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Merry Christmas! REMINDER: You folks can put that vacation request in for the first week of June this year -- June 3rd through 8th. This will be the second annual USMTS Southern Series Speedweek and the Wednesday through Saturday have already been booked. We're planning on racing Tuesday night through Sunday night. 6 tracks in 6 nights so plan one of those vacation weeks for the first week of June!
Here's how the Ark-La-Tex area racers faired:
Chris Henigan of Marshall, Texas had a solid weekend in Houston with his Career Search Kraft Kar chassis #16! Henigan never had to run a B main all weekend and he was top qualifier of the rodeo. He was also top 8 on Friday's slick track and qualified 9th on Saturday. Showing his versatility, Chris got top ten finishes all 3 nights and the last lap spins and DQ on Friday got him a top five finish of fourth. You could do some point damage on this tour with consistant runs like that!
Jamie Burford of Keachie, Louisiana also qualified for all 3 A mains and didn't have to use a provisional all weekend in the TVT 24-7 Lubricants TRE Chassis. His A main finishes weren't what he wanted though as he had two last lap spins that left him with 11th and 19th place on Thursday and Friday and was an early DNF on Saturday. Friday's was a disappointment as that spin took him out of what would have been his best USMTS finish to date -- 2nd -- and he was just half-a-staight away from the checkers when it happened. His "buds" on the tour, were kind enough to drag the infield tire he hit and leave it behind his hauler as a souvenoir that he could find waiting on Saturday morning. Jamie did have a third at the Gator Motorplex USMTS show back in April behind Skaggs and Shryock and battled door-to-door with Shryock for much of that one. Burford attended 18 of the 22 events (He missed Enid the 2nd time and South Texas.) and finished 11th in points and even traveled the first half of "The Hunt" this year.
Longview, Texas racer Morgan Bagley arrived on Friday and had a good run in the A after getting the final transfer spot in the second B main. He then followed the train to a top ten finish after starting 21st. On Saturday, he appeared headed for a B main win when the motor cut loose, ending his night.
Blanchard, Louisiana racing veteran Billy Robinson put his Billy's Heating & Air Larry Shaw chassis into the top eight redraw for the Saturday finale and finished 14th in the feature. Billy made a comment after the race. "That was nothing, I could do another 40 laps right now!" ;-) Isn't that right Billy, Cathy, Michael?? Y'all were there. ??? That's the way I heard it anyway.
Shreveport racer Michael Knighten in a Hughes Chassis that Billy's Heating & Air also sponsors, made a nice late race pass in his B main at the barnburner to grab the final qualifying spot for the A main and then advanced 9 spots to finish 13th! Robinson & Knighten didn't arrive until Friday when both finished 7th in their B mains, 4 spots short of transferring. Knighten was coming off a huge runner-up at the Acadiana Modified Nationals back on Nov 17th.
Dustin "Tater" Hyde brought his TRE Chassis down with Jamie Burford's and struggled at first. He did improve from a 16th in the rodeo B, to a 10th in the dryslick B and was much more competitive in the barnburner B where he missed the A by just one spot, after a 4th place run just behind Burford. Tater did out-finish some tough mod racers after some thrilling side-by-side action in that B too as Willy Kraft, Phil Dixon and Scott Green ended up behind him. Hyde finished sixth at Monticello's USMTS 73-car show back in July. By the way, the USMTS Southern Series returns to Monticello Speedway on Friday night, June 6th.
Derrick Grigsby came down with fellow Marshall resident Henigan in another Kraft Kar and came up just 2 spots short of a transfer at the train race and 3 spots short at the rodeo. Grigsby had his first mod win -- $1500 -- on November 10th at Paris Motor Speedway in northeast Texas.
Andy Clower dusted off his Modified and made the trip down from Grand Saline, Texas for Friday & Saturday and got a B-main 9th, twice. Clower had a top ten at Batesville's big $10,000 to win Stock Car show back in September.
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