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Alex Cummings
SYLVANIA, Ga. (October 16) - Casey Roberts was able to battle his way around 32 of the best super late models in the southeast Saturday night at Screven Motor Speedway in the 50 lap, $5,000 to win feature event. The win came in the Clash South's first ever appearance at the 3/8th of a mile, high banked, red clay oval located in Sylvania, GA. Roberts finishes the season in the Clash South with 2 victories in 2 starts with the series. "This is a great win in memory of Jack Starrette" said Roberts after the race.
Ricky Weeks was also able to muster a 2nd place finish to capture his first ever Clash South Championship which earned him a cool $6,000. "It feels great to get the Championship in the inaugural season of the Clash South" said Weeks after the race.
When the green was shown to the 24 car starting field, the 1 of Ricky Weeks would grab the lead from the 101 of Casey Roberts from his outside pole starting position. On the 2nd lap of the race, the 5th car runner Jeremy Faircloth would loop his car in turn 1 causing everyone behind him in the field to pile in, a total of 19 cars would make turn 1 look like a parking lot. The very next lap saw the 06 of Mike Measamer spin in turn 2, collecting the 32 of Jim Rasey and the 93 of Donald Bradsher. Rasey would sustain heavy right front damage and would have to go on the business end of the wrecker after making some daring passes on the high side in the first few laps.
On the restart, Roberts was able pull alongside Weeks and the two would battle hot and heavy for the lead until a lap 6 caution when the 104 of Monk Gulledge spun in turn 4. Under the caution, the 3rd place runner of Chesley Dixon would pull behind the wall with mechanical failures.
On the restart, Roberts was yet again able to pull alongside of Weeks on the inside and the two would battle door handle to handle around the ultra fast bullring for the next 14 laps. Then on lap 20 when Roberts was finally able to make the move stick passing Weeks on the low side of turns 3 and 4 in heavy lap traffic. Weeks wasn't to be out done by Roberts and tried a slide job in turns 1 and 2 but wasn't able to make the move stick. Then on lap 27 coming into turns 3 and 4, Weeks setup Roberts and made his move to the low side trying to use a lapped car on the high side as a pick but it would almost cost him the race. The 2 of Dennis Franklin meanwhile broke a driveshaft in turn 4 and was almost at a stand still on the inside of turn 4. Weeks had to take evasive action to miss the slow car of Franklin as he and Roberts split the difference between the two slower cars. Franklin would pull behind the wall ending his night.
The 88 of Scott Shirey was involved on the lap 3 pile up in turn 1 and received heavy left front damage but decided to continue the race with a bent upper A frame. The A frame would only last until lap 29 when it finally broke in turn 1 ending Shirey's night.
The final caution of the night took place on lap 31 when Gulledge and Faircloth would spin simultaneously in turn 4. This would bring the field together for a 19 lap showdown and would put Weeks on Roberts rear bumper yet again. When the green flag was dropped for the 19 lap sprint to the finish, Roberts was able to pull away from Weeks with his home track advantage and knowledge of the speedway.
When the checkered flag was thrown, Roberts crossed the line first followed by Weeks in 2nd, the 2x of John Henderson came home in 3rd, followed by the 22 of Chris Ferguson in 4th, and the 18m of Jeff Smith came home in the 5th position.
The 32 cars in attendance Saturday evening were the most cars at a single race this season for the Clash South which helped the series end the 2010 racing season on a high note.
Official results
Clash South Series
Screven Motor Speedway
Saturday October 16
1 Casey Roberts
2 Ricky Weeks
3 John Henderson
4 Chris Ferguson
5 Jeff Smith
6 Johnny Pursley
7 Randle Chupp
8 Mike Collins
9 Brent Dixon
10 Jay Sessoms
11 Colby Cannon
12 Monk Gulledge
13 Stephen Evans
14 Scott Shirey
15 Jeremy Faircloth
16 Dennis Franklin
17 Tim Allen
18 Chesley Dixon
19 Mike Measamer
20 Donald Bradsher
21 Jim Rasey
22 Bobby Morris
23 Randy Harmon
24 Brian Nuttall Jr.
Comp Cams Feature Winner- Casey Roberts
Safety Kleen Hard Charger- Randle Chupp (+11 positions)
Shafer Enterprises Cool Shirts 5th place finisher- Jeff Smith
Dirt Trax Hard Luck- Randy Harmon
R2C Performance Heat Race Winners- Chris Ferguson and Jeff Smith
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