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Kelly Carlton
GAFFNEY, S.C. (May 24) - Chris Madden finally picked up his first 2008 season victory on Saturday night. Madden, who started fourth on the grid, inherited the race lead from Dennis "Rambo" Franklin near the halfway point of the forty-lap / $4000 to win O'Reilly Auto Parts Memorial Day Weekend Special at the Cherokee Speedway. Madden held on handily over the final eighteen circuits to notch the win. "I hated to see Rambo fall out there because I believe we were about to put on a show. My car seemed to get better on the longer runs. He started to pull away a little bit but then we started reeling him back in."
Twenty cars signed in for Sunoco Race Fuels Pole Qualifying with nineteen taking two timed laps on the Cherokee high banks. G.R. Smith of Huntersville, NC put his Premier Motorsports, Giacobbe Trucking, Dirt Wheels Performance, Clements powered Rocket Chassis on the pole for the feature with his lap of 15.108 seconds around the 3/8ths of a mile red clay speedway. Randle Chupp of Troutman, NC put his Starrette Trucking and Specialized Hauling, Rand Clary powered Rocket on the outside pole with a 15.229 second lap. Defending OSAS-East Champion Casey Roberts, Madden and Franklin rounded out the top five in qualifying.
In Heat race action Cherokee's favorite son, Mike Duvall, took a stirring win ahead of Jeff Cooke and Kelly Thacker. Cooke battled to Duvall's outside early on but slipped over the cushion through turns three and four which allowed Thacker to drive by on the bottom. Cooke battled back on the outside and took the spot back on the next circuit. Cooke threw all he had at catching Duvall but ran out of laps. Anthony Sanders took the win in the final heat ahead of OSAS-East Rookie contender Ethan Hunter and Jimmy Ivester.
Chupp launched his machine into the lead at the start of the feature while G.R. Smith, Roberts, Madden engaged in a wild scramble through turns one and two. Madden was forced up the track and out of the throttle which allowed Franklin to move by for fourth. A scary lap three crash saw Ethan Hunter careen into the inside frontstretch wall causing extensive damage to the Hunter Electric MasterSbilt however Hunter was uninjured. With the field reset for the Dixie Double File restart, Chupp once again lurched out to the lead. But this time Roberts got the advantage over Smith with Franklin and Madden lurking.
Disaster struck on lap twelve when Smith's right rear tire let go in turn three. Chupp also made hard contact with the slowing lap car of Sanders on the front straightaway. Chupp's machine suffered significant right rear damage. On the restart Roberts opted for the outside line allowing Franklin the inside. When the green flag flew Chupp seemed to not be up to full song as Franklin, Roberts and Madden nearly made it four wide out of turn two. Franklin came out with the lead with Madden moving to second. Chupp was left to battle with Roberts for third.
One lap later, as the field received the crossed flags to indicate halfway, Roberts covered the spot moving Chupp back to fourth. Franklin had opened up a ten car length advantage when, on lap twenty-three, Franklin slowed and moved to the bottom while waving his arm out the window. Franklin's Encompass Solutions, Cherokee Landscaping, Clements powered Barry Wright House Car machine was sidelined by a hole in the radiator which led the engine to overheat. Madden took over the lead and then drove away to the $4000 win.
"I need to thank all the people that help me on the car and all of our sponsors. We couldn't race without them. We were gonna take off until The Dream but we wanted to come here and race in front of the hometown fans and shake down the car a little. We will take off next week now and get ready to head to Eldora." Madden said in his victory lane interview. Roberts held on for second while Petey Ivey rallied from ninth to take third. The rally by Ivey gave his crew chief, Scotty Barnett, The NASCAR Technical Institute's Crew Chief of the Race Award.
Madden's Bloomquist Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and is sponsored by Century Plastics, Xtreme Customs and Cycles, Freeman Plumbing, Henderson Amusements, Allstar Performance, Big A's Custom Graphics, Hoosier Race Tires, Henderson Motor Company and Quarter Master.
Official Finish
1 - 44 Chris Madden (4) - Gray Court, SC
2 - 101 Casey Roberts (3) - Toccoa, GA
3 - 6 Petey Ivey (9) - Union, SC
4 - F1 Mike Duvall (11) - Cowpens, SC
5 - 1 Brent Dixon (6) - Elberton, GA
6 - 22 Travis Pennington (10) - Winston, GA
7 - 6P Furman Parton (7) - Union Mills, NC
8 - 99 Jeff Cooke (13) - Spartanburg, SC
9 - 104 Monk Gulledge (18) - Batesburg, SC
10 - V8 Kelly Thacker (15) - Cherry Grove, NC
11 - 22 Randle Chupp (2) - Troutman, NC
12 - 22* G.R. Smith (1) - Huntersville, NC
13 - 2 Dennis Franklin (5) - Gaffney, SC
14 - 09 Johnny Pursley (8) - Clover, SC
15 - 421 Anthony Sanders (12) - Spartanburg, SC
16 - 101 Ethan Hunter (14) - Tiger, GA
17 - 2c Tim Christie (17) - Clover, SC
18 - 45 Kevin Tessner (16) - Blacksburg, SC
DNS: A1 Jimmy Ivester and 22 Brian Moody
Up Coming OSAS-East Events:
June 10 - Laurens County Speedway - Laurens, SC $3000 (27th Annual Laurens County Shrine Race)
July 3 - Cherokee Speedway - Gaffney, SC $4000
July 4 - Cleveland County Speedway - Lawndale, NC $4000
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