5/25/2008
Sprint Source
Crawley grabs O?Reilly USCS Speedweek Round Two at Greenville Speedway
SPEEDWEEK ROUND #2: Greenville , MS – May 25, 2008 – Wow! Is about all you could say after the 30-lap O’Reilly United Sprint Car Series Speedweek Round Two presented by Lucas Oil at Greenville Speedway on Sunday night. The O’Reilly USCS Mid South Thunder point’s leader, Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas, and six-time O’Reilly USCS National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee battled wheel-to wheel for 25-laps around Greenville Speedway’s ¼ mile Gumbo clay surface on Sunday night. The duo swapped the lead four times but racing was even more tenacious than that before Crawley passed Gray entering turn three to grab the lead for the final time on lap sixteen of the 30-lap battle royale. Gray started outside of the front row next to Jason Botsford from Tracy, California and raced into the lead in turn one. Craley started third and was in the runner-up spot on lap two. He passed Gray for the first time on lap four and looked to be cruising to his third O’Reilly USCS win of the season, but, Gray never relented and race whel to wheel with Crawley on nearly every lap and actually lead part way through several laps. On lap ten a caution flag came out for debris on the speedway with Crawley leading. On lap twelve, several cars racing hard for the sixth through tenth positions collided on the backstretch. In ther melee Cody Gardner was turned into the oncoming traffic and a nasty incident occurred. Gardner suffered severe damage to his mount and was momentarily shaken. Several more cars including Greg Merritt from Nesbit, Mississippi and Chris Williams from Memphis, Tennessee weren’t able to continue. On the restart Crawley led the next lap, but Gray got past him before a caution on lap fourteen slowed the field again with Gray on the point. After the restart Crawley followed him for two laps before 2002 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver of the Year raced by the final time. It was Crawley’s third O’Reilly USCS win in-a-row at Greenville Speedway. Three-time 2007 O’Reilly USCS feature winner, Wayne Johnson from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma followed the Crawley/GrayBattle home in third place. Former series Champoion, Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas finshed in fourth place and the visiting Californian Botsford who started in the K&N Pole Position rounded out the top five. A pair of I-30 Speedway past Champions, Justin Sturch from Benton, Arkansas and Zack Pringle also from Benton, Arkansas followed in sixth and seventh places respectively. Ernie Ainsworth from Memphis, Tennessee was eighth. Raymond Stull from Independence, Mississippi who won the 12-lap JE Pistons B-Main event and earned the seventeenth starting position in the A-main charged into a ninth place finish. Stull had charged his way up to the seventh position before being involved in the lap twelve melee. Bryce Vowan from Forrest City, Arkansas rounded out the top ten.. Heat races were won by Zach Chappell from Tallala, Oklahoma won the Englwer Machine and Tool First Heat. Mid-South Rookie of the Year points leader, Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee won the Butlerbuilt Second Heat. The Bar’s Laeks Third heat race victory went to Greg Merritt from Nesbit, Mississippi. Tim Crawley captured the FSR Racing Products Fourth Heat. Ronny Howard and Gallagher. Henry Gustavus fromMMarion, Arkansas won the twelve lap B-Main event.The Huggins Cams Hard-Charger of th race went to Raymond Stull for passing the most cars in the A-Main. Zack Pringle was the Hoosier Tire Young Gun of the race awarded to the top finishing driver under twenty-five years old. Anthony Nicholson was the Rookie of the Race with a twelfth place finish after winning his heat race. The Speedweek 2008 competition continues with Round Three on Monday night at 7:30pm at Clayhill Motorsports (www.clayhillmotorsports.com ) in Atwood, Tennessee. The track is a one-third mile re clay oval. Clayhill Motorsports is located about two hours Northeast of Memphis, Tennessee and seven miles Northeast of Milan Tennessee just off US 79. Several more top drivers are entered for Monday night’s event. Round Four on Tuesday has the series stopping at Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee. There is no event on Wednesday, May 28th giving the teams a chance to rest and repair. On Thursday night, May 29th action continues with Round Five at Camden Speedway in Camden, Tennessee. Friday night May30th finds the traveling troop at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Alabama for Round Six. Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi hosts the Speedweek 2008 presented by Lucas Oil finale on Saturday night May 31st. For more information on the 3rd Annual O’Reilly USCS Speedweek please visit www.uscsracing.com or call USCS at 404-886-5913.
Submitted By: Adam Ulrey