Old Glory takes a lap around Jones Motor Speedway
Aug. 20th. (glennonphotos)
SUPR: Tippen Tackles
Birthday Win at Jones Motor Speedway
by Bryan Wimberley
CHATHAM, La. - Aug. 20. In one night at Jones Motor Speedway, Allen Tippen of Minden, La., was
rewarded for the consistency he's put forth during the 2011 campaign on the O'Reilly Southern United
Professional Racing (SUPR) Series tour -and all coming together on his 37th birthday. Tippen took a
three-length victory over Timothy Culp of West Monroe, La., and collected $2,500 for his seventh career series
win on the circuit.
"It is kind of hard to describe this,"
Tippen said after the race. "It is hard to lead 50 laps from green-to-checkered and not get mentally
messed up, much less physically. It was a tiring race and I was probably making it worse on myself than what it
actually was. When we took off, I went at things a little differently, I tried to drive a little smoother
and tried to keep from spinning
Ray Moore gets into the marbles and tags the guardrail during hot laps at JMS.
The former SUPR Series champion was unfazed as he finished the night with a third place showing.
(glennonphotos)
the tires at the beginning. I knew it was going to
latch up and I knew that tires were going to be a game. We went with a hard tire - I believe most
everybody did. I had to run it hard at the end, because they put a little pressure on me. It seemed
to work out and this couldn't have came at a better time, since that drought we have had. I thought I had
forgot how to get to victory lane, but we have been close. We hit a little bit of bad luck, but it all turned
around for us tonight. I am hoping it will be like it was in '06, where we won a couple times back-to-back
during that season. I would like to thank my dad (Troy Tippen) and all my sponsors that make this happen for
us."
Tippen has been in the thick of the O'Reilly SUPR points battle all year, having eight top fives
in 20 events, including three straight runner-up finishes last month. It was Tippen's first win since
taking a hometown victory at Champion Park in March 2009 -69 races ago.
"Whenever the caution came out, I seen a lot of
tore up race cars behind us tonight," the elated driver added. "I kept it in my mind and was thinking about it
every time we got into lap traffic. We
certainly were trying to keep the body panels from being
knocked in and keep the nose clean. When Ray (Moore)
got up there - and I know how Ray is - he is slick and smooth, I figured he was
Allen Tippen gets a challenge from #93 Ray Koore before racing to Saturday's win at Chatham, Louisiana's Jones Motor Speedway. (glennonphotos)
waiting on something. I was trying to keep my cool
and waiting on him to make his move, he tried one time to get in there and backed off of it. I didn't even know
that Culp finished second until we parked the top three on the straightaway in front of the fans. Every
time I looked behind me on a caution, Ray was in second, so I was surprised by that. I was pumped up and
getting ready for the race to be brought to me and it never did happen where I could see it. It's just an
unbelievable feeling, to do this on my
birthday."
Culp had a handful of opportunities late in the race to gain the lead, after taking second with
14 laps to go. Culp would eventually settle for second during a caution-filled 50-lap feature. Moore, of
Haughton, La., who has been almost invincible at the Chatham quarter-mile oval lately, took third. After
being out for several weeks, Troy Berdan of Minden, returned to register an impressive fourth-place finish,
followed in the top five by Nicholas Brown of Hodge, La.
Ronny Adams gets a nudge from #8 Timothy Culp while racing fellow SUPR Series
veteran Rob Litton for third at Jones Motor Speedway. Culp ultimately advanced to
second. (glennonphotos)
Polesitter Tippen jumped to the lead at the drop of the green as Bubba Mullins, Culp, Rob Litton
and Morgan Bagley trailed behind. Sixth-starting Moore entered the top five, getting by Bagley just three laps
in. On lap 10, Tippen would encounter the back of the field, already having to negotiate lap
traffic.
Two-time SUPR champion Rob Litton of Alexandria, La., and Culp would battle for third position
for several laps, trading back-and-forth until a lap 13 caution appeared. Once leader Allen Tippen cleared a
couple lap cars, second through sixth positions were briefly held up, with congestion blocking the track,
leaving them nowhere to go. The first yellow saw all those frontrunners being involved, as Bagley received the
worst end of it and restarted on the tail.
Litton and Culp continued waging their battle on the restart, as Litton gained the upper hand
for second. Moore appeared on Litton's decklid on lap 16, challenging for position. Sixth starting Moore
advanced on Litton, then put Tippen in his crosshairs. Litton would then find himself fighting for third
with Ronny Adams, as the pair rubbed doors down the backstretch, one lap later.
