Official Results & Recap: May 2nd, 2014

USCS Outlaw Thunder
1. Terry Gray, No. 10
2. Anthony Nicholson, No. 16
3. Johnny Bridges, No. 07
4. Danny Smith, No. 4
5. Eric Riggins Jr., No. 47
6. Bob Auld, No. 83
7. Jake McLain, No. 67
8. Brandon McLain, No. 21B
9. Freddie McCall Jr., No. 1
10. Jeff Willingham, No. 28
11. Don Smith, No. 61
12. Joe Larkin, No. 33
13. Lukas Smith, No. 26
14. Don Ryder, No. 12B
15. Morgan Turpen, No. 10M
16. Lance Moss, No. 23
17. Shawn Murray, No. 22
18. Terry Witherspoon, No. 43
19. Ray Bugg, No. 25
20. Greg Merritt, No. 12M
21. Tim Perry, No. 36
DNS. Johnny Petrozelle, No. 59

Mini Stock
1.(2) Michael Courtney, No. 41
2.(9) Nick Perry, No. 19
3.(4) Jason Gregory, No. 21
4.(6) Rocky McNabb, No. 51
5.(3) Derik Duggan, No. 25
6.(8) Mike Townsend, No. 29
7.(1) Kyle Courtney, No. 171
8.(5) Ray Simpson, No. 134
9.(7) Joe Myers, No. 25
10.(10) Debbie Singleton, No. 5
DNS. (11)Dan Duggan, No. 52

TERRY GRAY BLASTS TO USCS THUNDER IN THE SMOKIES WIN
Summary by Markus Hankins
Stories by Richard Allen of InsideDirtRacing.com
May 3rd, 2014

Seymour, TN – Under the bright skies of the Friday afternoon sun, fans, drivers, and their crew came out to the beautiful 411 Motor Speedway for Night 1 of the United Sprint Car Series “Thunder in the Smokies” event. Kicking off the night was NeSmith qualifying, where we saw Jerry Coffman surprise with the fast qualifier award, coming out 2nd from last in his quiet Boyd’s-Speedway prepped racer. Next up was the Hoosier Speed Dash for the USCS stars, with Terry Gray taking the victory. After that, heat races got underway to set the final starting lineups before features. A short intermission was next, followed by the first feature of the night, being Sportsman. Terry Poore would blast from the pole to claim his first Sportsman victory. Next was the cars and stars of the USCS Outlaw Thunder. This race was marred by an almost 30-minute red flag after at least 4 cars tangled into turn 3, with at least 2 being either upside down or on their side. Morgan Turpen was slightly injured in the crash as her car tangled with Lance Moss into turn 3, resulting in Turpen’s car flying into the catchfence in turn 3. She would emerge from her machine with knee pain, but otherwise OK. The 2nd scariest thing that happened during that crash, was Ray Bugg’s machine appeared to have a hung throttle and made at least 5 donuts in turn 4. It was discovered moments after that machine stopped, that Bugg had been briefly knocked unconscious. He would be transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. When the race resumed, it saw Eric Riggins Jr your leader, but by lap 10, it was Terry Gray powering into the race lead. Gray, a teammate of Turpen’s and one of several USCS Sprint Car drivers who exited their cars to help extricate Turpen, would go onto claim the “Thunder in the Smokies” win. The next feature was NeSmith Late Model, where Ryan King jumped to the lead quickly in this time-shortened feature, as he crossed the line first on lap 20. Mini Stock was the final feature where Michael Courtney would go 6-for-6 in the features he’s started this season. He’s won 6 out of 7 features in Mini Stock this season.
Join us in one week under the lights on Saturday May 10th for Championship Points Race #5 with action in NeSmith Late Model, Sportsman, Thunder & Lightning, Street Stock, and Mini Stock! All gates will open as usual at 3:00p ET, with the drivers meeting at 6:00p ET. Adult Grandstand tickets $10, all kids 12 and under are free with paying adult. Tier parking will be $15 regardless of age. Adult Pit Passes are $25 with kids 11 & under admitted for $15 with signed minor release. See you next Saturday!

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Sportsman
In the Sportsman class, it was Terry Poore who would prove to be every bit as dominant as Courtney had been in the Mini Stocks.

Poore started on the front row in the feature after winning his heat race along with fellow preliminary victor Kip Sawyer.

From the beginning of the feature, Poore asserted that was the car to beat by jumping out to a commanding lead. A couple of cautions kept things close during the early laps but a long stretch of green flag laps to close out the 20-lap feature allowed the eventual winner to pull away from the competition.

Jordan Horton moved up from his 5th starting spot to claim 2nd with Sawyer and Austin Atkins following.

USCS “Thunder in the Smokies”
Sprint cars don’t make many appearances in east Tennessee, but when they do something spectacular tends to happen. That certainly proved to be the case on Friday night at the 411 Motor Speedway when the United Sprint Car Series took to the Seymour, Tenn. facility.

Terry Gray, a ten time champion of the USCS, came into the event as the series points leader and his performance would serve to strengthen his advantage over the competition.

