ADAMS TAKES FOURTH STRAIGHT O'REILLY USCS WIN AT LAURENS AFTER MARTIN FLIPS LEADING WILD FEATURE RACE
August 28, 2005
LAURENS, SC - Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL was ready to settle for 
second-place, but instead pulled his Milk Movers, Inc./Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott into the winners circle Saturday night in the O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series 30-lap feature race at Laurens Speedway. Adams took over the lead on lap seven after Danny Martin Jr. of Sarasota, FL flipped out of the race track.
Martin was leading when he hit the second turn wall, bounced on top of it, and flipped outside the track. The 19-year-old driver was uninjured after his Martin Structures, Inc./Food Grade Transport Schnee/ZRE came to a sudden stop around a tree.
"I saw Danny running the high side of the race track up in the loose dirt," Adams said. "I went up there one time and it was pretty hairy up there, so I just settled back and was content to run second."
The victory was the fourth straight for Adams in O'Reilly USCS competition, and the 13th of the season for the National points leader.
Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN finished second in the C&B Mushrooms/Goodson Farms Maxim/Wesmar, and 16-year Matt Tiffany of Daytona Beach, FL took the third spot in the Independent Printing Shaw/Ott. Tiffany was the SpeedMart Young Gun of the Race for drivers under the age of 25, and the Robison Racing Products Rookie of the Race.
Dustin Apple of Elon, NC had his highest finish of the season with a fourth-place effort in the Apple Racing Maxim/Jerico. Apple started 12th and earned the Huggins Cams Hard Charger of the Race Award. R.J. Johnson of Decatur, TN had his best career finish with a fifth-place in the Tinsley Engineering/Georgia Performance Graphics J&J/ZRE.
Chad Allum of Kannapolis, NC was sixth in the ButlerBuilt Prowler/Chrisco, and Bruce Cline of Apex, NC took the seventh spot in the 31-W Insulation Stealth/Engler. K&N Filters Pole Award winner Randy Helton of Palmetto, GA finished eighth in the Helton Transmissions Maxim/ERI.
Bryn Gohn of Malabar, FL took the ninth spot in the Milk Movers, Inc./Goodson Farms Shaw/Ott, and Skeeter Faulconer of Lutz, FL rounded out the top ten in the American Trading Post and Pawn Avenger/Skeeter.
Martin grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag followed by Adams, Helton, Gray and Tiffany. Adams got his first break of the night when he moved from the fifth starting hole to third after the scheduled inside second row starter Johnny Bridges of Cherryville, NC pulled to the infield with a mechanical problem on the push off for the main event.
Gray drove around Helton for the third spot on lap three, while Cline battled with Bronzie Lawson of Southern Pines, NC for the sixth spot. Lawson brought out the caution flag on lap five when spun the Curtis Barnett Electrical Avenger Winford in turn four. During the caution period, Cline cut down a tire and had to pit, but came back out after the restart.
Martin was pulling away from Adams when he drifted high in turn two on lap seven, hit the wall and flipped out of the race track. That brought out the red flag for several minutes, but when the field restarted, Adams led Gray, Helton, Tiffany, Jeremy Scott of Franklin, GA, Apple, Johnson, Gohn, Allum and Lawson down for the green flag.
The red flag came back out on lap 10 when Scott flipped the Scott's Plumbing Pro Lite/June Bug in turn two. Lawson was also involved, and both cars were out for the evening. Scott climbed out of his overturned race car under his own power, and was O.K.
While the red flag was out, the crews were allowed on the track to refuel their respective race cars. This would prove costly for one driver in the top three.
The field went green for five more laps with Adams leading Gray, Helton, Tiffany, and Apple. Gohn spun in turn two while running seventh on lap 15 to bring out the caution flag. While the field was under caution, Helton stopped on front straightaway while running third. His fuel cap had come off covering him with methanol.
The fuel cap was found, and securely fastened on the fuel tank, but Helton would have to give up the third spot and restart on the tail of the field. Adams led Gray, Tiffany, Apple, and Johnson down for the restart. While Adams pulled away from the field, Tiffany closed up on Gray to challenge for the second spot.
With five laps to go, Tiffany dove to the bottom of turn one, showed Gray his left-front wheel, but the defending and four-time O'Reilly USCS National Champion was up to the challenge, as he pulled away from the rookie driver in the closing laps.
In preliminary action, Gray won the six-lap Air Flow Research Power Dash, and Allum won his third four-lap Koolbeans Trophy Dash of the season. Cline won the Engler Machine and Tool first eight-lap heat race, and Bridges won the ButlerBuilt second eight-lap heat race in the C&B Mushrooms/Stainless Fabricators J&J/Bridges Ford.
The O'Reilly USCS returns to Asphalt Thunder Tour action for its next event on September 3 at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA.
