USCS: Lanier race summary

Gray Holds Off Adams For USCS Lanier Win

BRASELTON, GA - Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN found a groove he liked Saturday night, as he picked up his eighth United Sprint Car Series win of the season in Asphalt Thunder action at Lanier National Speedway. The "Bartlett Bullet" put his Goodson Farms/Wendy's Maxim/Wesmar where Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL wanted to be, and led all 40 laps of the main event.

Adams put his Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott to the outside of Gray going into the first turn on lap three. Gray moved up just before Adams got there and held on to the lead. The "Malabar Missile" then tried to mount a challenge on the inside groove of the 3/8-mile paved oval, but ended up blistering a right-rear tire. Adams had to settle for the second spot at the checkered flag.

Polesitter Doug Day of Winder, GA finished third in the Gotta Race Eagle/Dingler, and Will Ragsdale of Easley, SC came from the 11th starting spot to finish fourth in the Chick-Fil-A Clincher/ERI. Ted Williams of Atlanta, GA was fifth in the GMP/Sanders Engineering Hurricane/Ott.

C.J. Miller of Mooresville, NC finished sixth in the Miller Racing Maxim/Jay's Automotive, and Chad Allum of Kannapolis, NC took the seventh spot in the Heintz Automotive Allum/Allum. Doug "Solid" Gold of Concord, NC came from the 16th starting hole to bring his Heintz Automotive Gold/Jerico home in the eighth spot.

Bronzie Lawson of Southern Pines, NC was ninth in the Lawson Construction J&J/Lawson, and Jimmy Taylor of Green Pond, SC rounded out the top ten in the Taylor Automotive and Machine Eagle/Taylor. Taylor took the FSR Performance Award.

Gray took the lead from his outside front row starting spot at the start of the race followed by Day, Adams, Miller, and Jimmy Taylor of Mansfield, OH in the G-Spot Choppers Beaberbuilt/Gressman. Day looked to the inside of Gray on lap two, but Gray had enough momentum coming off the corners on the outside to keep the point.

A tight group of cars battling for sixth through tenth spots got into big trouble in turn four on the second lap. Contact among Randy Helton of Palmetto, GA, Danny Martin Jr. of Sarasota, FL, Jim Raptis of Marietta, GA and Tom Winegardner Jr. of Pierson, FL sent all four cars spinning out of control.

Martin hit the fourth turn wall head on with his Martin Structures, Inc. Hurricane/ZRE, and the red flag was brought out. Helton spun his Helton Transmissions Maxim/ERI and that collected Winegardner in the Snap-On Tools Hurricane/WRP, while Raptis went over the top of Winegardner in his ERI Maxim/ERI.

Raptis was the recipient of the Weld Racing Hard Luck of the Race Award after his lap two misfortune.

All four drivers were uninjured, but their cars were through for the evening. Gray lined up for the restart followed by Day, Adams, Miller, and Ohio's Jimmy Taylor. Williams just missed the multi-car turn four wreck to restart in the sixth spot, followed by Allum, Ragsdale, South Carolina's Jimmy Taylor, and Frank Neill of Vickery, OH in the Cyclone Services Beaberbuilt/Griff.

On the restart, Adams stepped to the outside lane to pass Day for the second spot, and then he chased down Gray. Going into turn one on lap three, Adams looked to the outside of Gray, but the leader moved up the banking, and Adams had to go up in the marbles outside of the racing groove.

That slowed down Adams' charge, and Gray kept the lead. Adams would look to the bottom of the track for a passing lane, but lapped traffic and a blistering tire kept him from mounting a challenge.

J.J. Dutton of Tampa, FL brought out the second caution flag on lap seven when he lost the left-rear tire on his American Trading Post & Pawn Hurricane/Skeeter and spun down the frontstretch. R.J. Johnson of Decatur, TN stalled his Leaf Race Wear/Pin Rings J&J/ZRE in turn two on lap ten for the third caution flag. Johnson was the Rookie of the Race.