Gray began his night by taking the win in a six lap ‘Dash for Cash’ that earned him $100 and 10 bonus points to add to his leading total.

Heat race winners on the night were Morgan Turpen, Johnny Bridges and Lance Moss.

Unfortunately, this race will most likely be remembered for what happened at its beginning rather than at its finish. After one failed attempt to get the 30-lap feature underway, a second attempt at green flag racing would prove disastrous.

As the field roared into turn three, the cars of Turpen and Moss appeared to come in contact with each other and get linked together. Both cars shot up the banking and slammed hard into the outside retaining wall. Turpen’s machine briefly climbed the catch fence then flipped down onto the racing surface. The cars of Terry Witherspoon, Shawn Murray and Ray Bugg were among those to also be swept up in the incident.

The race was immediately red flagged so that safety crews could tend to those in need. The greatest concern was for Bugg, who is in his 70s, and Turpen. It was several minutes before those drivers were finally extricated from the carnage.

An ambulance was brought onto the track to tend to Bugg(no further word on his condition was known at the time of this writing). Turpen complained of pain in her knee but chose not to be transported to an area hospital by ambulance.

Once the race resumed, 14 of the original 20 cars were remained on track. The racing from that point proved to be outstanding as Eric Riggins, Jr. jumped to the early lead with Gray, Anthony Nicholson and Johnny Bridges trailing. The top-4 cars would race in tight formation during the early laps as they not only fought each other for position but worked through slower traffic as well.

During the race’s first half, the veteran Gray stalked young Riggins waiting for an opportunity to seize the top spot. On lap 14 that opportunity came as Riggins car began to show signs of smoke.

One lap later, Nicholson moved around Riggins to claim the second position and set off after the new leader. A lap 16 caution briefly tightened the field but Gray quickly jumped away on the ensuing restart.

From that point on, the race would run caution free. Gray pulled away to a relatively comfortable lead while the early leading Riggins faded into the clutches of Danny Smith and Bridges.

At the finish, it was Terry Gray winning out over Anthony Nicholson, Danny Smith, Johnny Bridges and Eric Riggins, Jr.

The USCS Sprint Cars will race at Maryville’s Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night.

NeSmith Late Model
The NeSmith Crate Late Models weren’t about to take a back seat to the USCS Sprint Cars on Friday night at the 411 Motor Speedway as a very strong field of some of the area’s best drivers took to the Seymour, Tenn. track. After speedway owners Mitch and Tanya McCarter put up $1,000-to-win, a host of drivers with recent Late Model wins on the track showed up to take a shot at the top prize.

In the end, it was former NeSmith Late Model track champion Ryan King who would emerge with the victory.

Jerry Coffman set fast time among the 18 cars on hand when he posted a lap of 14.908 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. The entire starting lineup was set by time-trials which placed King, Adam Beeler, Cory Hedgecock and Jimmy Elliott as the top-5 starters in the main event.

King bolted to the early lead from his outside front row starting spot at the beginning of what was intended to be a 30-lap feature with Coffman, Beeler, Hedgecock and Elliott in tow. Meanwhile, Jason Welshan, Rusty Ballenger and Blake Shapiro engaged in a hard fought battle during the race’s early stages for positions just outside the top-5.

A lap 7 caution for a minor spin bunched the pack and briefly gave the leaders a reprieve from slower traffic. Once the racing action resumed, King went back to the lead but the battle continued to be waged behind him.

Beeler moved to second on the restart from that one and only caution while Welshan began to rumble from further back. Hedgecock, Elliott and Welshan would stage a tremendous struggle for position just behind the leaders as the race wound through its second half.

Unfortunately, the scheduled distance had to be reduced from 30 laps to 20 due to the amount of time involved in clearing a huge crash from the preceding sprint car race. The track was being pressed for time due to a pending curfew.

In the final laps, both Beeler and Coffman appeared to be closing the distance between themselves and the leader, but there wasn’t enough time.

At the finish, it was Ryan King winning over Adam Beeler, Jerry Coffman, Jason Welshan and Jimmy Elliott.

Mini Stock
On a night when the United Sprint Car Series visited the 411 Motor Speedway, track owners Mitch and Tanya McCarter offered extra incentive for racers in the Mini Stock and Sportsman classes to compete as well. The Mini Stocks would race for a winner’s purse of $400 while the winning Sportsman driver would secure a $500 payday for his efforts.

Michael Courtney has been all but untouchable in the Mini Stock class all season at 411 and this night would prove to be no different.

After winning the second heat race for the division, Courtney earned the outside front row starting spot in the feature alongside first heat race winner Kyle Courtney.

At the start, Courtney bolted to the early lead and never really looked back. By lap 5 the #41 car was pulling away from the pack. A caution briefly brought the field back together but Courtney drove back out to a relatively comfortable lead once the green flag waved again.

Due to a massive crash in the USCS sprint car event that took several minutes to clean up, the Mini Stock feature had to be reduced from 20 to 15 laps so that the event could be completed before the track’s curfew was violated.

At the finish, Michael Courtney beat out Nick Perry, Jason Gregory, Rocky McNabb and Derik Duggan.