Defending O’Reilly USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee won a thriller in the 30-lap O’Reilly United Sprint Car Series feature race at Greenville Speedway in Greenville, Mississippi on Saturday night. Gray chased rising O’Reilly USCS star Bryce Vowan from Forrest City, Arkansas for 29 and ¾ laps then made a daring move midway through the final turn of the race around the outside of Vowan and raced the final 100 or so yards to victory lane for his ninth series win of the season.
The duo put on an unbelievable show for the Greenville Speedway fans. Vowan started on the pole and raced into the lead at the tacky quarter mile black gumbo clay oval with Chris Williams from Memphis, Tennessee chasing on lap one before Gray who started fourth moved in to take up the chase on the second circuit. Vowan and Gray started to pull away from Williams and the field by lap six when Vowan demonstrated the track’s adhesion by pulling a giant wheel-stand as he past the main grandstand from turn four all the way into turn one traveling the entire length of the front stretch on his rear wheels. The veteran Gray seemed to have the advantage as the pair worked their way through lapped traffic at the race’s mid-point. Vowan would pull away from Gray when the duo reached the clear and he seemed headed for his first O’Reilly USCS career win. On lap 28, a caution flag brought out for Ronny Howard’s mechanical failure after he had raced from twelfth place into third place bunched the field behind Vowan With Gray once again on his tail, Vowan appeared to be covering a possible move by Gray in the bottom groove when Gray went hard into turn three on the top side of track on the final lap and made the move stick to exit that turn in the lead. There were a lot of outstanding performances including Howard’s march to the front before his driveline failure. No less spectacular was Greg Merritt’s charge from fifteenth starting position into the third position at the finish. Merritt gained his final two spots on the last two laps running the same line through turns three and four as the winner did. Lee Sowell finished in the fourth position. Sowell got the raw end of the K&N Filters Pole Award draw after winning the first heat race then drawing a six inversion. Chris Williams matched his series best effort by finishing in the fifth position. Another Hoosier Tire Young Gun Cody Gardner from Benton, Arkansas headed the next group in sixth followed by the July 21st O’Reilly USCS Greenville Speedway feature winner, Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas in seventh. Timmy Thrash from Biloxi, Mississippi finished in eighth place followed by Donny Howard in ninth and Joe Young from Benton, Arkansas rounded out the top ten. Gray dominated the evening’s pay window collections with $2300 with a clean sweep performance by first winning the 6-lap Lucas Oil Power Dash, then capturing the win in the 10-lap FSR Racing Products Third Heat Race. Gray then raced from his sixth place starting position to victory lane in the 30-lap O’Reilly United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com main event. Two highly competitive entries had misfortunes during the evening. Former and two-time O’Reilly USCS Champion and Mid-South hot-shoe, Eddie Gallagher from Piperton, Tennessee left the race while running in the fifth position with no brakes. Justin Sturch from Benton, Arkansas blew a motor while leading his heat race. Terry Gray won the evening’s 6-lap Lucas Oil Power Dash. Lee Sowell won the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat Race. Five time series National Champion, Eddie Gallagher won the Butlerbuilt Second Heat. Terry Gray won the FSR Racing Products Third Heat Race. Greg Merritt garnered the events Huggins Cams Hard Charger award for his charge from fifteenth starting position into third place at the finish of the 30-lap A-Main event. Chris Williams was awarded the Robison Racing Products Rookie of the Race. Bryce Vowan snagged the K&N Filters Pole Award after Lee Sowell drew him to the pole in the K&N inversion draw. Lee Sowell was recognized as the Hoosier Tire Young Gun of the Race, which is awarded to the top-finishing driver under twenty-five years old. The next O’Reilly USCS is at famed Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida on Saturday, September 29th. That event awards National and Southern Thunder regional series points.