Clarksville Speedway Dirt Oval Summary
By: Jon West
As the sun went down the temperatures started to drop but not on the dirt oval as the action began heating up last night at the Clarksville StormPay.Com Speedway. Several racers tore up the track as they raced for a pay-out and to continue their climb to the seasons point’s championship.
One of the first feature races of the night was the Street division, who doesn’t have a qualifying round but did complete their Hot Laps. The feature of the night had 12 laps of racing action with Floyd Clinard Jr. in his #05 car taking the checker flag with Phillip Byard in the #01 finishing in 2nd. The rest of the top 5 went to Charles Bailey in the #77J coming in 3rd place, Michael Byard in the #68SS taking 4th place and David Cline in the #4 finishing in 5th place.
One of the other feature races that raced on the dirt oval was the Pro Street division where, for the second week in a row, only 4 cars showed up for qualifying and the feature with the fastest qualifying going to Dover Tennessee’s Anthony Jackson with a qualifying time of 14.617. Having the fastest qualifying time paid off for Anthony and his #36 took the checker flag. The rest of the field was the current points leader in the #7 of Kenneth Knight Sr. finished 2nd with Mike Hodges in 3rd and Bruce Westerman in 4th. Both Hodges and Westerman did not finish the race due to problems with their race car.
The Crate Late Models were on the dirt oval as well on Saturday night with qualifying taking the center stage first with Clarksville Tennessee’s Carnell Parker III and his #75 was the fastest in the qualifying with a time of 13.971. Starting on the inside of row 1 was all that Carnell needed to the take the checker flag with Duane Hodges in the #117 taking 2nd position. The rest of the field had the #61 driven by Caleb Ashby finishing 3rd, current points leader Jason Jones in the #15 taking 4th and Mike Watson in the #17 rounding out the top 5 finishers.
The two divisions of the UMP’s took the dirt oval on Saturday night with both Open Wheel and Late Model division. When the Open Wheel’s took the track, it was the point’s leader and man to beat, Elkton, Kentucky’s Clayton Miller in the Lexington Landscape #15 who was the best qualifier with a time of 14.030. The feature was 15 laps with Miller taking the checker flag with the #117 of Dustin Isom finishing 2nd. The rest of the top 5 had the #17 driven by Lil’ Mike Neighbors taking 3rd, Gregg Brown in the #B5 in 4th with the #3 driven by Matt Thomas in 5th.
The other UMP division dealt with Late Models where the whole race was mostly between the two drivers who happen to be currently battling each other for the top position in the point’s standings. A 13.420 qualifying time was recorded by the track veteran in the #1 car driven by Tony Albright. When the race started, Albright, who is 2nd in the point’s standings, was on the inside of row 1, with the #27 driven by Chuck Proctor on the outside and is #1 in the standings. For 20 laps these two battled it out with the veteran, Albright, taking the checker flag with Proctor coming in 2nd. The rest of the Top 5 was #93 of Charles Zimmerman in 3rd; #16S Chris Shelton in 4th and Carnell Parker III in the #75 was 5th.
The mini’s also commanded the dirt oval over the weekend with Outlaw Minis, Pure Mini and Mini Mod are racing to raise their stock in the season standings. 20 laps were in store for the feature when the Outlaw Mini’s took to the track. Current point’s leader Justin Rapp in the #17R took the checker flag with #89 of Jeremy Anderson finishing in 2nd. The rest of the Top 5 went the #91 driven by Chris Hunter in 3rd Place, Brian Nance in the #39 was in 4th and Jason Goodwin in the #85 finished in 5th.
12 laps were both features dealing with Pure Mini’s and Mini Mod with the current points leader Jeffery “Jeff” Rittenberry in his #T3 continue dominating the competition by taking the checker flag again this weekend with Michael Rittenbery in the #10 coming in 2nd. The rest of the Top 5 went with Daniel Stephens in the #82X in 3rd, Andy Holub in the #28 finished 4th and Ricky Gill Jr. in the #29 coming in 5th. When the #1F car driven by Kyle Fleming was taken out on the final lap from taking the checker flag, a quick rules review awarded Fleming with the win with #0 driven by Roger Merritt taking 2nd. The rest of the field went with Ronnie Richardson in the #15 taking 3rd, Michael Perrigo in the #8 finished 4th and Andrew Wainscott in the #97JR in 5th place.
Don’t miss the action next week, May 3rd, as all classes are racing. Gates will open at 4 with Hot Laps starting up around 6. Also, join us Sunday May 4th as we host our first Demolition Derby, gates will open at 12 noon. . Invite a friend to see what we see every Saturday night here at Clarksville Speedway. For more information, please call 931-645-2523 or visit us at www.clarksvillespeedway.com
