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Mary Jane Cardwell
COCHRAN, Ga. (October 4) - Cochran Motor Speedway reopened to a crowd of racers and fans ready to get the race season back under way with the R.L. Gregory Memorial Race. Once the evening's races began, things moved quickly. Jeremy Faircloth was the first to qualify and ran in the low 15s - true to his boast that he would set the mark for others to try and reach. Try they did, but no one else was able to beat his time. Faircloth was the evening's Optima Trailers Fastest Qualifier.
Four heats were set and ready to run. Faircloth held the pole position for Heat One and was joined on the front row by Dusty Cone. Allen Rowland, Mitch Fulford, Phil Pittman, David Whitener, and Kyle Bridges completed the field. After a couple of rough starts, racing began in earnest, with Dusty Cone and Jeremy Faircloth taking turns for the lead. Faircloth got down to business in short order and completed the race in first. Dusty Cone, Mitch Fulford and Allen Rowland also locked into feature positions.
Heat Two found DeWayne Johnson on the pole with William Thomas joining him on the front row. The remainder of the field included Jason Lyles, Chuck Chitty, Dennis McDaniel and Ricky Culpepper. William Thomas took an early lead and never let up. DeWayne Johnson continued the chase for the 8 laps, but was only able to finish second. Joining these two in locking in their positions for the feature were Jason Lyles and Chuck Chitty.
Russell Brown, Jr. who qualified a solid third, sat on the pole for Heat Three. As the green flag dropped, he took off and never looked back, leaving Mark Whitener, Brad Comer and Brandon Cameron to sort out the positions to lock for the feature. Billy Lyles, Jeff Fortner and Paul Smith, Jr. would have to try and make the feature in a Last Chance race on Saturday night.
Unlike the first three heats, Heat Four ended with a nail-biting photo finish between Steve Jones and Jordy Nipper, with Nipper winning by a hair, barely edging out Steve Jones. Also locking in their position for the feature were Clay Bedenbaugh and Bo Allen.
Due to the number of events scheduled and the racers' desire for additional hot laps, all cars raced based on finishing order from the heats on the previous night. Jeremy Faircloth led the full field to the green flag and off they went. After ten solid laps, the race was plagued with cautions and it took a little time to get past fifteen laps. But the field perservered until Lap 21. As the middle of the field crossed the start-finish line Jason Lyles vehicle became airborne, flipping a number of times before coming to rest on the roof. Track officials, race officials and rescue personnel quickly freed Lyles and took him to the hospital to be checked out.
After a short wait on another ambulance, the Faircloth once again led the field to the green flag and racing to the end of the 50-lap event resumed and ran uninterrupted until the checkered flag. While Faircloth did not appear to be very worried about those to his rear, Jordy Nipper was climbing to the front, making his way past William Thomas, and Russell Brown, Jr., working towards yet another photo finish. Mark Whitener, doing his best to solidify his points lead also worked through the field. Mitch Fulford also had a good showing. But it was Jeremy Faircloth in his CJ Rayburn/Clements combination, sponsored by LJF Forestry, Clements Tree Service and others that held on for the win.
Next up - SHOWDOWN ON THE COAST - Golden Isles Speedway - October 17-18, 2008. See you at the track.
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