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Alex Cummings
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (August 14) - Ricky Weeks was able to go on the rebound at Fayetteville Motor Speedway to capture the win Saturday night by inches. The win came after an 18th place finish Friday night at Cleveland County Speedway. The win was Weeks 7th all time at Fayetteville and his 31st career victory with the Carolina Clash. His win came at one of the most highly contested Carolina Clash races that have ever taken place. The finish was one of the closest finishes in Carolina Clash history. The race left everyone in the stands asking for more and sore legs as they didn't even use their seats for the entire 38 lap feature event. "I want to thank my entire crew for giving me such a great car tonight especially after our mishap last night at Cleveland County Speedway" said Weeks after the race. "Special thanks to my sponsors Starrette Trucking, Parton Lumber, Adams Electric, and thanks to Phyllis and Ike".
The Carolina Clash resumed the Fayetteville race on lap 2 from July 31st when rains forced Fayetteville Motor Speedway to postpone the race. When the green flag was dropped again over the 24 car starting field the 54 of Steve Blackburn took the early lead as the rest of the field was in a mad scramble for position. The first caution flag would fly on lap 3 when the 08 of Michael Marlowe suffered heavy frontend damage which ended his night.
The caution would tighten the field back up which gave the A1 of Scott Autry his chance at the lead and he took the lead with a pass on the inside of Blackburn through turns 3 and 4 on lap 7. Blackburn wouldn't be denied the top spot and made a power move going into turn 1 taking back the lead from Autry the very next lap. The caution would fly again on lap 9 when the 22 of GR Smith slowed down the backstretch while running 4th with electrical issues which ended his night. Again on the restart, Blackburn and Autry would fight door handle to handle coming to the line side by side lap after lap. The rest of the field wasn't to be outdone by the front runners as everyone else was running two abreast around the 4/10th mile clay oval. The man on the move during this time was the 2 of Jonathon Gunther, the 72 of Mike Parker, the 14 of David Taylor, and the 360 of Craig Shuffield who all would advance more than 5 spots during the feature event. Gunther would advance 13 positions inroute to the Safety Kleen Hard Charger award.
The next caution would fly on lap 14 for the 91 of Travis Hair who slowed on the backstretch and pulled behind the wall ending his night. On the restart, a massive 5 car tangle would take place in turn 1 involving the 92 of Stephen Evans, the 07 of Brian Ledbetter, the 9 of Dale Hammond, the D8 of Dustin Mitchell, and the 2 of Jonathon Gunther. The cars of Ledbetter and Mitchell would both have to be taken off the racing surface on the wrecker with extensive damage.
Yet again when the green flag dropped, Blackburn and Autry were back at it fighting for the top spot for the next 13 laps until the lead cars encountered heavy lap traffic. Then the shuffling up of positions took place. On lap 29, the 1 of Ricky Weeks made his way past Autry and set his sights on Blackburn. Then the 17 of Timmy Blackwell and the 15 of Dean Bowen got in on the action passing Autry in consecutive laps. You could throw a blanket over the top 5 cars for 6 laps as they were racing two, three, and sometimes even four wide trying to get around lap traffic. A near miss took place for Blackwell as he was running 3rd coming down the front stretch as Stephen Evans slammed the outside wall under the flag stand and creamed down the track just in front of Blackwell who missed the 92 by just inches. On the restart the field would be slowed again when the 84 of Jay Sessoms blew a tire on the backstretch bringing out the final caution of the night.
This setup a 7 lap dash for the cash and put Ricky Weeks on the rear bumper of Blackburn. On the restart, Blackburn bobbled just enough in turn 3 to give Weeks the inside line and he made it count as Weeks took the lead. Blackburn wasn't going to be denied and ran on Weeks back bumper for the next 3 laps then on lap 38, Blackburn made his move to the inside coming out of turn 4 but didn't have the momentum to make the pass as Weeks lead the lap. Coming to the checkers heading the backstretch, Blackburn got a run and made it wheel to wheel with Weeks coming out of turn 4 as the two cars came to the checkered Weeks was able to win by inches over Blackburn. Coming home in 3rd was the 17 of Timmy Blackwell, 4th was the 15 of Dean Bowen, and 5th was the A1 of Scott Autry.
Dennis Franklin leads the Carolina Clash points with good finishes at both Cleveland County and Fayetteville over the weekend with Dean Bowen trailing in second and Ricky Weeks is third in Clash points.
The next race for the Carolina Clash will be taking place this Saturday, August 21 at Dublin Speedway in Dublin, NC where Luke Roffers was victorious in the first ever appearance for the Clash at Dublin. If you weren't there for the first race, you will have to make plans to come visit this Saturday. As the weather heats up, so does the racing on the track for the Carolina Clash.
Carolina Clash Series
Fayetteville Motor Speedway
August 14, 2010
1. Ricky Weeks
2. Steve Blackburn
3. Timmy Blackwell
4. Dean Bowen
5. Scott Autry
6. Shawn Beasley
7. David Taylor
8. Dennis Franklin
9. Jay Sessoms
10. Craig Shuffield
11. Jeff Smith
12. Jonathan Gunther
13. Dale Hammond
14. Mike Parker
15. Stephen Evans
16. Michael Mason
17. Dustin Mitchell
18. Brain Ledbetter
19. Travis Hair
20. Zach Cox
21. GR Smith
22. Gregg Stutts
23. Michael Marlowe
24. Spencer Liggon
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