Schedule

Southern Ground Pounders Racing Club
Race #2 Report - Orange County Speedway - Saturday, April 12th 2007.
The second race of the season was held on Saturday, April 12th at Orange County Speedway after being rained out from Apr 5th. Mother Nature did her best to make us think we wouldn’t get this show in on April 12th either. In between the early practice sessions and qualifying, several rain showers moved over the speedway. But the track was quickly dried and qualifying began for the local divisions shortly thereafter. We had 19 cars show up to compete in the second race of the 2008 Historic Speedway Series.

Practice Report

The first practice clicked off like clockwork with nobody having any issues. Notes were taken and adjustments were made to the cars. Both classes shared the first practice because of the threatening rain we didn’t know if there would be another practice session at all.

But we did get another practice session right before the rains came. And that is when things got interesting… or should I say bent and broke. When the green flag dropped Sam Faucette lost his engine going into the third turn with Rodney Dye following right behind him. Sam did a quick loop and was able to stay down at the bottom of the race track. But Rodney was on the throttle of his brand new #73 Camero bodied sportsman car. Rodney was into the oil with no place to go and looped it several times and just barely kept the nose off the wall. But right behind him came the #91 of Tommy Buxton and the #33 of Jimmy Whitaker. Tommy was way off the throttle due to the flagger in turn three but when he hit the brakes the oil caused him to get out of shape. Tommy drove the car through the accident without a scratch on his new ride that is only 2 races old. Jimmy Whitaker basically ran into the same situation as Tommy and just barely grazed Rodney’s left rear tire. But Jimmy did spin and lightly tagged the wall with his left front and left rear corner panels. Luckily this only cased some minor cosmetic damage and didn’t bend anything in the suspension or a radiator. Everyone except for Sam Faucette was able to drive away to the pits for repairs. Tommy cleaned out his drawers after his close call, Jimmy used a hammer and tin snips and he was all set to go. But when Rodney inspected his car nothing was bent but a problem was discovered that was not caused by the spin or contact with the #33 machine at all. The rear-end had slipped in the mounts and caused a severe pinion angle and the left rear was kicked backed causing the car to be out of square. The problem was fixed before the feature, but Rodney knew it could happen again and kept an eye on it. More details to follow.

Sportsman Feature Race Report

Starting Lineup Inside Row Outside Row
Car# Driver Car# Driver
91 Tommy Buxton 8 Barry Parker
73 Rodney Dye 27 Bruce Burgess
7 Ken Faucette 3 James Brown
6 Gary Lloyd 33 Jimmy Whitaker

The sportsman race was the second race on the track for the evening’s program at Orange County speedway. Sam Faucette’s car was on the trailer so there were 8 cars lined up behind the pace car to take the green. But just as the field was being sent off behind the pace car, Rodney Dye felt the rear-end slip in his car and was pushed off the track. With 2 cars in the pits before the green even dropped, the show went on for the remaining field of cars.

When the green flag dropped Tommy Buxton jumped out to an early lead and was running a good smooth line with his new T-bird bodied #91. Ken Faucette was running strong as well as Gary Lloyd who is always strong at this track in his #6 Ford. Gary and Ken appeared to have the cars to beat and both worked their way to the front by lap 3. Tommy Buxton continued to run fast and smooth but was starting to get hounded from behind by Bruce Burgess who has found new life in his old Chevy. Bruce and Matt Faucette found a problem inside the rear-end of his car at the end of last season. After that issue was corrected and the car was setup again Bruce has been running very well during the first 2 races of the 2008 season. I believe these 2 races have been the strongest I’ve ever seen Bruce run. Good job “young” man!

There were no cautions during the sportsman feature race and only 1 car dropped out. That was the #33 of Jimmy Whitaker on lap 18. I don’t know why Jimmy dropped out and didn’t get to speak with him after the race to found out if it was a major mechanical issue or what. Hopefully the car is ok. Jimmy is still shaking out his new car that was just built this winter.

Back to the race, Gary Lloyd continued to lead with Ken Faucette staying right behind him and not leaving much breathing room. Bruce Burgess was able to work his way around the Buxton car with an inside move in turns 3 and 4 to hold down the third spot. Tommy held down forth place and Barry Parker continuing to get better and better with every race was holding onto a solid fifth place. And that is how they came across the line to finish the race. Another race in the books for the old sportsman cars who continually put on a competitive show for the fans. Hope evetyone enjoyed the show!

