USCS: Cochran Saturday summary

Martin Makes It Two In A Row In Cochran, GA USCS Action

COCHRAN, GA - Danny "The Hammer" Martin of Sarasota, FL drove to his second straight United Sprint Car Series main event win Saturday night before a packed house at Cochran Motor Speedway. The victory was the third of the season for the 18-year-old driver of the Martin Structures, Inc. Schnee/ZRE.

Martin took the lead on lap 12 from Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN, who dropped out with overheating problems, and then outran Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL to the checkered flag. Adams had to settle for second in the Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott.

Scott Christian of Valliant, OK came home third in the Southern States Rail Service Stealth/Dynotech after a hard fought battle for the position. Polesitter Butch Pendergrass of Winston-Salem, NC took the fourth spot in the Pro Life Maxim/Harp.

Chris Hill of Wedowee, AL turned in his second-straight top five finish with a fifth-place effort in the Hill Brothers Air and Hydraulics Challenger/Slobuilt. The 1997 USCS Champion Red Stauffer of Winter Park, FL started 14th and finished sixth in the C&B Mushroom Shaw/Ott to earn the Huggins Race Cams Hard Charger of the Race Award.

Randy Helton of Palmetto, GA was seventh in the Helton Transmission Maxim/ERI, and Jeremy Scott of Franklin, GA recovered from a lap 20 spin to finish eighth in the Vortex Bar and Grill Pro Lite/June Bug.

Brice Wrenn of Lexington, SC was involved in a first lap tangle on the frontstretch, made repairs, started on the rear of the field for the restart, and then drove his Stainless Fabricators Hench/Gaerte to a ninth-place finish. Chad Allum of Kannapolis, NC rounded out the top ten in the Heintz Performance Allum/Allum.

Pendergrass brought the field down for the green flag, but Gray did not come up to speed on the outside of the front row. That caused a chain reaction that ended up with Wrenn and Stephen Darvalics of Venice, FL hitting the inside wall, and Bronzie Lawson of Southern Pines, NC into the outside wall.

Wrenn was able to repair his car, but Darvalics in the CineMoves Clincher/Gaerte, and Lawson in the Lawson Construction Maxim/Lawson were done for the night. Darvalics was the recipient of the Weld Racing Hard Luck Award.

On the restart, Gray took the lead and began to pull away from Pendergrass, while Martin quickly moved from his fifth starting spot up to third on the opening lap. Martin drove under Pendergrass in turn four to take over the second spot on lap three. By that time, Gray had out to a half straightaway lead.

Martin chipped away at the three-time and defending USCS National Champion's lead, and by lap 10 was just a couple of car-lengths behind Gray's rear nerf bar. Coming down the front straightaway on lap 11, Gray suddenly slowed, and Martin sped past on the outside to take the lead.

Pendergrass, Adams and Christian were locked in a battle for the third spot during the first ten laps of the race. Adams made a daring move coming off the second turn in lapped traffic to take over third, and with Gray retiring his Goodson Farms/Wendy's Maxim/Wesmar, moved up to second spot.

An intense battle for the sixth spot among Stauffer, Scott, and Helton was also being waged. Scott spun in turn two on lap 20 to bring out the caution flag, and set up a ten lap dash to the checkered flag.

Martin quickly opened up a big lead on Adams when the field went back to green. By the time Adams worked around lapped traffic, Martin had packed his bags, turned in the key, and checked out on the field to the checkered flag.

R.J. Johnson of Decatur, TN finished 12th in the Leaf Race Wear/Pin Rings J&J/ZRE for Rookie of the Race honors, and Shane Nelson of Chattanooga, TN finished 13th in the LRB Shaw/Slobuilt to earn the FSR Performance Award. Pendergrass and Gray won the two eight-lap heat races, and Christian won the six-lap Air Flow Research Power Dash.

USCS returns to Asphalt Thunder action for its next two events on July 30 at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, NC, and on July 31 at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, NC.

<pre> OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 23 AT COCHRAN MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN COCHRAN, GA ON 7/24/04:

POS   STRT  CAR#   DRIVER               LAPS
1.    5     00     Danny Martin Jr.     30
2.    4     4a     Kenny Adams          30
3.    3      1     Scott Christian      30
4.    1     11     Butch Pendergrass    30
5.    6     4c     Chris Hill           30
6.    14     2     Red Stauffer         30
7.    12    27     Randy Helton         30
8.    11    76     Jeremy Scott         30
9.    10    1w     Brice Wrenn          30
10.   7     87     Chad Allum           30
11.   13     5     Dave Thorman         29
12.   16    71     R.J. Johnson (R)     29
13.   15   88z     Shane Nelson         28
14.   2     10     Terry Gray           12
15.   17    4b     Bryn Gohn             3
16.   8     32     Stephen Darvalics     0
17.   9     B3     Bronzie Lawson        0

LEAD CHANGES:  1
LAP LEADERS:  Gray, 1-11; Martin, 12-30
LAPS LED:  Martin, 19; Gray, 11
CAUTIONS:  2 (1 Red Flag)

HUGGINS RACE CAMS HARD CHARGER:  Stauffer (started 14th and finished 6th)
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD:  Darvalics
FSR PERFORMANCE AWARD:  Nelson

AIR FLOW RESEARCH POWER DASH (6 Laps): 1. Christian; 2. Gray; 3. Martin; 4. Wrenn; 5. Stauffer; 6. Hill.

1ST HEAT (8 Laps): 1. Pendergrass; 2. Christian; 3. Martin; 4. Allum; 5. Lawson; 6. Scott; 7. Thorman; 8. Nelson; 9. Gohn.

2ND HEAT (8 Laps): 1. Gray; 2. Adams; 3. Hill; 4. Darvalics; 5. Wrenn; 6. Helton; 7. Stauffer; 8. Johnson (R).

USCS NATIONAL POINTS THROUGH 7/24/04: 1. Terry Gray 3314 2. Danny Martin Jr. 3070 3. Kenny Adams 2842 4. R.J. Johnson (R) 2726 5. Brice Wrenn 2426 6. Tom Winegardner Jr. 1932 7. Chad Allum 1774 8. Butch Pendergrass 1472 9. Red Stauffer 1314 10. Scott Christian 1166 11. Jim Raptis 1068 12. Brian Thomas 1032 13. Bill Moore 1032 14. Doug Gold 978 15. Jeremy Scott 940 16. Randy Helton 938 17. Dave Thorman 894 18. Bronzie Lawson 872 19. Johnny Bridges 868 20. Steven Graham 850

R - Denotes Rookie of the Year Candidate

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