USCS: Radford race report

Gray Picks up Second USCS Win of the Season in Radford, Va

RADFORD, VA - Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN picked up his second United Sprint Car Series win of the season Saturday night at Motor Mile Speedway driving the Goodson Farms/Wendy's Maxim/Wesmar. Gray took the lead from Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL on lap 26, and then held off a hard charging Joe Rebman of Mansfield, OH for the victory in the 40-lap main event.

Rebman was a thorn in Gray's side for most of the race, as they battled side-by-side for the second spot. Gray said he knew he had to drive hard to keep the "Buckeye Bandit" driver behind him at the finish of USCS Asphalt Thunder show making its first appearance ever at Motor Mile Speedway.

"Kenny (Adams) looked like he was having some trouble when I passed him for the lead," Gray said. "But I knew from the battle I had with that 77 car (Rebman), that once he got by Kenny, he'd be all over me, and that I had to drive hard to keep him behind me."

Rebman had a near miss with disaster on lap 29 while battling with Adams and Will Ragsdale of Greenville, SC for the second spot. Rebman almost spun his Rebman Truck Service Beaberbuilt/Gressman in turn one, but recovered, went on to pass Adams for second, and then chased down Gray in the closing laps.

Rebman came up short, and had to settle for second spot. Rebman also won the second eight-lap heat race. Adams hung on to an ailing Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott to claim the third spot. Adams led the first 25 laps of the race, but fell off the pace with a suspension-related problem.

Ragsdale led the "Carolina Cruisers" by bringing his Chick-Fil-A Clincher/ERI home in the fourth spot, and Rebman's teammate, Don Townsend of Columbus, OH rounded out the top five in the Rebman Truck Service Beaberbuilt/Gressman.

Danny Martin Jr. of Sarasota, FL led the "Florida Fountain of Youth Gang" while debuting a new Martin Structures, Inc. Hurricane/ZRE over the weekend. The 18-year-old high school Senior started 11th and finished sixth. Buckeye Bandit member Doug Berryman of Mansfield, OH took the seventh spot in his Rebman Truck Service Beaberbuilt/Gressman as the last car on the lead lap.

Frank Neill of Vickery, OH was eighth in the Cyclone Services Beaberbuilt/Griff, with ninth spot going to Jimmy Taylor of Green Pond, SC in the Taylor Automotive and Machine Eagle/Taylor. Butch Pendergrass of Winston-Salem, NC rounded out the top ten in the Pro Life Maxim/Harp.

After the USCS entrants dodged rain drops for the second day in-a- row, Adams was on a pace for a "clean sweep" of the evening's racing program. During qualifications, the "Malabar Missile" broke the all-time Motor Mile Speedway track record by over three seconds, turning the 4/10-mile high-banked paved oval in 13.530 seconds for an average speed of 106.430 miles per hour.

The six lap Air Flow Research Power Dash was the next conquest for Adams, and then he went on to win the first eight-lap heat race. That victory gave Adams the honors to pull one of three numbers out of a hat to decide the inversion of the feature race starting field. With an "0", a "4", and a "6" to choose from, Adams was still on a roll, as he pulled the "0" for a straight up start.

When the green flag fell for the 40-lap feature race, polesitter Adams took the lead from Gray, who started on the outside of the front row. Ragsdale settled into the third spot followed by Townsend and Rebman.

Coming from the sixth starting spot, Rebman blew past his teammate Townsend on lap three for the fourth spot, and then battled with Ragsdale for third, until he moved around him on lap five. It wasn't long before the leaders began the lapping process. Adams had checked out in the lead, but Rebman closed in to apply heavy pressure to Gray for the second spot.

A caution flag for the stalled AAA Plumbing Hurricane/Davis driven by Rutherfordton, NC's Brad Davis closed the field up for the restart. Adams pulled away for a few laps, but his car suddenly began to fall off the pace. Gray, Rebman, and Ragsdale closed in and brought the crowd to their feet.

Gray worked to the inside of Adams in turn one on lap 26 to grab the point coming off the second turn. While Adams sorted out his handling problem from the cockpit, Rebman and Ragsdale caught Adams in lapped traffic.

Coming off the fourth turn on lap 29, the second place battling trio came up on the lapped car of R.J. Johnson of Wesley Chapel, FL. The young Rookie of the Year point leader got a big lesson, as he went four-wide down the front chute with Adams, Rebman, and Ragsdale.

Adams got to the corner first, and Rebman on the bottom of the track almost spun trying to get into the racing groove behind Adams. Rebman gathered up his mount, and took off after Adams. On lap 31, Rebman passed Adams for the second spot, and then he was in hot pursuit of Gray, who had opened up a half-straightaway lead.

Ragsdale couldn't get around Adams, as Adams found a line he and his race car could live with to keep a fast steady pace. While Gray worked lapped traffic, Rebman raced for Gray's rear nerf bar. The laps wound down quicker than Rebman could make up the difference.

Bill Moore of Denver, NC started his Carolina Speedway J&J/Collins from the 18th starting spot, and finished 11th to earn the Huggins Racing Cams Hard Charger of the Race Award. Johnson finished 14th in the Race Wear/Pin Rings J&J/CRE for Rookie of the Race honors.