Sportsman Feature Results
Sportsman Feature Winner - Gary Lloyd
Sportsman Feature 2nd Place - Ken Faucette
Sportsman Feature 3rd Place - Bruce Burgess

The rest of the Sportsman Feature finishing order:
4th - (91) Tommy Buxton
5th - (8) Barry Parker
6th - (3) James Brown
7th - (33) Jimmy Whitaker
8th - (73) Rodney Dye

Modified Feature Race Report

Starting Lineup Inside Row Outside Row
Car# Driver Car# Driver
16 Daryl Gwynn (O) 98 Robert Isley (O)
77 Matt Faucette (L) 0 Ricky Seay (O)
08 Keith Maready (L) 00 Troy Gaston (L)
55 Buddy Richardson (L) 88 Randy Smith (O)
6 Gary Lloyd (L) 8 Randy Johnson (L)

The modified feature race was the second to last race of the night. We had some of our friends from the Southern Vintage Modified Association join us due to an opening in their schedule. They were Ricky Seay in his beautifully prepared Vega bodied open modified and Randy Smith in Monk Tate’s “Monk’s Junk” coach bodied open modified.

We also had a new driver join us driving his #8 limited modified. His name was Randy Johnson from Haw River, NC. Randy had raced years ago on the dirt and did some drag racing for awhile also. But this was his first time on an asphalt oval track in any type of car. Keith Maready jumped into Mickey Crutchfield’s new #88 machine (renumbered to #08 for this race) this week to give that car a run. Keith left his equipment at home this week.

Before the race began Troy Gaston had to make a left rear tire change due to a flat tire. That repair was made with the help of some crew members from other teams and Troy was able to join the field in his regular starting spot.

When the green flag dropped Robert Isley dropped the hammer on his #98 machine and took the lead from his outside pole starting position. Ricky Seay followed Robert in the outside line with Daryl Gwynn rounding out the top three. Gary Lloyd started his march to the front from his inside last row starting position until the caution waved on lap four.

Randy Johnson looped his #8 coupe in turns three and four right when the two leaders were coming down the back chute to start lapping the field. Ricky Seay was on the inside of Robert Isely and both were going at it hot and heavy for the lead. Unfortunately with Robert already in the outside line he clipped the nose of the #8 and basically tore the whole right side of his #98 machine off. Both cars had to be taken off on the hook with Robert’s car taking the most damage. This caused a 10 minute red flag condition until the track could be cleared of both cars and all the debris so as not to cut a tire down. Both drivers were just fine. The impact was one of those angles to where it looked worse than it was from a driver’s safety perspective. There was just a lot of tore up equipment.

When we went back to green Ricky Seay set sail never to be challenged for the lead. The 2 hot battles on the track were between the Gwynn #16 and Smith #88 machines for second and third places and on back in the field Keith Maready was giving the Crutchfield #88 coupe a good run and challenging the Lloyd #6 coach for the fifth position overall on the track.

The caution flew once more for Troy Gaston doing a simple spin in turn 4 and driving away without any other cars involved. The green flew again within a lap and everyone ran hard to the checked flag. Ricky Seay kept everyone on his toes on the last lap coming out of turn 4 for the checkers though. Ricky took the low line nice and easy but got low enough to get into some of the speedy dry on the bottom of the track from the Isley and Johnson accident earlier in the race. Ricky’s car started to come around on him but a quick save and right back in the throttle brought the #0 machine across the line in first place followed by Gwynn, Smith, Faucette, and Lloyd to round out the top 5. The tight battles back in the field continued all the way to the checkers to make for a very good race for the fans. The #77 Faucette limited modified finished really strong and not far behind the #88 open modified of Randy Smith.

And again we are glad all of our drivers were fine after the race. But the equipment will need a lot of elbow grease and numerous hours to get back to racing condition.

Open Modified Feature Results

Open Modified Feature Winner - Ricky Seay
Open Modified Feature 2nd Place - Daryl Gwynn
Open Modified Feature 3rd Place - Randy Smith

The rest of the Open Modified Feature finishing order:
4th - (98) Robert Isley

Limited Modified Feature Results

Limited-Modified Feature Winner - Matt Faucette
Limited-Modified Feature 2nd Place - Gary Lloyd
Limited-Modified Feature 3rd Place - Keith Maready
The rest of the Limited Modified Feature finishing order:
4th - (55) Buddy Richardson
5th - (00) Troy Gaston
6th - (8) Randy Johnson

Current Points Standings

Below are the current point standings for both tracks and the overall Historic Speedway Series. We have several thousand dollars in the fund to be divided up at the end of the year. So keep bringing out the cars and hopefully you will get some money in your pocket at the end of the year.

