Southern All Stars Asphalt Series: Early Bird 100 - Report and Results
2 March 1998
PATIENT VETERAN NABS EARLY BIRD 100 Montgomery, Ala. - Eight days after the action began, Fayetteville, GA's Ronnie Sanders took the checkered flag to win the Early Bird 100 at Montgomery (Ala.) Speedway USA in the season opener for the Southern All Stars Asphalt Series. The win, worth $5,000 to Sanders, came as a result of staying out of trouble and near the front for the entire race before inheriting the lead with just four laps to go. Following a rain out a week ago, 42 of the original 48 cars that were on hand came back to Montgomery to finish filling the field for the Early Bird 100. There were 28 cars that had been locked in following first round qualifying, but 8 more positions remained to be filled to round out the 36 car starting lineup. That total soon jumped to 10 spots available when David Hole spun coming out of turn four during practice and Chris Mullinax had nowhere to go and slammed into the driver’s side door of Hole's car. Safety crews were quickly on the scene and Hole was taken to a local hospital complaining of pain in his lower left leg. Although Mullinax had been hard on the brakes when the two cars collided, it still took almost 45 minutes to separate the two cars which were locked together. Neither Mullinax or Hole would be able to make the race, for which they had already qualified and Terry Mason and Tim Bryant were moved into the 26th and 27th starting spots. Following practice, Second Round Qualifying was held and A.W. Kirby from Nashville, TN set the fast time of 19.201 seconds around the half mile oval to pace the six cars that were able to make the field. Roger Scott and Steve Cook were awarded provisional starting spots based on 1997 SAS points and Fast Qualifier John Wilkinson III filled the final starting position as he attempted to take the $10,000 bonus for starting at the rear and winning the race. With Wilkinson starting at the tail of the field, Dave Mader III of Mooresville, NC led the field down to the green flag. The first attempt to get the race underway resulted in a major pile-up in turn one that involved at least 10 cars. Most received minor damage to the bodywork, but the cars of Bryant, Patrick Lawler and Wesley Stephens were unable to continue, reducing the field to 33 cars. On the restart everyone made it cleanly through the first lap without incident with Mader grabbing the point, trailed closely by Tony Walls, Donny Brusso, Mike Harmon and Johnny Brazier. On lap 2 Mike Garvey spun in turn four bringing out a brief caution and it was back to full bore racing, With the order at the front remaining static, the action was taking place back in the pack where Bobby Gill was coming to the front in a hurry from his 17th starting position. Using the outside groove, Gill picked off Darrell Brown on lap 9 and Jerry Godwin on lap 10 to move into the top 10. On lap 13 Harmon was able to work his way around Brusso on the inside of turn two to move into third, but Mader and Walls were pulling quickly away from the field, having opened up a 5 car length lead. By lap 20 the front runners were Mader, Walls, Harmon, Dan Beddingfield and Brusso when the second caution came out for a two car spin on the back straight. Gill was continuing his run to the front, and Wilkinson, still after the bonus was slowly working his way through the field and had reached 23rd spot when the yellow flew. Once again under green flag conditions Andy Antinoro moved past Brusso into fifth while Gill continued his high side attack. On lap 39 as the car entered turn three, Antinoro was on the bottom with Ronnie Sanders sliding to the high side. Gill tried to put his car in the middle and there was contact between him and Antinoro causing both to spin out and damaging Gill’s car. As the cars spun they tapped the car of Tommy “Texas Tornado” Grimes causing him to spin sideways, but the Texan quickly gathered the car up and only lost one spot in the incident. With Antinoro now at the rear, Buddy Welch assumed the fifth spot in the running order. By the halfway point of the race, Wilkinson had worked his way inside the top 15 and was picking off cars at a steady rate. Mader continued in the lead, with Walls right on his bumper and looking for a way around. Harmon remained a steady third with Beddingfield fourth and Sanders now into fifth. Grimes held down sixth with Brown, Tim Fryar, Gary Jones and Garvey rounding out the top ten. On lap 60 Walls finally was able to get his nose under Mader in turn three and zipped into the lead. In turn two Mader's car suddenly slowed and he headed for the pits and out of the race. Joey Clanton brought out the next caution when he spun on the exit of turn two and many of the front runners chose this caution to head for the pits and two fresh tires. When pits stops were completed the front five consisted of Walls, Beddingfield, Grimes, Brown and Jones. On the restart Brown dropped to the low side coming off turn four and blazed past Grimes to take third and Walls came under heavy pressure from Beddingfield. On lap 72 Walls exited turn two and dropped the right side off the car off the track on the exit. Smoke immediately erupted from the car and although Walls kept it going hard through turns three and four, it was spraying liquid on to the track. Brown and Grimes, still battling hard for third hit the oil and both slammed hard into the turn four wall. Both cars were able to make it to the pits for repairs but their chance