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Gene Murphy
TRAVELERS REST, S.C. (February 23) - Ricky Weeks opened his season with an O'Reilly Southern All-Stars East Series win at Travelers Rest Speedway Saturday night. The victory was worth $4,000 to the racer from Rutherfordton , North Carolina.
"We are just happy to win", Weeks said afterwards.
Weeks set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 15.764 seconds around the banked 3/8ths mile track. Starting on the inside of row one in the feature with John Pursley alongside, Weeks watched as Pursley jumped out to the lead at the drop of the green.
However, Weeks dove under Pursley entering the third corner and there was light contact between them as they exited the fourth corner to complete lap one. Pursley came up lame entering turn one bringing out the first of many yellows.
From that point on, Weeks was never seriously challenged until Dennis "Rambo" Franklin mounted a charge on him in the mid-stages of the feature. That assault was short-lived as Franklin 's machine developed a tight condition.
Weeks led flag to flag in front of a capacity crowd.
"Sometimes you just get beat, and tonight was one of those nights," Franklin said.
Official Rundown:
1. Ricky Weeks #25
2. Dennis Franklin #2
3. Casey Roberts #101
4. Tony Knowles #26
5. Johnny Pursley #09
6. Petey Ivey #6
7. Jeff Smith #70
8. Chris Meadows #33
9. Tim Christie #2
10. Monk Gulledge #104
11. Dale Hammond #9
12. G.R. Smith #22
13. Frankie Beard #F21
14. Gabe Wilson #12
15. Travis Pennington #01
16. Kevin Tessner #45
17. Larry Timms #07
18. Dean Bowen #15
19. Freddy Smith #00
20. Furman Parton #6P
21. Jimmy Ivester #A1
22. Shawn Chastain #X15
23. John Pursley #9
24. David Smith #2/11
DNS : Matt Dillard, Jeff Weber, Benji Cole, Larry Blankenship, Ethan Hunter, Joel Rice, Doug English, David Baggerly, Jeff Madden
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