SUPR: Stuart a Hits
"Home" Run as SUPR Returns
to 171 Speedway
Bryan Wimberley
LEESVILLE, La. - July 1. Hometrack driver, Robbie Stuart of DeRidder, La., maked good in the
O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) Series return to 171 Speedway, with a 40-lap, flag-to-flag
victory in front of a near capacity crowd Friday. Stuart's win was his fourth overall in the series and his
first one since Aprill 2007 at Houston Raceway Park (now Royal Purple Raceway).
A lengthy delay for area thunderstorms that produced some dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning,
didn't hamper Stuart's momentum as he claimed a starting spot on the front-row. Stuart then raced to a
one-second victory over third-starting Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Tex., to collect a $2,000 payday.
"I
Impressive newcomer, Morgan Bagley of Longview, Tex., claimed third, followed by Timothy Culp of
West Monroe, La., and B.J. Robinson rounding out the top five finishers.
Stuart beat polesitter Timothy Culp to lead lap one with Sitton, Bagley and Rob Litton giving
chase. Sitton was take second from Culp, but a same lap caution for Chad Dupont making contact with the wall,
would erase his efforts. With existing damage from the first caution, Dupont would
again hit the wall after contact with Paul Joyner, to bring out a second consecutive yellow.
The race would struggle to get going again, when a turn four, two-car incident on lap three
brought out yet another caution.
On the restart, Stuart resumed the point and began to open up a small advantage in the next
several laps. The field started to settle in for a green flag run of 15 laps, as single file ran supreme
throughout most of the pack.
Sitton again closed and stuck a nose under Culp for second, but Culp fought off the
challenge and held his ground. Stuart caught lap traffic on the 11th circuit, which enabled Culp to close
within four lengths.
Culp looked underneath Stuart for the lead change on lap 14, but he too would be denied. Two
laps later, Culp chose the wrong line in negotiating traffic and got shuffled back four positions.
Stuart, now trailed by Sitton and Bagley, began feeling the pressure at the halfway mark of the
race. Sitton never lost sight of Stuart, but getting around him proved a far more difficult task. Again the
field lined up one behind the other, as the laps clicked down to 15 to go.
On lap 30, the top five cars had built a full straightaway advantage on sixth-running Rob
Litton. Battles began breaking out the final seven laps, as Sitton puts his frontend under the No. 6R car in
first. Sitton couldn't make it stick long enough to claim the spot, but two laps later, he was under the gun by
Bagley himself.
After shutting the door on Bagley, Sitton would make one last attempt to pass Stuart. Like the
rest of the times, Stuart fought off the challenge with three to go and would cross the line in front of an
applauding crowd, making it well worth the 14-year wait of the return of the O'Reilly SUPR Series to 171
Speedway.
Stuart explained, "
Notes: Stuart's MasterSbilt by Stuckey race car is powered by Collins Engine
Works and sponsored by Stuart Timber, Century 21 Steve Delia & Associates, X-Treme Graphics, MavTV and
Stuckey Enterprises Racing.
* The checkered flag waved on the 30-minute feature at 1:28 am and was slowed by five
cautions.
* Before claiming the win at 171, Stuart had raced ten times in 2011, with a best series finish
of fourth, coming at USA Speedway in Sterlington.
* Stuart also claimed an unsanctioned victory in May at the newly re-opened facility in
Leesville, over defending series champion Rob Litton.
* "
* Stuart grabbed a win last summer in the only race of the Texas State Late Model Racing Series
at 105 Speedway in Cleveland, Texas -that series never materialized and is now defunctional.
* Three-time O'Reilly Auto Parts SUPR Series champion, David Ashley, won the only other series
visit to 171 Speedway back in August 1997.
* B.J. Robinson of Blanchard, La., was the feature's hard charger, going from
10th-to-fifth.
* O'Reilly SUPR points leader, Morgan Bagley, increased his points lead by only three points
over Timothy Culp, to 201.
* Kevin Sitton moves past Allen Tippen of Minden, La., in SUPR points, taking third place by 35
points. Tippen experience a broken tie rod from contact with Culp during the feature and resulted in a 16th
place finish.
* "
* Within the last two weeks, 171 Speedway removed (42) loads of dirt and hauled in (54) loads of
red clay dirt, giving the track new turns.
* "
* Doug Begnaud of Cypress, Tex., had a battery cable come loose in heat race. After doing some
repairs and thinking the issue was resolved, the problem surfaced again for an early feature exit and a 20th
place finish.
* Derek Perkins of Oakdale, La., blew an engine in hot laps and scratched from the rest of the
night's program.
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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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