Wright finds the right way around in O'Reilly USCS Speedweek Finale at Columbus Speedway

June 3, 2006 Columbus, MS - Gary Wright from Hooks, Texas became the only O'Reilly United Sprint Car Series Speedweek 2006 participant to win multiple features on Saturday night by winning his second feature of the week in the ninth annual "Columbus Clash" at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi,. The 30 lap event served as Round Seven and the Grand Finale event of the first annual O'Reilly USCS Speedweek. Although Wright won the battle on this night, Mike Ward from Memphis, Tennessee who finished in the runner-up spot in Saturday's 30-lap A-Main event, won the week-long war by claiming the O'Reilly USCS Speedweek 2006 title.


Gary Wright from Hooks, Texas won the O'Reilly USCS Speedweek 2006 - Round #7 finale in te 30 lap "Columbus Clash" event at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, MS on Saturday night.

Ward, a Mid-South open wheel legend with four hundred feature wins, lead the twenty-four car field on lap one of the event around the one third mile high banked clay oval known as the "Baddest Bullring in the South" then started to stretch his lead slightly over Jerrod Hull from Sikeston, Missouri who started on the pole. Wright started tenth and charged into the top five on lap five by taking a line around the top of the track through the cushion instead of below or against it like everyone else. He really had huge momentum through the first and second turns using the line where no one else was racing.

Using a lap-six caution for a four-car tangle to his advantage, Wright then got past hard charging Raymond Stull from Coldwater, Mississippi on lap seven. Then, on lap ten he raced under four time O'Reilly USCS Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee exiting turn two into third place. Caution flags bunched the field twice on laps eleven and twelve but the top five held their positions with Ward leading, Hull in second Wright chasing in third, then Gray and Stull rounding out the top five.

Wright chased Speedweek Round One winner Hull and Ward until lap twenty before getting by Hull into the runner-up spot on lap twenty two and setting his sites on the leader. Then, the caution flag flew for the final time in the race for a tangle involving Brian Thomas from Auburn, Georgia and rookie Brad Bowden from Hernando, Mississippi on lap twenty-two. This placed Wright on the back bumper of Ward who later discovered he had lost a cylinder on approximately lap six. This set-up a showdown between the two veteran drivers for the battle over the $2500 winner's share. Ward held off the rim-riding and now bottom-running Texan for the next four laps before Wright blasted by on the bottom side of the race track down the front straightaway and into the lead on lap twenty-seven. Wright then bolted the rest of the way home ahead of Ward who faded over the last three laps after being victim of loosing another cylinder on the lap twenty-two restart. Ward held on for second and the Speedweek 2006 title over Hull, Gray and Stull who rounded out the top five.

The Speedweek 2006 Round Three winner, Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas was sixth giving him enough points to tie Terry Gray for the runner-up spot in the Speedweek 2006 points standings just six points behind Ward. Nineteen year-old Hoosier tire Young Guns Lee Sowell from Nesbitt, Mississippi and twenty year-old 2004-2005 O'Reilly USCS Championship runner-up Danny Martin, Jr. from Sarasota, Florida followed in seventh and eighth places.

Fifteen year-old Robison Racing Products Rookie of the Year candidate Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas was ninth and seventeen year old O'Reilly USCS star, Matt Tiffany from Daytona Beach, Florida rounded out the top ten finishers. Defending O'Reilly USCS Champion Kenny Adams from Malabar, Florida who lead the Speedweek 2006 standings going into the final event was running in the top seven cars on lap eleven when he and Martin collided on the front straightaway causing severe rear axle damage and ending his race. This relegated him to a twenty-first place finish in the race and ruined his title run. He placed fifth in the final Speedweek 2006 point standings.

Lucas Oil Power Dash points leader, Terry Gray won his sixth Lucas Oil Power Dash six lap shootout of the season. Jerrod Hull won the Engler Tool and Machine First Heat Race. Mike Ward won the Butlerbuilt Second Heat Race while Terry Gray captured the FSR Racing Products Third Heat.

Matt Tiffany charged from twenty-second position into tenth place in the tough field from six states past twelve cars was awarded the Huggins Cams Hard Charger award. Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas was the Robison Racing Products Rookie of the Race. Jerrod Hull drew the zero inversion and collected the K&N Filters Pole Award. Lee Sowell was recognized as the Hoosier Tire Young Gun of the Race, which is awarded to the top-finishing driver under twenty-five years old. The Weld Racing Hard Luck award went to Eric White from Horn Lake, Mississippi who left the feature on lap one when a wing support broke.

The O'Reilly USCS Speedweek Round Six at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, AL was rained out.

O'Reilly USCS Speedweek winners:
Round #1 - Jerrod Hull, Malden Speedway.
Round #2 - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., riverside Speedway.
Round #3 - Marshall Skinner, Clarksville Speedway.
Round #4 - Gary Wright, Clayhill Motorsports.
Round #5 - Kenny Adams, East Alabama Motor Speedway.
Round #6 - RAIN, North Alabama Speedway.
Round #7 - Gary Wright, Columbus Speedway.

