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Kelley Carlton
GAFFNEY, S.C. (April 11) - Chris Madden took the lead from his outside front row starting position and then led all forty laps of the Southern All Stars East sanctioned event at Cherokee Speedway Saturday night. Madden fended off the early and later charges of Chris Ferguson who wound up finishing second. Casey Roberts had the Cherokee crowd on their feet during pole qualifying as he laid down a lap of 14.813 seconds which established a brand new track record lowering the 14.829 mark previously set by Dennis Franklin. It looked like Ferguson may have had a shot at Roberts time, as his split time on the back straightaway of his second lap was faster than that of Roberts. But Ferguson suffered a broken rear end entering turn two erasing that chance. Ferguson's team scrambled and returned to team mate Doug Sanders Springwood, NC shops to retrieve another rear end in time for the feature. Madden was second quick of the 23 cars that took time.
Madden jumped to the lead early on but Ferguson, up from his fourth starting spot, began to challenge to Madden's inside by lap 6. Ferguson actually nosed ahead of Madden off turn two on lap 16 but Madden used the highside momentum to roll back by and maintain the lead. As the front two worked on backmarker traffic Roberts pulled back up on Ferguson's deck. Ferguson then slipped to third while negotiating the lapped traffic. Roberts set after Madden who was now just two car lengths ahead. But Roberts charge was short lived as he tangled with the lapped machine of Zach Cox at the flagstand on lap 24. Roberts careened off the outside wall ending his night. Meanwhile Jonathan Davenport had also made his way by Ferguson for the now second spot. On the restart Madden set sail again with Davenport, Ferguson, Dennis Franklin and Ricky Weeks in tow. Dale McDowell, a surprise drop in, went pitside after being involved a pair of on track incidents that resulted in front end damage.
Ferguson found the low groove to his liking and went to work on Davenport for second. As Madden began to drive away, Ferguson and Davenport raced tooth and nail for the runner-up position. Finally with about twelve laps remaining Ferguson moved by Davenport as the Blairsville, Georgia driver slipped off turn two. Ferguson then went to work trying to reel Madden in. Ferguson immediately opened up a few car lengths on Davenport and began cut into Madden's huge lead. But just as before when the leaders reached lapped traffic Madden was able to weave through relatively trouble free while Ferguson met with more difficulty. Ferguson's delay allowed Davenport to erase the four car length gap between the two and pull to his rear deck. But Davenport was unable to mount enough of a charge to get the position. As the laps waned the top five stabilized with Madden comfortably out front.
Madden went on to take his first Southern All Stars East win of the season and the fourteenth of his career. "We had a great car tonight. I could move around and race where I needed to on the track. It was a good race. I saw Ferguson down there beside me a couple of times so I think the fans got to see a good show. The race track was smooth and in good shape. We are happy to get another win here in front of our hometown crowd." Madden exclaimed in victory lane. Ferguson was equally happy as he exited his machine. "I knew we were too good at the beginning to be good at the end. We were softer on the right rear than Chris was but it felt good to be able to race these guys and be able to challenge for the lead like that. We had to work our tails off to get that rearend changed out." Davenport (who also won the night's crate late model feature) was pleased with another top five in his K&L Rumley machine. "We were pretty good. We just needed a couple of small adjustments to be as good as the front two there. But we will take another top five." Davenport said.
The next events for the Southern All Stars East Series will be at a pair of South Carolina venues. Friday night May 29th the Series will make its first ever visit to Union County Speedway in Buffalo, SC for a 30 lap / $3000 to win affair. Then on Saturday night the drivers will return to Cherokee for another 40 lap / $4000 to win event. For more information or to see the complete schedule visit www.southern-allstars.com or call (864) 871-1442.
Official Finish
1. 44-Chris Madden - Gray Court, SC
2. 22-Chris Ferguson - Mt. Holly, NC
3. 6-Jonathan Davenport - Blairsville, GA
4. 2-Dennis Franklin - Gaffney, SC
5. 1-Ricky Weeks - Rutherfordton,NC
6. 9-John Pursley - Clover, SC
7. F1-Billy Thompson - Gastonia, NC
8. 98-Shon Flanary - Church Hill, TN
9. 104-Monk Gulledge - Batesburg, SC
10. 16-Colby Cannon - Greenwood, SC
11. 12-Zach Cox - Lumberton, NC
12. 101-Ethan Hunter - Tiger, GA
13. 17-Dale McDowell - Chickamauga, GA
14. 6-Furman Parton - Union Mills, NC
15. 84-Jay Sessoms - Stanley, NC
16. 101-Casey Roberts - Toccoa, GA
17. 10-Dane Burns - New London, NC
18. 6-Josh Richeson - Harrisburg, NC
19. 57-Wes Burton - Kannapolis, NC
20. 99-Travis Stoner - Belton, SC
21. 09-Johnny Pursley - Clover, SC
22. 07-Brian Ledbetter - Dallas, NC
DNS: Brent Dixon
Yellow Flags: 5
Red Flags: 1
Time of Race: 24 minutes 18 seconds
Cruise With the Champions Rookie of the Race: Colby Cannon
Qualifying Results
101 - Roberts - 14.813 NTR
44 Madden - 14.993
6 Davenport - 15.071
22 Ferguson - 15.112
17m McDowell - 15.255
1 Weeks - 15.357
6P Parton - 15.399
2 Franklin - 15.424
09 Pursley - 15.543
98 Flanary - 15.545
84 Sessoms - 15.573
101 Hunter - 15.793
9 Pursley - 15.843
6R Richeson - 16.191
F1 Thompson - 16.271
16 Cannon - 16.282
10 Burns - 16.290
104 Gulledge - 16.299
07 Ledbetter - 16.541
57 Burton - 16.776
12 Cox - 16.867
99 Stoner - 18.196
1 Dixon - NT
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