At the front, Moore made an underneath move on Tippen on lap 19, but Tippen held his ground to
maintain the lead. Two laps later, Tippen and Moore were side-by-side for the top spot. Again Tippen was
able to edge forward ahead of Moore. Moore fought right back, going even lower onto the dry berm of turns one
and two, but it wouldn't be enough to complete the pass.
A third caution halted the action briefly, but back underway, Tippen and Moore continued. Tippen
had a slim half-length lead on Moore on lap 26, as a five-car break-away of Tippen, Moore, Adams, Litton and
Culp ensued four laps later.
Troy Berdan races outside of Morgan Bagley before posting fourth place, one of his
best showings so far this season. Nagley, an early frontrunner, was involved in one of several
cautions and had to tag the field. (glennonphotos)
On lap 31, lack of patience, coupled with aggressive driving, saw three consecutive cautions
involving the top seven of the running order, to come under fire. In one incident, sixth-running Chris Holley
of Dayton, Tex., was left nearly stuck on the infield barrier of turns one and two, having nowhere to go.
Holley later broke free, but eased to a stop on the backstretch.
The next incident had Culp getting in hot under Litton on a restart, before a lap could be
completed, bringing out another caution. Four other cars would be involved in the accident, including fourth
running Ronny Adams of Diana, Texas. Adams would retire in 17th and Litton
restarted in 15th.
Back to green, Moore and Culp fought for second on lap 32, as Tippen edged out to a three-length
lead with 15 to go. After a five-lap war, Culp moved underneath Moore to take the runner-up position. Grip
looked to become an issue with some drivers up front, as Moore was drifting up in the corners, finding
it harder to hold his no. 93 down low. After getting around Moore, Culp
wasting very little time in closing the gap on leader, Tippen. Culp took a lap 37 peek at Tippen in turn two
for the lead, but Tippen managed to keep the black-and-orange No. 71a out front.
The final caution waved on lap 42, for the stalled car of Jim Bryant on the straightaway, giving
Culp eight laps to formulate a plan of action to steal a late race win from Tippen.
Tippen got the all important good restart and powered out to several lengths on
Culp. Culp was able to draw closer by driving deep into the corners, but Tippen was
able to expand on the lead back down the straightaways. On the white flag lap, Culp would draw to five lengths,
then four, then three, but could not show his nose to Tippen in time to make him succumb to the pressure. Both
exited turn four strong, but Tippen hit his marks to cross under the flagstand for his first series victory in
29 months.
Notes: Tippen's MasterSbilt by Mars is powered by a Jay Dickens Racing
Engine and sponsored by Smith's Towing, J&J Motorsports, Troy's Auto Salvage & Metal Recycling, Hayco
Transport, Troy Tippen Racing, Hoosier Racing Tires, Mars Race Cars and X-Treme Graphics.
* In the very near future, Tippen plans to add to his stable of cars, raising it by one and
placing it beside the MasterSbilt by Mars he won in Saturday, and an old reliable, solid orange '99 GRT he
can't part ways with.
Still struggling through one of his leanest years ever, defending series
champion Rob Litton, who ran as high as second early on before getting spun out and being flagged to the
rear, gets a look at Ray Moore before settling for a ninth place outing.
(glennonphotos)
Tippen explained, "As a matter of fact, a lot of
people don't know this and I wasn't going to say anything about it, but we have another car coming from Jimmy
(Mars). It's another MasterSbilt, but it is one that was Jimmy's ran locally with, and (New Richmond, Wis.
driver) Pat Doar drove it some. We are excited about getting it, because I know how good this MasterSbilt
by Mars car right here is. It seems to be getting better and better. (Jimmy) is putting a new body,
sheetmetal, some interior on and we are trying to work out delivery for it. Ray (Moore) has been
affiliated with those guys and we talked a lot. Ray has been instrumental in it all and got me started in these
race cars, so surely need to thank him for what he has done too."
Tippen was able to gain 46 points on series leader Morgan Bagley, but still stands in third,
currently behind Timothy Culp. Tippen has finished in the top
five the last two seasons in the final series point standings (third in '10 and fourth in '09).
"The only thing I have to do now, is take chances.
I just have to take the chances and go for the wins, because if the wins come, the points will follow. It is
going to fall where it falls, but at least we know we have the capabilities to get it done. I have never been
to Battleground before, but I kind of like them wide-type, bigger tracks like that. We are going to try
something a little different this time, probably will take our spec motor this type around -we'll see. If we
can come out strong in these next four races
through Labor Day Weekend, then it could potentially all fall into place, but I am tired of finishing
second and third -we will be going for it!" said Tippen.
