|
(Savannah, GA) Alex Vickers
moved through the field on Saturday night waiting for his
chance at the number one spot in the Cindy McCurry Memorial
100 at Oglethorpe Speedway Park. Little did he know that
his only shot at leading the race would come in the last
fifty yards of the fifty-mile race.
Vickers spent
the majority of the night chasing Bloomingdale’s Bobby
Oglesby who had won the special summer event twice before
along with three seasonal points titles at the historic half
mile. Most everyone in attendance including Vickers thought
that Oglesby was on his way to a $5000 pay day. That is
until the final lap.
Oglesby took
the white flag with Vickers charging hard into turn one.
The two were nose to tail down the back stretch with Oglesby
riding the low side when his left rear tire blew exiting
turn four. Oglesby’s #37 Chevy slid to the high side almost
turning around while Vickers slid past and beat him to the
line by only ten feet. The stunned crowd stood in amazement
as Vickers claimed his first victory on the National Late
Model Series circuit. Oglesby hung on to finish in second
ahead of Jeremy Faircloth, Terry Lumley and Ivedent Lloyd.
Brian Turner, Ben Faircloth, Branden Yawn, Robbie Cowart and
Gary Spivey completed the top ten on Saturday night.
“That was an
unbelievable finish to a pretty interesting race,” said
series director Ray Miller. “Bobby looked like he had taken
good care of his tires and was on his way to the victory.
But, you never know at OSP. It’s never over until it’s
over.”
Oglesby was a
bit dismayed afterwards in the tech area blaming the race
track for the cause of his loss.
“I can’t
believe that a race track determines the winner of a race
like this,” said Oglesby at the tech area. “Blowing tires
is not racing.”
Similar to
many old race tracks in the nation, Oglethorpe Speedway Park
is a tire management track. Three years ago, Johnny Collins
blew a tire coming out of turn four allowing Henry Carter to
claim the Summer Sizzler 100 victory.
The National
Late Models will return in October of this year for the 8th
Annual Showdown on the Coast and the Budweiser 150 which is
the only dirt late model race in the country that goes 150
laps on a half mile speedway. The race will pay $10,000 to
the winner and culminate a weekend of racing that features
eleven divisions and over 300 race cars.
‘Rapid’ Ray
Collins completed a weekend sweep of the Love’s Seafood
Street Stock action with a victory in Saturday night’s
feature. Collins bested Albert Cosnahan for the second
straight night while Chris Litchfield ended up third. Brian
Barnes and Mike Crosby were among the top five while Timmy
Dasher, Wayne Page, John McCosker, Adam Chambers and Ray
Crosby rounded out the top ten.
Don Douglas
returned to victory lane for the second time this season as
he beat his twin brother Dan Douglas in the Southern Racing
Supplies Pure Stocks Saturday night. Rookie Jamie Hopkins
made a valiant run at the veteran Douglas brothers finishing
in third ahead of Buster Kleckley and Andy Stallings.
Anthony Parker, Chris Hinely, Cari Howze, Donnie Cannon and
Greg Annas rounded out the top ten of a large field of cars.
Other action
saw Danny Herrington win his third 440 series race in a row
while Jake Jacobs and Sam Odom topped the exciting field of
National Vintage Racers.
Official Results from
Saturday, July 23, 2005
National Late Models “Cindy
McCurry Memorial 100”: 1-Alex Vickers, Gray 2-Bobby
Oglesby, Bloomingdale 3-Jeremy Faircloth, Swainsboro
4-Terry Lumley, Swainsboro 5-Ivedent Lloyd, Ocala 6-Brian
Turner, Savannah 7-Ben Faircloth, Swainsboro 8-Branden
Yawn, Rincon 9-Robbie Cowart, Savannah 10-Gary Spivey,
Jacksonville, FL 11-Cecil Eunice, Blackshear 12-Tuck
Trentham, Deland, FL 13-Rod Wiggins, Swainsboro 14-Lonnie
Roberts, Sparks 15-Mike SEabolt, Gray 16-Toby Justice,
Waycross 17-DeWayne Johnson, Phenix City, AL 18-Ellis
Huggins, Richmond Hill 19-Brad Comer, Gray 20-Ken Ricks,
Adrian 21-Darrell Padgett, Jacksonville, FL 22-Steven
Howard, Bloomingdale 23-Mark Whitener, Middleburg, FL
24-Chesley Dixon, Swainsboro 25-Jordy Nipper, Gray
Love’s Seafood Street Stock
(Feature): 1-Ray Collins, Ellabell 2-Albert Cosnahan,
Guyton 3-Chris Litchfield, Rincon 4-Brian Barnes,
Bloomingdale 5-Mike Crosby, Savannah 6-Timmy Dasher,
Bluffton, SC 7-Wayne Page, Savannah 8-John McCosker,
Richmond Hill 9-Adam Chambers, Hinesville 10-Ray Crosby,
Savannah 11-Doc Leggett, Bloomingdale 12-Trace Kicklighter,
Bloomingdale 13-David Smith, Guyton 14-Michael Slater,
Stillmore 15-Billy Hopkins, Guyton 16-Brian White,
Ellabell 17-Donald Norby, Midway 18-Robert Diekemper,
Bloomingdale 19-Clint Sills, Bloomingdale 20-Mike Helmly,
Guyton 21-Dustin Collins, Ellabell
Southern Racing Supplies Pure
Stocks (Feature): 1-Don Douglas, Richmond Hill 2-Dan
Douglas, Hardeeville, SC 3-Jamie Hopkins, Guyton 4-Buster
Kleckley, Ridgeland, SC 5-Andy Stallings, Pembroke
6-Anthony Parker, Guyton 7-Chris Hinely, Rincon 8-Cari
Howze, Rincon 9-Donnie Cannon, Guyton 10-Gregh Annas,
Springfield 11-Charles Williams, Pembroke 12-Walter Sills,
Bloomingdale 13-John Loomis, Savannah 14-Molly Spencer,
Brooklet 15-Alfred Banks, Richmond Hill 16-Timmy Dasher,
Jr., Bluffton, SC 17-Doyce Glisson, Guyton 18-Jeff
Spencer, Brooklet 19-Daniel Douglas, Hardeeville, SC
20-John Rewis, Guyton 21-Mickey Ward, Pritchardville, SC
22-Terron Roberts, Walterboro, SC 23-Alan Wiggins,
Allenhurst
Four Star Security 440
(Feature): 1-Danny Herrington, Rincon 2-Michael Bean,
Guyton 3-Jason Rewis, Guyton 4-WR Rewis, Guyton 5-Phillip
Dickerson, Guyton 6-Clate Fail, Brooklet 7-Brian Nerich,
Richmond Hill 8-Ray Roberts, Guyton 9-Keith Bath,
Savannah 10-Clayton Floyd, Jr., Savannah 11-Gunny
Prescott, Guyton
|