O'Reilly USCS Speedweek 2006 point standings top fifteen:

1st	Mike Ward, Memphis, TN	             	846
2nd	Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN 		840
tie	Marshall Skinner, W. Memphis, AR	840
4th	Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO 		824
5th	Kenny Adams, Malabar, FL		814
6th	Danny Martin, Jr., Sarasota, FL	        808
7th	Lee Sowell, Nesbitt, MS	                804
8th	Matt Tiffany, Daytona Beach, FL	        768
9th	Tom Winegardner, Jr., Pierson, FL	752
10th 	Bryn Gohn, Malabar, FL		        678
11th 	Tom Winegardner, Jr., Pierson, FL	676
12th 	Eric White, Horn Lake, MS		658
13th 	Gary Wright, Hooks, TX		        594
14th 	Derek Hagar, Marion, AR		        586
15th 	Raymond Stull, Coldwater, MS 	        564


OFFICIAL RESULTS - ROUND SEVEN O'REILLY USCS SPEEDWEEK
2006 AT COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS, MS. ON 6/03/06

PS ST CR# DRIVER 	      HOMETOWN 	       LAPS
1  10  9  Gary Wright 	      Hooks, Texas 	30
2   2 88  Mike Ward 	      Memphis, TN 	30
3   1 94  Jerrod Hull	      Sikeston, MO	30
4   3 10  Terry Gray	      Bartlett, TN	30
5   4 21  Raymond Stull	      Coldwater, MS	30
6   7 26  Marshall Skinner,Jr West Memphis, AR	27
7   5 51  Lee Sowell 	      Nesbit, MS 	27
8  11 00  Danny Martin, Jr.   Sarasota, FL 	28
9  12 9jr Derek Hagar	      Marion, AR	30
10 22 19T Matt Tiffany 	      Daytona Beach, FL	30
11 16 1x  Matt Linder	      Hoschton, GA	27
12 15 4b  Bryn Gohn 	      Malabar, FL	25
13  8 11T Tom Winegardner, Jr Pierson, FL 	30
14 18 67  Brian Thomas	      Auburn, GA	26
15 20 11  Tom Winegardner, Sr Pierson, FL	27
16 14 86  Buster Dickerson    University, MS    27
17 13 88z Shane Nelson	      Chattanooga, TN	26
18 24 K9  Robert Casada	      Petal, MS         26
19 17 15b Brad Bowden	      Hernando, MS      26
20  9 58  Mike McElya	      Bartlett, TN      26
21  6 4A  Kenny Adams 	      Malabar, FL 	26
22 21 25  Ray Bugg	      Iuka, MS          26
23 19 14x Eric White	      Horn Lake, MS	11
24 23 3d  Marion Jacobs	      Tuscumbia, AL

LUCAS OIL POWER DASH WINNER: Terry Gray
K & N FILTERS POLE AWARD: Jerrod Hull
HUGGINS CAMS HARD CHARGER:  Matt Tiffany 
(started 22nd and passed 12 cars)
HOOSIER TIRE YOUNG GUN OF THE RACE: Lee Sowell
ROBISON RACING PRODUCTS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Derek Hagar
JE PISTONS TOP GUNS AWARD: Jerrod Hull (3rd place )
K&N FILTERS 3RD-PLACE AWARD: Hull
BUTLERBUILT 4TH-PLACE AWARD: Gray
OUTLAW DISC BRAKES TOP FIVE AWARD: Stull
SIMPSON SAFETY PRODUCTS 6TH-PLACE AWARD: Skinner
FSR RACING PRODUCTS-7 TH-PLACE AWARD: Sowell
AIR FLOW RESEARCH 9TH-PLACE AWARD: Hagar
FSR TOP 10 AWARD : Tiffany
WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD: Eric White
ENTRIES: 24
PROVISIONAL: none
LEAD CHANGES: two
LAP LEADERS: Ward 1-26 Wright 27-30
CAUTIONS: 4

LUCAS OIL POWER DASH - 6 Laps: 1. Terry Gray 2.Danny Martin, Jr. 3.Mike Ward 4. Kenny Adams 5. Tom Winegardner, Jr. 6. Matt Tiffany

HEAT RACES:

ENGLER TOOL AND MACHINE FIRST HEAT: 1. Hull 2. Stull 3. Skinner 4. Wright 5. Nelson 6. linder 7. White 8. Tiffany.

BUTLERBUILT SECOND HEAT: 1. Ward 2. Sowell 3. Winegardner, Jr. 4. Martin 5. Dickerson 6. Bowden 7. Winegardner, Sr. 8. Jacobs.

FSR RACING PRODUCTS TIRD HEAT: 1. Gray 2. Adams 3. McElya 4. Hagar 5. Gohn 6. Thomas 7. Bugg 8. Casada.

The next O'Reilly USCS National points event and O'Reilly USCS Mid-South Thunder points event is at Crossville's Raceway USA this Friday night, June 9th. This is round one of another triple-header weekend that races the following night on Saturday June 10th at Atomic Speedway in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Te South's busiest racing series then completes the weekend at Rome Speedway in Rome, Georgia on Sunday night June 11th. For more information visit www.uscsracing.com or call 404-886-5913.