11/3/2007
Sprint Source
Crawley wears Gumbo Nationals 2007 crown
Tim Crawley from Benton Arkansas drove Mike Ward’s famed # 88 David McCarver powered Senter Farms/CnB Mushroom Farms/Johnny’s Pro Auto Body sponsored Maxim car into victory lane of the 40 lap O’Reilly Auto Parts United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com Gumbo Nationals 2007 finale at Greenville Speedway www.greenvillespeedway.net on Saturday night. It was Crawley’s fifth O’Reilly USCS win of the season.
Lucas Oil Power Dash winner Zach Chappell from Talala, Oklahoma lead the first lap around the tacky ¼ mile Gumbo clay oval before a red flag for Marshall Skinner’s rollover stopped the action. On the re-start Chappell was the leader with Crawley who was in second position, after starting fifth. Crawley raced underneath Chappell on the backstretch of turn two to lead that lap and thirty-eight more. Chappell with Jeff Swindell from Bartlett, Tennessee right behind, challenged Crawley several times before Crawley raced out to a six to eight-car length lead by the races mid-point.
Chappell and the rim-riding Swindell still close behind him, seriously challenged Crawley after several of the restarts but Crawley, the 2002 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 360 sprint car Driver of the Year, held the point and charged the distance to victory lane ahead of the talent laden field from six states. Swindell’s race ended on lap twenty-six when he slide off the top of turn two. At the finish-line it was Chappell in the runner-up spot with O’Reilly USCS point-leader, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee in third place followed by Darren Stewart from Bixby, Oklahoma in the fourth position. Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas, the 2006 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, went to the rear of the field on the lap-two red flag incident and finished fifth.The next five finishers included two-time O’Reilly USCS Champion, Eddie Gallagher from Piperton, Tennessee in sixthplace and Ernie Ainsworth from Memphis, Tennessee followed in seventh. Past O’Reilly USCS Champion, Marshall Skinner who turned over on lap-two came back from that incident to finish in the eighth position all the time racing with the handicap of having no right side top-wing side panel. The 2006 I-30 Speedway track Champion, Zack Pringle from Little Rock, Arkansas finished in the ninth position and Lee Sowell from Nesbit, Mississippi rounded out the top ten. Derek Hagar garnered the Huggins Cams Hardcharger Award after starting twelfth and racing into the top five at he finish. Equally impressive was Michael Craddock’s charge from twentieth into the top ten before a last lap tangle left him in thirteenth place in the running order. Zach Chappell captured the Lucas Oil Power Dash and claimed the K&N Filters Pole award. Darren Stewart won the second Lucas Oil Power Dash of the night. Lee Sowell and Derek Hagar each captured wins in the twin B-Mains. Up next for the O’Reilly USCS is the season finale 2nd Annual “Battle at the Bullring” and the Lucas Oil Showdown twin -features event scheduled for this next weekend on Friday, November 9th and Saturday, November 10th at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi. For more info please visit www.columbusspeedway.net or www.uscsracing.com
Submitted By: Adam Ulrey