Trey Robb captures O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder event at Greenville Pickens Speedway. PDF Print E-mail
Greenville, SC - Teenager Trey Robb from Newcastle, Oklahoma won the O'Reilly Auto Parts United Sprint Car Series "Night of Thunder' 35 lap winged sprint car feature race at historic Greenville Pickens Speedway on Friday night before a large crowd. It was Robb's third O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder win of the season and second in a row. Robb and Mansfield Ohio's Doug Berryman started on the front row after a four inversion draw placed the two fastest qualifiers, defending series champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee and Ryan Myers from Eaton, Ohio in row two. On the initial start, Gray and Myers tangled in the first turn bringing out the yellow flag. On the restart Robb raced into the lead with Berryman in pursuit while Gray and Myers streaked back through the field. On lap four the caution flew again for debris on the track. By lap five Gray had moved up to third place and Myers into fifth. On lap six Myers passed former European road-racer and English transplant, Adam Jackson who presently hails from Florence, South Carolina to move back into the top four.
The race went caution free until lap twenty-five when Gray passed Doug Berryman for the runner-up spot entering turn one and the duo then tangled exiting the turn. After a long caution period to clear the wreck, both drivers re-started the event at the rear of the field. Robb continued to lead the race with Myers now in second place. On lap twenty-nine Terry Gray raced back past the field and passed Myers for the runner-up spot. On lap thirty-three the caution flag appeared again for Charles Ladner's spin in turn one during a tangle again involving Berryman. This caused a fuel stop with two laps to go.
On the re-start Gray accelerated past race-long leader Trey Robb into the lead and lead the final two laps to the checkered flag. After the race, when full details of an altercation between the two drivers following the lap twenty-five tangle between the cars of Terry Gray and Doug Berryman, the physical race winner Terry Gray was penalized after the event was over. Gray was scored back to the final finishing position of the cars running when the checkered flag fell. This placed Gray in ninth place in the final running order. Trey Robb was declared the winner.
Twenty year-old Ryan Myers came home in the runner-up spot. Doug Berryman recovered to finish in the third position over the last ten laps. Adam Jackson finished in the fourth spot. Randy Helton from Palmetto, Georgia rounded out the top five finishers. Doug Day from Winder, Georgia was sixth and Charles Ladner from Brandon, Florida finished in the seventh position followed by David Thorman from Greenville, South Carolina in eighth. Terry Gray was paid for the ninth position. Chad Livingston from Bellville, Ohio rounded out the top ten.
Terry Gray had fast time around the ½ mile paved oval with a lap of 17.48 seconds to earn the C&B Mushroom Farms Fast Time Award. Gray then captured the win in the Lucas Oil Power Dash. Gray also captured the win in the 10 lap Engler Machine and Tool First Heat race. Ryan Myers won the Butlerbuilt Second Heat race in his Garrett-Myers Motorsports #56R. Doug Berryman received the K&N Pole award after the first heat race winner Terry Gray drew a four inversion for the top six qualifiers.
The JE Pistons Top Guns Award, which rotates from first through third positions in the A-Main, went to Doug Berryman. The eventual winner of the A-Main, fifteen-year old Robb was also awarded the Hoosier Tire Young Gun of the Race (for the highest finishing driver under 25 years old.) after his first place finish.