Short Track Roundup (7/9/97)
10 July 1997
Mobile, AL - The Fourth of July weekend is typically one of the busiest of the year in motorsports, and this past weekend was no exception. Just about every series had at least one race, and many ran multiple events. The biggest winner of the weekend, besides Mother Nature, was Billy Moyer. The Batesville, AR driver won three Hav-A-Tampa events over the weekend and tightened his grip on the national points chase in that series. Moyer lapped all but the top six cars in taking the win at Granite City, IL over Donnie Moran and Dale McDowell. The next night at West Plains, MO he again beat McDowell and Skip Arp for his second win. The final victory was Saturday night at West Plains, where he led flag to flag to beat Mark Miner and Bill Frye. Moyer pocketed a cool $25,000 for the three night run.***
In the UMP Summer Nationals Series Rick Aukland has the points lead as he became the first driver to record multiple victories on the series this year. Aukland's wins came at McHenry, KY and at Glasgow, KY. Ed Dixon took the win at Pevley, MO, and then Tony Izzo Jr was the victor at Paducah, KY. Donnie Moran captured the Haubstadt, IN stop on the 20 race series, and Joe Izzo beat brother Tony to the line at Kanakee, IL.
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The NASCAR Busch All Star Series stopped in Freeport, IL, where the winner was Ray Guss Jr., and then moved on to Farley, IA, where Jeff Avery took the win. At Burlington, IA the winner was Johnny Johnson. The final race for this weekend saw Brad Birkhofer take the checkered flag at West Liberty, IA.
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The STARS Late Models were in Portsmouth, OH, and Steve Shaver took the win; at Zanesville, OH, Rod Conley scored his first ever win on the traveling circuit. At Pittsburgh it was all Bart Hartman, as he cruised to an easy win. Points leader Steve Francis was consistently at the top of the running order in all three events, and widened his already large point lead.
In SUPR Late Models at Forest Hill, LA David Ashley took the laurels and at Bienville, LA Waylon Morris was first to cross the line.
The National Late Model Sportsman Series visited Swainsboro, GA and wiley veteran Cecil Eunice took home his second victory of the season. Points leader Gene Maine widened his margin by finishing second.
Southern All Stars were in Moulton, AL, where Bill Mahan showed everyone the way home. At Cleveland, TN, it was Kevin Gibson's turn to visit the Winner's Circle.
Rounding out the Late Model action on the dirt, Gary Stuhler took two wins in the Mid-Atlantic Championship series at Bedford, PA and I-79 Speedway, WV.
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The Open wheeled cars had plenty of action to keep them busy this weekend, and there was a race every night in California, as the NARC Bud Sprint Car Shootout Series held its Silver Legacy Speedweek. Brent Kaeding started the week off with a win at Placerville, and from there the show moved on to Twin Cities where Randy Tiner took home the checkers. Tiner again showed the field the way to the line at Chico, and then Jimmy Carr picked up the win at Antioch. Randy Hannigan was the victor at San Jose, while Tiner got his third win of the week at Calistoga. The final race of the week was won by Kaeding who also won the title for the week full of racing, when he finished in the top three in every race.
SCRA was in action at Perris (CA) Speedway and Rip Williams got the win there. Then at Bakersfield, Richard Griffin took home the big bucks.
Back to the East Coast, and the Pennsylvania Speedweeks came to an end B with Lance Dewease taking the title after scoring a win in the final race at Williams Grove to go along with an earlier victory at Lincoln. Chris Eash won the Silver Springs stop, while Fred Rahmer got the win at Sellingsgrove.
The World of Outlaws had another busy week beginning at Huset's Speedway in South Dakota, where Mark Kinser was the winner over Stevie Smith and Jac Haudenschild. Moving on to Knoxville, IA, Sammy Swindell beat Haudenschild and Smith the first night, but Haudenschild came back with a win of his own on Saturday night, as he left Mark Kinser and Swindell in his dust. The final stop was at I-80 in Nebraska, and Mark took his second win of the weekend, beating Steve Kinser and the ever-present Haudenschild. Pretty good weekend for the "Wild Child."
The Frigidaire All Stars were rampaging through Ohio. Frankie Kerr began the week with a win at Fremont, while Kenny Jacobs took the victory at the Sharon stop. The tour moved on to Lima, and Tyler Walker got a big win there. Then it was the final stop at Attica, where Joey Saldana got the win and took the Speedweek Championship, thanks to his consistent finishes throughout the week.
Rounding out our look at the open wheelers, Jim Hettinger took two wins in NAMARS racing over the weekend in Springport, MI.
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Time for a quick look at the winners on the pavement over the weekend. The biggest winner was Wayne Anderson, who grabbed two wins at Lanier National (GA) Speedway and Volusia County (FL) Speedway in NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro events. Jeff Fultz still has the series points lead.
The American Speed Association ran the Wisconsin 300 at Kaukauna, WI, and Kevin Cywinski beat Mike Eddy and Scott Hansen to the line to take the win and widen his season points lead.
The Hooters Sportsman Series ran at Lakeland International (FL) Speedway, where Doug Moff took the win, while the Late Models followed, with Bobby Gill leading Mario Gosselin and Jimmy Cope across the line. Freddy Query still holds on to the points lead in this series, which continues to have personnel problems, as their PR/Media person has apparently left the fold.
ARCA cars were at Kil-Kare (OH) and series regular Dave Weltmeyer got a well deserved win over Blaise Alexander in a smashing finish that saw both cars take the checkered flag locked together against the outside wall as they slid across the line.
In the Slinger Nationals Lowell Bennett won the series with a win in the 250 lapper, after first segment winner Rich Bickle had problems in the race. The two part event began with two races won by Bickle last week.
The NASCAR Busch North series raced at Tioga, NY, where Brad Leighton beat Mike Stefanik and Kelly Moore to the finish.
Gary Dean picked up a win in Gold Star Series action, and in ARTGO the winner was Jim Weber. Southern All Stars went to Nashville, and Tony Walls got the win over Joe Buford. Jacob Warren was the victor in Florida Pro action at Orlando. The Main Event Series had Tim Ice in Victory Lane, while the Gold Star Series saw Jeff Martin visit the Winner's Circle. In Midwest Independent Super Late Model Series action, Doug Finley was a wire-to-wire winner at Michigan Ideal Speedway.
As we finish up our roundup of the week's action, lets take a quick look at some NWRS winners that we have heard about over the past weekend. Wes Troup was the winner at Old Dominion (VA), Ray Young won at New River (VA), and Stephen Grimes was first across the line at Carraway (NC). Dexter Canipe got the win again at Tri- County (NC), while Bubba Urban Jr and Bugs Hairfield split a pair at Southside (VA). Steve Lucas got the win at Mineral Wells (WV), while at Motordrome (PA) the winner was Barry Awtrey. Eastside (VA) saw Danny Brown win two features, and at Langley (VA), Ashton Lewis Jr. won. Joe Buford took the Nashville (TN) win, and Roy Binkley continued his winning ways in the SuperTrucks.
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It was a busy busy week of racing around the country, and hopefully we have caught you up on the action you missed. We would like to encourage you to visit your local short track and take in some of the best racing action in the country without having to spend a fortune. Until next week when we'll be back to wrap it all together again, have a ball, ya'll!
John Kaiser -- The Autochannel