Historic Speedway Series Point Standings
Sportsman Limited Modified Open Modified
Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts
1 Gary Lloyd 100 1 Matt Faucette 100 1 Daryl Gwynn 98
2 Ken Faucette 96 2 Keith Maready 94 2 Robert Isley 92
3 Bruce Burgess 90 3 Buddy Richardson 90 3 Ricky Seay 50
4 Tommy Buxton 80 4 Troy Gaston 86 4 Randy Smith 46
5 Jimmy Whitaker 68 5 Gary Lloyd 48 5
6 Keith Maready 46 6 Gerald Duffey 42 6
7 Steve Powell 42 7 Mickey Crutchfield 40 7
8 Barry Parker 42 8 Randy Johnson 40 8
9 Sam Faucette 40 9 Cory Agee 38 9
10 James Brown 40 10 10
11 Ricky Pope 38 11 11
12 Kenny Deese 34 12 12

ACE Speedway - Southern Ground Pounders Point Standings
Sportsman Limited Modified Open Modified
Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts
1 Gary Lloyd 50 1 Matt Faucette 50 1 Daryl Gwynn 50
2 Ken Faucette 48 2 Keith Maready 48 2 Robert Isley 48
3 Keith Maready 46 3 Buddy Richardson 46 3
4 Bruce Burgess 44 4 Troy Gaston 44 4
5 Steve Powell 42 5 Gerald Duffey 42 5
6 Sam Faucette 40 6 Mickey Crutchfield 40 6
7 Ricky Pope 38 7 Cory Agee 38 7
8 Tommy Buxton 36 8 8
9 James Brown 34 9 9
10 Kenny Deese 32 10 10
11 Jimmy Whitaker 30 11 11

Orange County Speedway - Southern Ground Pounders Point Standings
Sportsman Limited Modified Open Modified
Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts Rank Driver Pts
1 Gary Lloyd 50 1 Matt Faucette 50 1 Ricky Seay 50
2 Ken Faucette 48 2 Gary Lloyd 48 2 Daryl Gwynn 48
3 Bruce Burgess 46 3 Keith Maready 46 3 Randy Smith 46
4 Tommy Buxton 44 4 Buddy Richardson 44 4 Robert Isley 44
5 Barry Parker 42 5 Troy Gaston 42 5
6 James Brown 40 6 Randy Johnson 40 6
7 Jimmy Whitaker 38 7 7

I need to make everyone aware of a little change in process that is going to delay the posting of the results. Because of the points for the Historic Speedway Series we will be using the final results from the speedway to determine the final finishing order. I have been unofficailly scoring these races to get the data posted quicker. But with the points and money involved I don't want to post the wrong information. So be patient after a race in the future. I will get the info posted as soon as we get the final results from the track. For this particular race from OCS, it was exactly 1 week before they posted the results. As you can see above we will be posting the points standings so everyone can keep up with them throughout the year. Sorry for the delay in posting but the accuracy of the information being posted needs to be primary concern. I hope everyone agrees.

Also note that for any of the new car owners and/or drivers the SGP rulebook is posted here on the website. Please review the rules for your division and adhere to them. The Tech committee is going to start checking cars for safety and rules infractions to make sure we run a good safe and competitive program. So make sure your cars are in spec to the rulebook.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down and be safe!

Steve
Come out and see us at our next event at Orange County Speedway on Saturday, April 26th.

Track	Date	Sportsman	Limited Modified	Modified
Ace Speedway	3-28-08	Gary Lloyd	Matt Faucette	Daryl Gwynn
Orange County Speedway	4-12-08	Gary Lloyd	Matt Faucette	Rick Seay
Orange County Speedway	4-26-08	Gary Lloyd	Matt Faucette	Ernie McBroom
Ace Speedway	5-16-08
Orange County Speedway	5-17-08
Ace Speedway	6-06-08
Orange County Speedway	6-14-08
Orange County Speedway	6-28-08
Ace Speedway	7-18-08
Orange County Speedway	7-26-08
Orange County Speedway	8-02-08
Ace Speedway	8-15-08
Orange County Speedway	8-23-08
Orange County Speedway	9-13-08
Ace Speedway	9-26-08
Orange County Speedway	10-04-08
Orange County Speedway	10-18-08
Orange County Speedway	11-12-08