The win was also Tippen's second at the Chatham-track, with the last victory coming in June
2006.
* The green flag dropped on the feature at 10:50 pm. The race
was slowed by eight cautions, with (12) cars on the lead lap.
* Troy Berdan would be the top ten hard charger of the feature, going from 12th to fourth. The
fourth-place finish was by far, Berdan's best series effort since being in a Dirt Late Model for approximately
a year now.
"It was a long night for us, going from 12th to
fourth and it got a little rough," Berdan said. "The track was slick at the start, but it got good for us
at the end. I thought I had Ray Moore towards the end, but a caution put him back in front of me and that is
where we stayed. We had some oil pan and timing cover issues that
sidelined us for a little while. We didn't want to risk losing a motor over it, before we couldn't pinpoint
what the problem was. So we took our time and put it back together, which had us out for at least six weeks or
so. We want to continue to get comfortable in
this Late Model for the future and try to get my kids
more involved in what we are doing. My daughter is out here running her car, while I run the Late Model. It is
a family-oriented deal for us and all about the kids. But it is
awesome to know that our hard work is
Allen Tippen surrounded by sopme pretty ladies
after his big win at Chatham.
(glennonphotos)
paying off with the type of finish we had tonight. It is hard to explain,
because if you haven't never been there, then you will never understand it. It is one of those deals where I
always wanted to run a Dirt Late Model, you can see them on television and now I am knocking on the door of a
top three finish. It is our goal to get a top three in the series by the end of the season, hopefully we
can follow it all the way through with the races winding down."
The dirt racing world is fairly new to the Minden, La. driver, who has only
been on dirt for about four years now and originally hails from the northern part of the
country.
"I've had three years of
dirt racing prior to Late Models and jumped from the Hot Stocks division. My background in racing is all
asphalt racing, so this is a new thing for me. There is most definitely a learning curve involved, but it has
been fun for us in getting here. I like it better than running asphalt. I ran Late Models on asphalt, but begun
in Cruisers/Bombers way back when. We worked our way up to an asphalt Late Model and ran them all over the
State of Michigan. We are from a General Motors' town, north of Detroit and east of Flint (in Davison, Mich.), but work brought
us down to northwest Louisiana and we are still racing," Berdan
said.
Paint-swapping at Jones Motor
Speedway. (glennonphotos)
Two-time track champion, Nicholas Brown, would hurry home Saturday morning
from his week-long Florida vacation in Panama City, making the nine-hour trip to take part in SUPR's second
event of the season at Chatham. Brown made the worthwhile rush back to the Bayou State, recording his second
series top five finish of the season - both at Jones. The 13th-starting Brown finished fifth, but would
have to come further back than that, after getting involved in a lap 13 caution. Brown also has four other
unsanctioned top fives this season at Jones Motor Speedway, including a $1,000-victory on June 4th. He
last won the track title at Chatham in 2008, formerly called Fast Trax Speedway.
A faulty radiator cut short Gary Christian's pursuit of a second series victory in '11.
Christian of Broken Bow, Okla., finished 20th in his Pannell Motorsports-owned No. 58x car.
The O'Reilly SUPR Series is next set to appear at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas on
Saturday, August 27th, for the first time since August 1998. The race at the 3/8-mile speedway is a
$2,500-to-win event.
Allen Tippen takes David Corbello's double checkers at Jones Motor
Speedway. (glennonphotos)
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
NALMS Suspends Remaining Season
In a statement released to the racing media Monday, Northern All All Stars Late Model Series (NALMS) owners Shawn Hall and Bob Mooney relased the following statement:
To all NALMS drivers and fans,
Northern Allstars Late Model Series regrets to inform all of our drivers and fans that as of today (May 14, 2012) we will suspend all series races for the remaining 2012 season. The primary reason for the decision to discontinue the series was mainly economics. Tracks, teams and fans are having a hard time these days with the cost of living in general. With the cost of fuel, parts, tires, tickets and lodging, many people just cannot afford to travel to our shows, so we feel it's best to stop for now and try to regroup for the 2013 season.
Our series needs to be able to have at least 18 to 20 shows to cover our cost of putting on these shows and our drivers point funds. With many tracks cutting back on their special events and other tracks just choosing not to have specials at all, it's has really cut our options for race tracks down to a very few unless you are willing to travel several hours away from the Central Illinois area, and that is not cost effective for the racing teams or fans.
In closing we would like to thank all of the drivers and fans whom have supported the series over the years and we hope to be able to come back with a bigger and better season for everyone in 2013.
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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