of taking the win was over as both lost laps in the pits. A lengthy caution followed while track crews cleaned up the oil spill that circled the track. With Walls' retirement Beddinfield took over the lead with Jones now in second, Garvey third, Chris Horton up to fourth and Godwin in fifth. Warren McMahan was running in sixth and sitting in seventh was Wilkinson, well positioned for a final run at the bonus. Brazier, Sanders and Harmon filled the rest of the top 10. On the restart Jones failed to come up to speed and quickly lost positions with Wilkinson now moving to sixth. A single car spin on lap 85 closed up the field again under caution with Garvey and Horton now right behind Beddingfield and Wilkinson now up to fourth spot. With just 10 laps to go everything was set for an exciting shootout. On lap 93 as McMahan tried to pass the lapped car of Mike Arnold on the backstraight and the two got together and went hard into the turn three barrier. With the cleanup in progress the order at the front was now Beddingfield ahead of Sanders, Godwin, Wilkinson and Garvey. Under Southern All Stars rules the last five laps of the race must be run under green, so now a five lap shootout for the win was ready to be unleashed with $10,000 on the line for “John Boy” Wilkinson. As the green flag flew Wilkinson went low out of turn four and slipped past Godwin to take third and closed on the back bumper of Horton. As the cars roared through turn two, Wilkinson hit the left rear of Horton, spinning him out and he himself was barely able to maintain control of his car. Godwin was able to slide by on the low side and regain his lost spot. With the caution now out and just four laps left it became mass confusion on the track as everyone it seemed wanted to be in the top five! Officials were finally forced to stop the cars on the track to get them to line up in single file for the restart, and once they had them in line and ready to go, Beddingfield could not get his engine started and the leader was forced to the pits and the attention of his crew. Although he would rejoin the race before losing a lap, he had lost the lead. The order at the front now had Sanders in the lead with Godwin second and Wilkinson third. Garvey and McGuire rounded out the top five as the last four laps finally got underway. On the restart Garvey went to the outside of Wilkinson in a bold move to take third, but Wilkinson headed low to get under Godwin. Garvey, trapped behind Godwin, then headed low and was able to follow Wilkinson around on the low side for third. With these three cars fighting hard for second for almost a full lap, Sanders was able to open a four car-length lead which was too much for Wilkinson to overcome in the final three laps and he fell just one spot short of collecting the $10,000 bonus. Garvey finished in third with Godwin fourth and McGuire taking fifth. The race may have taken eight days to complete, but it had all the excitement one could ask for with 4 different leaders, 10 cautions, a thrilling four lap shootout and 13 cars on the lead lap battling for position at the checkered flag. A really entertaining and exciting event that bodes well for the Southern All Stars Series in 1998. The next race for the asphalt series will be March 28 at Huntsville (Ala.) Speedway. Montgomery Speedway USA - Provisional results for the Southern All Stars Asphalt Series, Early Bird 100: Ps.Ql. No. Driver , Car Laps Notes -- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- 1 11 18 Ronnie Sanders JR Stinchcomb Industries Chev 107 2 36 59 John Wilkinson Hamner Race Eng Chev 107 3 15 55 Mike Garvey Corner Maker Chassis Chev 107 4 10 X2 Jerry Godwin RPM Chev 107 5 14 22m Jackie McGuire Shelby Concrete Chev 107 6 23 83 Joey Clanton Motorola/Southern Linc Chev 107 7 4 24 Mike Harmon Four Star Motorsports Chev 107 8 8 1 Tracy Goodson Lifestyle Vinyl Products Chev 107 9 5 71 Johnny Brazier Frogg Toggs/Moody Mondays Ford 107 10 6 44 Dan Beddingfield Caroline B Taylor Chev 107 11 13 51 Chris Horton Oliver Tire Chev 107 12 9 87 Buddy Welch Air Flow Awnings Chev 107 13 32 1Y Keith Cahela Y-Mart Chev 107 14 25 6 Gary Jones Jones Auto Parts/Griffin Radiat Chev 106 15 34 1c Steve Cook Shepherd Center Chev 106 16 19 22g Tommy Grimes RGR Systems/Nationwide Apps Chev 103 17 35 17 Roger Scott Bearden Electric/Calhoun Welding Chev 103 18 31 11L Donald Long Panhandle Grading and Paving Chev 100 19 22 33 Warren McMahan McSpadden Construction Chev 92 20 28 65 A.W.Kirby S&H Chrome Plating Chev 92 21 33 60 Mike Arnold AMC Trailers/Unifirst Chev 91 22 12 58 Darrell Brown Brown Trucking /Veterans Oil Chev 88 23 16 61 Tim Fryar Fryar Trucking/AFCO Chev 84 24 3 81 Tony Walls Chandeleur Homes Chev 76 25 2 22 Donny Brusso AAA Custom Cabinets Ford 70 26 1 84 Dave Mader III BRJ Race Cars/Hamner Engines Chev 63 27 29 18h Shad Hodgin Controtech/Colors Paint Chev 56 28 7 27 Andy Antinoro Guaranty Pest Cont/Compet Eng Chev 38 29 17 86 Bobby Gill Great American Race Cars/Hamner Chev 38 30 20 89 Lee Hansard Chastain Engine Center Chev 38 31 21 78 Brad Webb PRC Truck Accessories Chev 35 32 26 11m Terry Mason PostensOverhead Door/CCC Group Chev 27 33 18 1m Ken McFarland Chev 27 34 27 81b Tim Bryant Harrington Electrical Chev 0 35 24 2 Wesley Stephens Evans Norris/Laser Cutting Chev 0 36 30 31 Patrick Lawler Manheim Auctions Chev 0 Margin of Victory : 2 car lengths Lap Leaders : Mader, Walls, Beddingfield, Sanders Cautions : 10 Track Length : 0.5000 Miles John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel