April 12, 2008 - Tim Crawley from Benton Arkansas drove Mike Ward’s famed # 88 David McCarver powered car into victory lane in the 30 lap O’Reilly Auto Parts United Sprint Car Series www.uscsracing.com Night of Thunder at Checkered Flag Speedway in Hohenwald, Tennessee on Saturday night. It was Crawley’s second O’Reilly USCS win of the young season.
Crawley started in the K&N Filters pole position after Engler Machine and Tool First Heat winner and defending champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee drew a four in the K&N Filters Pole draw relegating himself to the outside of the second row and place Crawley, the 2002 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 360 Driver of the Year on the Pole. Crawley had finished in second place in the Butlerbuilt Second Heat. Henry Gustavus from Earle, Arkansas who followed Gray across the finish line in the first heat lined up next to the eventual winner outside the front row for the start of the main event.
On the initial start Ronny Howard from Southaven, Mississippi made hard contact in the first turn wall and flipped. This brought out the red flag. Howard was deemed to be okay but, his race car was unable to continue the battle. On the restart Crawley raced out to the lead while Gray chased Gustavus for the runner-up spot. On lap two Gray raced by Gustavus and was in torrid pursuit of the leader, Crawley. On lap four Jason Sides from Bartlett, Tennessee who started sixth moved into the third position with Gustavus in fourth place and Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas in the lead pack, in fifth position.
Before the races only other caution on lap fourteen for a stalled car on the track. Crawley had amassed a half straight-away lead over Gray by slicing his way quickly through lapped traffic. He had three cars between him and Gray on the restart for the final sixteen laps. Sides was sixth in the in the running order including lapped cars at that point. Skinner had move up to fourth with hard charging seventh starter Ernie Ainsworth from Memphis, Tennessee in the top five then. Gray continued to chase Crawley for the balance of the event looking for a chance to close in on him in lapped traffic, but Crawley aggressively put lapped traffic away. He raced out to a comfortable margin while bicycling twice between turns three and four and once passing four lapped cars on the outside of turns one and two.Sides closed the gap on Gray before the finish but he was unable to challenge him for the runner-up position. He finished in third place behind the six-time series Champion. Skinner, a past series Champion, raced home in the fourth position and 2007 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, Don Young also from Bartlett, Tennessee rallied from his tenth place starting position to finish in fifth.
Ernie Ainsworth in the Short Chambliss owned and wrenched #40 headed the next group in sixth place, followed by 1998 O’Reilly USCS Champion, Eddie Gallagher from Piperton, Tennessee in seventh. Wade Oliver from Southaven, Mississippi drove the Mike Pyles #58 home in the eighth position. The 2007 O’Reilly USCS Mid-South Thunder regional series Rookie of the Year, Chris Williams from Memphis, Tennessee was ninth. Veteran USCS racer Greg Merritt from Nesbit, Mississippi rounded out the top ten in the finishing order.
The 2006 O’Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year, Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas, kicked off the night’s action with a dominating win in the six cars, six-laps Lucas Oil Power Dash. He then had a fuel system problem eliminate him in the main event. Don Young garnered the Huggins Cams Hardcharger Award after passing the most cars in the main event. Young also was named the Hoosier tire young Gun of the race for the top finishing driver under 25 years old. Crawley claimed the K&N Filters Pole award. Gray and Skinner were the heat race winners.
Next up for the O’Reilly USCS on Saturday, April 19th is the second O’Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour event of the season at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, South Carolina. For more info please visit www.dillonmotorspeedway.com or visit the series official website at www.uscsracing.com