OFFICIAL FINISH OF ROUND 37 AT LAURENS SPEEDWAY IN LAURENS, SC ON 8/27/05:
| POS |
STRT |
CAR# |
DRIVER |
HOMETOWN |
LAPS |
| 1. |
5 |
4a |
Kenny Adams |
Malabar, FL |
30 |
| 2. |
6 |
10 |
Terry Gray |
Bartlett, TN |
30 |
| 3. |
8 |
19t |
Matt Tiffany |
Daytona Beach, FL |
30 |
| 4. |
12 |
33 |
Dustin Apple (R) |
Elon, NC |
30 |
| 5. |
10 |
71 |
R.J. Johnson |
Decatur, TN |
30 |
| 6. |
13 |
87 |
Chad Allum |
Kannapolis, NC |
30 |
| 7. |
4 |
1c |
Bruce Cline (R) |
Apex, NC |
30 |
| 8. |
1 |
27 |
Randy Helton |
Palmetto, GA |
30 |
| 9. |
11 |
4b |
Bryn Gohn (R) |
Malabar, FL |
30 |
| 10. |
16 |
6 |
Skeeter Faulconer |
Lutz, FL |
27 |
| 11. |
15 |
6x |
Dan Statter |
Deltona, FL |
22 |
| 12. |
9 |
76 |
Jeremy Scott |
Franklin, GA |
9 |
| 13. |
7 |
B3 |
Bronzie Lawson |
Southern Pines, NC |
9 |
| 14. |
2 |
00 |
Danny Martin Jr. |
Sarasota, FL |
6 |
| 15. |
3 |
07 |
Johnny Bridges |
Cherryville, NC |
4 |
| 16. |
14 |
67 |
Brian Thomas |
Auburn, GA |
4 |
ENTRIES: 16
K&N POLE AWARD: Helton
LEAD CHANGES: 1
LAP LEADERS: Martin, 1-6; Adams, 7-30
LAPS LED: Adams, 24; Martin, 6
CAUTIONS: 4 (2 Red Flags)
OUTLAW RACING DISC BRAKES FAST BRAKE AWARD: Adams
SPEEDMART YOUNG GUN OF THE RACE AWARD: Tiffany
ROBISON RACING PRODUCTS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Tiffany
HUGGINS CAMS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Apple (started 12th and finished 4th)
K&N FILTERS 3RD-PLACE AWARD: Tiffany
BUTLERBUILT 4TH-PLACE AWARD: Apple
SPEEDMART TOP FIVE AWARD: Johnson
AIR FLOW RESEARCH 6TH-PLACE AWARD: Allum
FSR 7TH-PLACE AWARD: Cline
SIMPSON SAFETY PRODUCTS 8TH-PLACE AWARD: Helton
AIR FLOW RESEARCH 10TH-PLACE AWARD: Faulconer
FSR PERFORMANCE AWARD: Statter
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD: Martin
AIR FLOW RESEARCH POWER DASH - 5 LAPS: 1. Gray; 2. Gohn (R); 3. Martin; 4. Tiffany (R); 5. Johnson.
KOOLBEANS TROPHY DASH - 4 LAPS: 1. Allum; 2. Lawson; 3. Bridges; 4. Scott; 5. Helton.
ENGLER MACHINE AND TOOL 1ST HEAT - 8 LAPS: 1. Cline (R); 2. Martin; 3. Adams; 4. Lawson; 5. Scott; 6. Gohn (R); 7. Allum.
BUTLERBUILT 2ND HEAT - 8 LAPS: 1. Bridges; 2. Helton; 3. Gray; 4. Tiffany (R); 5. Johnson; 6. Apple; 7. Thomas; 8. Faulconer.
O'REILLY USCS NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS
THROUGH 8/27/05:
| POS. |
DRIVER NAME |
POINTS |
| 1. |
Kenny Adams |
5273 |
| 2. |
Danny Martin Jr. |
4941 |
| 3. |
Terry Gray |
4770 |
| 4. |
Bryn Gohn (R) |
4717 |
| 5. |
Matt Tiffany (R) |
4455 |
| 6. |
R.J. Johnson |
4344 |
| 7. |
Skeeter Faulconer |
3306 |
| 8. |
Ryan Myers |
2690 |
| 9. |
Chad Allum |
2620 |
| 10. |
Johnny Bridges |
2550 |
POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 8/27/05:
| POS. |
DRIVER NAME |
POINTS |
| 1. |
Kenny Adams |
1518 |
| 2. |
Terry Gray |
1496 |
| 3. |
Bruce Cline (R) |
1421 |
| 4. |
Bryn Gohn (R) |
1416 |
| 5. |
Chad Allum |
1387 |
| 6. |
Danny Martin Jr. |
1381 |
| 7. |
Johnny Bridges |
1328 |
| 8. |
R.J. Johnson |
1300 |
| 9. |
Matt Tiffany (R) |
1296 |
| 10. |
Skeeter Faulconer |
930 |
R - Denotes Robison Racing Products Rookie of the Year Candidate
