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Kelly Carlton
GAFFNEY, S.C. (June 16) - Officials of the O'Reilly Southern All Stars East Racing Series today announced penalties to a driver after a post race inspection during the 28th Annual Laurens County Shrine Race at Laurens County Speedway Laurens, South Carolina. The inspection revealed questionable abnormalities on Dennis Franklin's right rear tire. O'Reilly Southern All Stars East rules only allow for six different compounds of Hoosier Race Tires. Those compounds allowed are the
Franklin's tire was found to have a marking that was consistent with the allowed compounds. However the body of the tire was found to be suspect during closer inspection. Officials recorded the factory date code from the tire and cross referenced it with records at Hoosier Racing Tire Corp in Lakeville, IN. The records showed that the tire in question was indeed not a compound allowed by Series rules and that the markings of the tire had been altered after it left the factory. And while the Series is unable to determine if Franklin and his team were aware of the alteration, each competitor is responsible for the legality of their equipment.
Car owner Barry Wright explained "We bought the tire at race we were running down in South Georgia. We had intended to use the tire down there but it turned out that we didn't. We had it in the trailer and figured we wanted to try it at Laurens. We bought it as a D21 and assumed it was a D21 until Wednesday. It is a bad deal for us but we know now that it was actually a D28 that had been changed to a D21. It was just a mistake on our part but we have rules for a reason so will take our punishment and move on to the next race."
Officials have made the decision to strip Franklin of all points earned for the event and to fine him the prize money which he received. The series has further placed Franklin on probation for the remainder of the season. Any further violations may result in complete suspension and further monetary and points fines.
"This is a real unfortunate situation. But we feel we issued a strong and fair penalty. We want to send a message to all of our teams that we mean business about our rules and that we plan to be very strict in their enforcement. We have also decided to move all the drivers who finished behind Franklin up one position. We will pay them the difference in the prize money and award them the additional points." Series owner Lennie Buff commented.
"We are doing our best to try and save the competitors money by having a tire rule. When this type of thing happens it is very discouraging. But we will keep moving forward and work hard to continue to police our rules. We want these guys to know that we are doing our jobs to keep everything on a level playing field when they come to race with us." said Buff.
The amended official finish is:
1 - 21 Frank Coates - Hodges, SC
2 - 44 Chris Madden - Gray Court, SC
3 - 6 Petey Ivey - Union, SC
4 - 07 Larry Timms - Hodges, SC
5 - 101 Casey Roberts - Toccoa, GA
6 - 101 Ethan Hunter - Tiger, GA
7 - 104 Monk Gulledge - Batesburg, SC
8 - D1 Dion Deason - Greenwood, SC
9 - 27 Brandon Ifft - Lake Wylie, SC
10 - 16 Colby Cannon - Hodges, SC
11 - 14 Bob Robertson - Augusta, GA
12 - A1 Jimmy Ivester - Toccoa, GA
13 - 09 Johnny Pursley - Clover, SC
14 - 421 Anthony Sanders - Spartanburg, SC
15 - 71 Mike Ashley - Greenwood, SC
The next event for the O'Reilly Southern All Stars East Series will be Thursday night, July 3 for a $3000 to win event at the Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC. For more information about the O'Reilly Southern All Stars East Series please visit their home on the World Wide Web at www.southern-allstars.com
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