USCS: Cordele results 2004-10-02

Adams Rolls To USCS Win In Cordele, GA

CORDELE, GA - Not even Hurricane Jeanne could slow down Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL, as he rolled to his 15th United Sprint Car Series win of the season Saturday night at Watermelon Capital Speedway in the 40-lap USCS Asphalt Thunder Sunbelt Ford of Cordele Night of Thunder before a packed house.

On Sunday morning, wind and rain from Hurricane Jeanne collapsed the garage roof of Adams' shop on top of his race car.

Adams came from the fourth starting spot in his Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott, took the lead from Danny Martin Jr. of Sarasota, FL on lap two, and never looked back. The victory gave Adams a "clean sweep" of the night's action, as he also was the fast qualifier, and won the six-lap Air Flow Research Power Dash and the eight-lap Koolbeans Trophies first heat race.

Defending and three-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN all but put a lock on his fourth straight title with a second-place finish in the Goodson Farms/Wendy's Maxim/Wesmar. Martin took the third spot in the Martin Structures, Inc. Hurricane/ZRE after a photo finish with Will Ragsdale of Easley, SC in the Chick-Fil-A Clincher/ERI.

The 1997 USCS Champion Red Stauffer of Winter Park, FL drove the C&B Mushrooms Shaw/Ott home to the fifth spot, and Ted Williams of Atlanta, GA was sixth in the GMP/Sanders Engineering Hurricane/Ott. Shane Butler of Tampa, FL started 13th and finished seventh in the Katz Well Drilling Hurricane/Gaerte.

Butler's teammate Troy DeCaire of Tampa, FL took the eighth spot in the Bushnell Quick Lube Hurricane/Butler and was the Rookie of the Race. Doug Gold of Concord, NC was ninth in the Heintz Performance Gold/Jerico, and R.J. Johnson of Decatur, TN rounded out the top ten in the Tinsley Engineering Schnee/Slobuilt.

Martin grabbed the lead at the start of the race from his outside front row starting spot followed by Adams, Gray, polesitter DeCaire, and Ragsdale. On lap three, Adams looked to the inside of Martin coming off the fourth turn and made the pass for the lead down the backstretch. Gray got around Martin for the second spot on lap five.

The first of four caution flags came out on lap eight when Tom Winegardner Jr. of Pierson, FL spun the Snap-On Tools Hurricane/WRP in turn four. It was a family affair after the restart, as Tom Winegardner Sr. of Pierson, FL, spun his Snap-On Tools J&J/WRP in turn three.

The third caution flag was unfurled on lap 12 when Skeeter Faulconer of Lutz, FL spun the American Trading Post and Pawn Hurricane/Skeeter in turn one. Adams led Gray, Martin, DeCaire, and Ragsdale down for the restart.

When the field went back to green, Ragsdale was a man on a mission, as he stepped to the outside groove from his fifth spot on lap 13 to pass DeCaire and Martin, and move up to third. The field was slowed for a final time on lap 15 when Winegardner Sr. spun in turn one, and was done for the evening.

For the remainder of the race, it was Adams leading Gray, but behind them, Ragsdale and Martin battled for the third spot in heavy lapped traffic. Martin took over the third spot on lap 37, but slowed suddenly coming off the fourth turn for the checkered flag. Ragsdale made a charge for the position, but fell short by a half car-length.

Adams set a new track record during qualifications with a lap around the 4/10-mile paved oval in 13.510 seconds for an average speed of 106.588 miles per hour. Gray won the second heat race, and Martin won the third heat race.

Adams' teammate, stepson, and crew chief Bryn Gohn of Malabar, FL was the Huggins Cams Hard Charger of the Race after starting his Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott 21st and finishing 14th. Jimmy Taylor of Green Pond, SC finished 12th in the Taylor Automotive and Machine Eagle/Taylor, and won the FSR Performance Award.

The Weld Racing hard Luck Award went to Wendy Mathis of Brandon, FL who blew the engine in her Eagle Jet International Hurricane/Mathis during her qualifying run.

The next event for USCS will be an Asphalt Thunder show at Mobile International Speedway in Mobile, AL on Saturday night, October 9. For more information visit the USCS web site at www.uscsracing.com.

<pre> OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 32 AT WATERMELON CAPITAL SPEEDWAY IN CORDELE, GA ON 10/2/04:

POS  STRT CAR#  DRIVER HOMETOWN                 LAPS
1.   4    4a    Kenny Adams Malabar, FL         40
2.   3    10    Terry Gray Bartlett, TN         40
3.   2    00    Danny Martin Jr. Sarasota, FL   40
4.   6    29    Will Ragsdale Easley, SC        40
5.   5    2s    Red Stauffer Winter Park, FL    39
6.   7    2w    Ted Williams Atlanta, GA        39
7.   13   18    Shane Butler Tampa, FL          39
8.   1   118    Troy DeCaire (R) Tampa, FL      39
9.   9     8    Doug Gold Concord, NC           39
10.  14   15    R.J. Johnson (R) Decatur, TN    38
11.  8    27    Randy Helton Palmetto, GA       38
12.  11   32    Jimmy Taylor Green Pond, SC     38
13.  15 11jr    Tom Winegardner Jr. Pierson, FL 38
14.  21   4b    Bryn Gohn Malabar, AL           37
15.  17    5    Dave Thorman Greenville, SC     37
16.  19    6    Skeeter Faulconer Lutz, FL      37
17.  18   2x    Don Mee Orlando, FL             37
18.  12   40    Troy Lowery Martin, TN          37
19.  10   67    Brian Thomas Auburn, GA         29
20.  16   6f    J.J. Dutton Tampa, FL           15
21.  23 11sr    Tom Winegardner Sr. Pierson, FL 15
22.  20    7    Mike Love Ocala, FL              7
DNS  22   80    Wendy Mathis Brandon, FL

LEAD CHANGES:  1
LAP LEADERS:  Martin, 1-2; Adams, 3-40
LAPS LED:  Adams, 38; Martin, 2
CAUTIONS:  4

HUGGINS CAMS HARD CHARGER:  Gohn (started 21st and finished 14th)
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD:  Mathis
FSR PERFORMANCE AWARD:  Taylor
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  DeCaire

USCS NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 10/2/04:

  1.  Terry Gray                4618
  2.  Danny Martin Jr.          4290
  3.  Kenny Adams               4186
  4.  R.J. Johnson (R)          3878
  5.  Brice Wrenn               2986
  6.  Chad Allum                2712
  7.  Tom Winegardner Jr.       2632
  8.  Red Stauffer              1858
  9.  Jim Raptis                1754
  10. Butch Pendergrass         1742
  11. Doug Gold                 1646
  12. Randy Helton              1562
  13. Dave Thorman              1544
  14. Bronzie Lawson            1504
  15. Bryn Gohn                 1478
  16. Will Ragsdale             1380
  17. Bruce Cline               1338
  18. Jeremy Scott              1206
  19. Scott Christian           1166
  20. Brian Thomas              1146

R - Denotes Rookie of the Year Candidate

-uscs-