When racing resumed, Gray was able to keep Adams behind him at the head of the pack, but some good racing was going on behind the leaders. Ohio's Jimmy Taylor had his 305 cubic inch engine wound up, and even though he was spotting the rest of the engines in the race 55 inches, he was up to the fourth spot.

Miller, Williams and Ragsdale had a tight battle going on for the fifth spot. Williams got by Miller for the fifth spot on lap 12, and Ragsdale passed Miller for sixth on lap 14. Taylor and his little engine were done for the night on lap 23 when a broken steering component stopped his car on the track to bring out the fourth and final caution while he was running fourth.

Gray stayed in front of Adams the rest of the way, while Day entrenched himself into the third spot. Ragsdale put the pressure on Williams for the fourth spot, and made the pass on lap 33. Bruce Cline started 21st and finished 11th to earn the Huggins Race Cams Hard Charger Award driving the Cline Motorsports Stealth/Engler.

Adams was the fast qualifier among the 22 entrants with a lap in 11.742 seconds for an average speed of 114.972 miles per hour. Adams also won the six-lap Air Flow Research Power Dash and the fist eight-lap heat race. Gray won the second heat race, and Ragsdale grabbed the third heat race win.

The next event for USCS will be a Sunbelt Tour event on the dirt at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, GA on Saturday night, September 11.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 31 AT LANIER NATIONAL SPEEDWAY IN BRASELTON, GA ON 9/4/04: <pre> POS STRT # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS 1. 2 10 Terry Gray Bartlett, TN 40 2. 3 4a Kenny Adams Malabar, FL 40 3. 1 2d Doug Day Winder, GA 40 4. 11 29 Will Ragsdale Easley, SC 40 5. 8 2 Ted Williams Atlanta, GA 40 6. 4 9 C.J. Miller Mooresville, NC 40 7. 9 87 Chad Allum Kannapolis, NC 39 8. 16 8 Doug Gold Concord, NC 39 9. 15 B3 Bronzie Lawson Southern Pines, NC 39 10. 13 32 Jimmy Taylor Green Pond, SC 38 11. 21 c1 Bruce Cline Apex, NC 38 12. 17 5 Dave Thorman Greenville, SC 37 13. 22 6 Skeeter Faulconer Lutz, FL 37 14. 14 88 Frank Neill Vickery, OH 37 15. 20 4b Bryn Gohn Malabar, FL 33 16. 5 V Jimmy Taylor Mansfield, OH 22 17. 19 71 R.J. Johnson* Decatur, TN 10 18. 18 6f J.J. Dutton Tampa, FL 6 19. 6 27 Randy Helton Palmetto, GA 1 20. 7 00 Danny Martin Jr. Sarasota, FL 1 21. 10 77 Jim Raptis Marietta, GA 1 22. 12 11 Tom Winegardner Jr. Pierson, FL 1

ENTRIES:  22
LEAD CHANGES:  None
LAP LEADERS:  Gray, 1-40
CAUTIONS:  4 (one red)

HUGGINS RACE CAMS HARD CHARGER:  Cline (started 21st and finished 11th)
FSR PERFORMANCE AWARD:  Taylor (SC)
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD:  Raptis
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Johnson

USCS NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 9/4/04: 1. Terry Gray 4470 2. Danny Martin Jr. 4144 3. Kenny Adams 4036 4. R.J. Johnson* 3746 5. Brice Wrenn 2986 6. Chad Allum 2712 7. Tom Winegardner Jr. 2506 8. Jim Raptis 1754 9. Butch Pendergrass 1742 10. Red Stauffer 1716 11. Doug Gold 1512 12. Bronzie Lawson 1504 13. Randy Helton 1432 14. Dave Thorman 1422 15. Bryn Gohn 1354 16. Bruce Cline 1338 17. Will Ragsdale 1236 18. Jeremy Scott 1206 19. Scott Christian 1166 20. Chris Hill 1104

* Denotes Rookie of the Year Candidate

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