalics moved past Baumgartner back into the top five.
Two-time O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series National Champion, Kenny Adams from Malabar, Florida won the 35-Lap O'Reilly USCS feature. The win was Adams ninety-ninth career O'Reilly USCS feature win since joining the series in the 2000 season when he was the series National Champion. That same season, Adams was honored as the first-ever National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 360 winged sprint car "Driver of the Year". He was also the O'Reilly USCS 2005 National Champion.
In local division action:
The Mini Stock feature had many twist and turns. On the opening lap Brad Burdette's race car died on the back straight on the opening lap. The yellow flew, and the wrecker was dispatched to push him into the pits. The wrecker got him push started and he was able to join at the tail of the field still on the lead lap. It was an exciting race as Shaun Mize, William Ernest, Josh Mathison, and Steve Hill exchanged the lead for the first 1/2 of the race. Finally Hill broke through and captured the lead and looked to be on his way to the win. Then as Hill was leading, he got tangled up with a backmarker, and spun into the back straight wall. Damage was very minor and he continued on; restarting in the rear with 10 laps to go in the race. He charged threw the field but run out of laps and finished 2nd. In post race tech Burdette's car was found to be illegal, and Hill ended up with the win. Rounding out the top five were Mize, Ernest, Mathison, and Zach Minielly
In Sportsman action the race went green to checkers without a yellow. The #7 Dodge of Bobby East and Jarod Lovette waged quite a battle for the lead. East seemed to have things in hand, but Lovette sized him up on the front straight and passed him going into turn #1 for the lead with just a handful of laps to go. East tried a couple times to slip back under Lovette but he kept the door closed, and held on for the win. The complete top five was Lovette, East, Keith Barrett, Richie King, and Chuck Cooper.
The Iceman division seemed to be Phil Peppers playground this week. Peppers looked strong, and only a couple yellows closed up the field on him A spirited battle for second through fifth place kept the fans entertained as Joey Perry, Russell Shore, Terry Martin, and Brian Hardman swapped those spots throughout the race. Hardman, and Martin spun out once each, but the group always seemed to end up back together and racing each other again. On the white flag lap Hardnman broke loose and spun coming off of turn #2 and collected Martin placing them down the finishing order. At the checkers it was Peppers taking the win. Peppers was followed by, Perry, Shore, Martin, and Hardman.
In the Pro Truck division there was a good sized field. 15 trucks took the green flag. Brian Huff paced qualifying and rolled a 3 on the inversion. Larry Jordan started on the pole. Larry jumped out to the lead going into turn #1 and lead for the race closely hounded by the trucks of Huff, Cohen Motes, and Roger Adkins. These drivers swapped the lead positions around with Jordan coming out on top at the end of the 50 lap feature. Jordon was followed by Adkins, Motes, Huff, and Kevin Perry.
Check the above menu for complete results, and points standings. Each will be listed all season in their respective divisions.