Ben Basinger of Salisbury, NC won the Weld Racing Hard Luck Award after a mechanical problem kept his Red Star Motorsports Clincher/Basinger from answering the bell for the main event.

The next event for USCS will be an Asphalt Thunder race at Senoia Speedway in Senoia, GA on May 8. For the latest USCS news, information, points, and statistics, visit the series' web site at www.uscsracing.com.

<pre> OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 9 AT MOTOR MILE SPEEDWAY IN RADFORD, VA ON 5/1/04:

POS STRT CAR# DRIVER            HOMETOWN                LAPS
1.  2    10   Terry Gray        Bartlett, TN            40
2.  6    77   Joe Rebman        Mansfield, OH           40
3.  1    4a   Kenny Adams       Malabar, FL             40
4.  3    29   Will Ragsdale     Greenville, SC          40
5.  5    77r  Don Townsend      Columbus, OH            40
6.  11   00   Danny Martin Jr.  Sarasota, FL            40
7.  4    1r   Doug Berryman     Mansfield, OH           40
8.  12   88   Frank Neill       Vickery, OH             39
9.  10   32   Jimmy Taylor      Green Pond, SC          39
10. 9    11   Butch Pendergrass Winston-Salem, NC       38
11. 18   06   Bill Moore        Denver, NC              38
12. 14   8    Doug Gold         Concord, NC             37
13. 15   11x  Tom Paterson      Argos, IN               36
14. 17   71   R.J. Johnson (R)  Wesley Chapel, FL       36
15. 13   87   Chad Allum        Kannapolis, NC          31
16. 8    4d   Brad Davis        Rutherfordton, NC       17
17. 7    2d   Doug Day          Winder, GA               3
18. 16   1    Ben Basinger      Salisbury, NC           DNS

ENTRIES: 18 LEAD CHANGES: 1 LAP LEADERS: Adams, 1-25; Gray, 26-40 LAPS LED: Adams, 25; Gray, 15

HUGGINS RACING CAMS HARD CHARGER:  Moore (started 18th and finished 11th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Johnson
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD:  Basinger

CAUTIONS:  1
AIR FLOW RESEARCH POWER DASH WINNER:  Adams
HEAT RACE WINNERS:  Adams and Rebman

QUALIFYING:

POS CAR# DRIVER                 C/E                     TIME    SPEED
1   4a   Kenny Adams            Shaw Ott                13.530  106.430
2   10   Terry Gray             Maxim Wesmar            13.820  104.197
3   29   Will Ragsdale          Clincher E.R.I.         13.870  103.821
4   1r   Doug Berryman          Beaberbuilt Gressman    13.960  103.152
5   77r  Don Townsend           Beaberbuilt Gressman    14.130  101.911
6   77r  Joe Rebman             Beaberbuilt Gressman    14.270  100.911
7   2d   Doug Day               Eagle Dingler           14.410   99.931
8   4d   Brad Davis             Hurricane Davis         14.410   99.931
9   11   Butch Pendergrass      Maxim Philip Harp       14.620   98.495
10  32   Jimmy Taylor           Eagle Taylor            14.650   98.294
11  87   Chad Allum             Allum Allum             14.720   97.826
12  00   Danny Martin Jr.       Hurricane ZRE           14.840   97.035
13  88   Frank Neill            Beaberbuilt Griff       14.860   96.904
14  1    Ben Basinger           Clincher Basinger       15.300   94.118
15  11b  Tom Paterson           Stealth Patterson       15.700   91.720
16  8g   Doug Gold              Gold Jerico             15.930   90.395
17  71   R.J. Johnson (R)       J&J CRE                 16.560   86.957
18  06   Bill Moore             J&J Collins             NT

AIR FLOW RESEARCH POWER DASH (6 Laps): 1. Adams 2. Rebman 3. Ragsdale 4. Gray 5. Martin 6. Townsend.

HEAT RACES (8 Laps - Top 4 Finishers Get Qualifying Time Back For Feature):

1ST HEAT: 1. Adams 2. Townsend 3. Ragsdale 4. Day 5. Pendergrass 6. Neill 7. Allum 8. Paterson 9. Johnson (R).

2ND HEAT: 1. Rebman 2. Gray 3. Berryman 4. Davis 5. Martin 6. Taylor; 7. Gold 8. Basinger 9. Moore.

USCS NATIONAL POINTS THROUGH 5/1/04: 1. Terry Gray 1272 2. Kenny Adams 1260 3. Danny Martin Jr. 1078 4. R.J. Johnson (R) 926 5. Brice Wrenn 784 6. Tom Winegardner Jr. 754 7. Red Stauffer 750 8. Butch Pendergrass 748 9. Bill Moore 638 10. Ben Basinger 624 11. Chad Allum 620 12. Curt Michael 542 13. Brian Thomas 526 14. Jerry Jones 490 15. Doug Gold 480 16. Joe Rebman 434 17. Doug Berryman 420 18. Will Ragsdale 404 19. Frank Neill 400 20. Brad Davis 362

(R) - Denotes Rookie of the Year Candidate

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