by THOM WATSON

(KNS)LAKELAND, FL- The #5, Triple Diamond Products, pit crew had already won the Goodyear Pit Crew Challenge and its $3,000 prize. Now the question was could Bobby Gill finish far enough ahead of Hal Goodson to take his third straight USAR Hooters Procup series title. Gill took the cue from his pit crew and not only won the Alan Kulwicki Memorial 300 before a packed grandstand at USA International Speedway, he also captured his third straight series title.

With the new playoff concept put into place by USAR, Gill was the South Division regular season winner and Mardy Lindley was the Northern Division winner. Lindley, along with Goodson, Shane Huffman, Brian Vickers and Jeff Agnew were all mathematically alive in the title chase. Point’s leader Goodson qualified 25th finished 25th, and never was a factor for the win or the championship as it turned out. This ended a storybook ending for Goodson as he jumped into a Bill Plemons car after his race team closed down after the first race in the Four Champions race series. Vickers qualified seventh and finished second, but was no match for Gill at the end. Lindley also had a strong effort, qualifying third and also finishing third. Huffman qualified second, was strong early but had to settle for a 15th place finish.

From his third starting position, Gill took eight laps to move into second and on lap 11 moved into first and for all intents and purposes this race was over. There was plenty of racing left but Gill was just too strong for the challengers. Pole sitter, Steve Christian, was the early challenger to Gill and even took the lead after the first round of pit stops on lap 107, as he, Vickers and Lee Tissot all beat Gill out of the pits. The caution flag came out on lap 105 as Glen Sullivan coasted to a stop on the backstretch. Tissot had to go back down pit road to tighten loose lug nuts, so Gill was in third on the restart. On lap 119 Gill went to the inside of Vickers coming out of turn 3 to take over second.

As the halfway point was coming up, on lap 147, Gill ran up on the rear bumper of Christian and Christian seemed to wiggle. Gill was unable to take advantage and Christian was able to lead lap 150 and collect the Lucas Oil Products half way bonus. But on lap 151, Gill was able to dive low on the backstretch and take over the lead. The top three of Gill, Christian and Lindley were able to pull away from the rest of the cars. Gill was able to maintain a two car length lead over Christian, until Lindley was able to take second as Christian started slowing on lap 191.

Gill then took off and left the field behind as he had a straightaway lead by lap 223. On the next lap Regan Smith slowed intentionally on the backstretch and was assessed a one lap penalty. Gill and Lindley pitted while Bill Plemons stayed out and took over the point position, with Chris Gordon second and Vickers third. On the lap 233 restart, Plemons drifted high and allowed Vickers to move into the lead with Gill moving into second. As Gill stayed glued to Vickers rear bumper, Gill was able to get inside of Vickers and take the lead on lap 248.

Except for a couple of restarts, Gill was able to motor away and build up to an eight-car length lead. Even a single file, green-white-checker restart on lap 299 couldn’t stop Gill as he got a good jump on the restart and went on to take the win. Vickers was second, Lindley third with “Super” Mario Gosselin and Tissot rounding out the top five.

As Gill was doing a nice burnout down the front stretch for the fans, and then doing a memorial lap in honor of the race namesake, USAR officials were busily trying to figure out who the 2001 champion was. By the time Gill was in Victory Circle and thanking everyone, the unofficial word came down that he was indeed the 2001 USAR Hooters Procup Series Champion for the third straight year.

-Thom Watson

Click Here for links to all 2002 News Articles

Copyright© Future Enterprises 1997-2002 KARNAC.com is electronically published by Future Enterprises. The KARNAC© name, logo and trademarks are owned by and used with the permission of Future Enterprises of Florida. Reproduction or republishing in whole or part for inclusion in any work is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the electronic publisher. Information may, however, be printed for the sole purpose of contacting our advertisers.