Terry Gray captures third career O'Reilly USCS "Asphalt Thunder" Tour Championship
Atlanta, GA - Veteran sprint car driver Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee captured his third career O'Reilly Auto Parts United Sprint Car Series Asphalt Thunder Tour Championship in 2006. Gray also captured the title in the series in years 2002 and 2004. The veteran driver dominated the 2006 version of the all pavement series with four wins in the ten races and finished no worse than third in any of the events. In addition to his four wins and a single third place finish, Gray had five second place finishes. He finished the season with 1386 points just 44 points ahead of his closest rival, 20 year-old Danny Martin, Jr. from Sarasota, Florida who had 1342 points. Martin had a strong year with one 2006 win in the pavement series. He also had seven top five and eight top ten finishes. Another talented young gun, nineteen year-old Ryan Myers from Eaton, Ohio finished in the third position in the final standings. Myers had a great year that saw him finish nine times in the top five and he had a lone sixth place finish.
A pair of team-mates, twenty one year-old Hoosier Tire Young Gun, T.J. Winegardner and his father Tom Winegardner both from Pierson, Florida finished in the fourth and fifth positions just 18 points apart with 1212 and 1194 points respectively. Both were among the most improved drivers in the all asphalt track series after switching from dedicated pavement style cars to dirt cars in mid-season. T.J. Winegardner set the CnB Mushroom Farms fast time at Lanier National Speedway at the final event of the season and finished in a career best third place twice over the last weekend of racing at Huntsville Speedway and Lanier National Speedway on Labor Day weekend.
In sixth place in the final O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder (all paved track) points standings with 994 points and one feature win that came on June 17th at Southern National Raceway Park is seventeen year-old Matt Tiffany from Daytona Beach, Florida. Tiffany would have possibly finished higher in the standings but, missed the three-race Labor Day weekend event due to the loss of his Grandfather at that time.
Another improved driver, Scott "Skeeter" Faulconer from Lutz, Florida tallied 928 points to earn the seventh position in the final standings. Doug Berryman from Mansfield, Ohio finished in the eighth position after driving part of the season for Bruce Rebman at Rebman Motorsports in early season and then finishing the season as Ryan Myers team-mate. Berryman had a rough start with a pair of finishes outside the top ten after a back injury at Mobile International. But he rallied to gain five finishes in the top ten in his last five starts with three of those being in the top five positions over the final weekend.
Danny Statter from Deltona, Florida gathered up 780 points with steady performances in two different race cars to finish in the ninth position in the final standings. Veteran sprint car driver Charles Ladner from Brandon, Florida finished tenth in the pavement standings with 668 points and .
The O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder series had five different winners in the ten races held over the 2006 season. Kenny Adams won Rounds #1 and #2 at Five Flags Speedway on March 10th and at Mobile International Speedway on March 11th. Sic=xty year old open wheel legend, Wayne Reutimann, Sr. from Zephyrhills, Florida won Round #3 at Lanier National Speedway on April 29th. Gray won the Round #4 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park event on May 13th. Veteran sprint car driver Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, NC won a career first O'Reilly USCS feature on June 16th at Florence Motor Speedway in Round #5. Matt Tiffany claimed his second O'Reilly USCS career victory by winning Round #6 at Southern National Raceway Park on June 17th. Then Danny Martin, Jr. won Round #7 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on June 30th. Round #8 at Huntsville Speedway on September 1st was went to eventual champion, Gray. Gray then continued his late season tear by sweeping both Round #9 and Round #10 in the special double-feature event at Lanier National Speedway on September 2nd.
Forty-six drivers from ten from states participated in the 2006 events held at eight different tracks. With eight of the Hoosier Tire Young Guns ( drivers under 25 years old ) in the in top fifteen final 2006 standings the series looks to the future. The series 2000 and 2005 National and three-time Asphalt Thunder Champion Kenny Adams from Malabar, Florida is commited to running the full schedule in 2007 as is, 2005 O'Reilly USCS "Rookie of the Year" Bryn Gohn from Malabar, Florida. Considering all of these factors, the series expects to take competition to the next level in 2007.
The Atlanta-based O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour will soon announce an exciting 14+ race schedule of events including the O'Reilly USCS "Summer Nationals" event in August and the O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour Season Championship event in October.
For a re-cap and complete results of all 2006 O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour events, please visit the series official website at www.uscsracing.com under the NEWS section..
2006 O'Reilly USCS Asphalt Thunder Tour Final Point Standings
(Top 20)
Pos. Driver Hometown Points
1 - 10 Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN (4 feature wins) 1386
2 - 00 Danny Martin, Jr., Sarasota, FL (1 feature win) 1342
3 - 56R Ryan Myers, Eaton, OH 1334
4 - 11T Tom " T.J." Winegardner, Jr., Pierson, FL 1212
5 - 11 Tom Winegardner, Pierson, FL 1194
6 - 19T Matt Tiffany, Daytona Beach, FL (1 feature win) 994
7 - 6F Skeeter Faulconer, Lutz, FL 928
8 - 56 Doug Berryman, Mansfield, OH 858
9 - 59 Danny Statter, Deltona, FL 780
10 - 39 Charles Ladner, Brandon, FL 668
11- 32 Stephen Darvalics, Venice, FL 660
12 - 4A Kenny Adams, Malabar, FL (2 feature wins) 570
13 - 4B Bryn Gohn, Malabar, FL 538
14 - 7x Jason Kemp, Mansfield, OH 498
15 - 4m Aubrey Black, Lookout Mountain., GA 460
17 - 5 David Thorman, Greenville, SC 450
18 - 07 Johnny Bridges, Cherryville, NC ( 1 feature win ) 418
19 - 19B Shane Butler, Bushnell, FL 398
20 - 8 Nick Manikis, Thonasassa, FL 378
Media contact; Pete Walton 404-886-5913
petewalton@bellsouth.net
