IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 1, 2004 FSCR Owen Big Winner in Modified Division at Bronson By Rick Warren The Memorial Day Holiday signifies the traditional beginning of Summer. Along with the Summer season comes hotter weather, and that rise in temperature always seems to heat up the racing action as well. The show at Bronson Motor Speedway Saturday night proved that point. The first ones to prove that point were the open wheel modified division. The race had the makings of a barnburner, with Kevin Durden, Gary Southard, Larry Goolsby, Gene Owen , Buddy Hughes, and Chip Owen all looking for the win. The race started with Gene Owen powering to the lead, with Durden and Southard all over his bumper. As the race progressed, Owen had his hands full, as Durden and Southard were putting tons of pressure on the leader, looking for a slip, or any other way around. Coming down the front straight, the lead pack got 3 wide, and Southard ended up being the odd man out, with a slight brush against the wall. This left Durden free to work on Owen, hunting a way around the leader, but not for long. Buddy Hughes worked his way free of traffic, and caught the leaders, hoping to join in the battle for the win. Owen was able to maintain his lead, and pulled off the win at the line, by the slightest of margins over Durden. Hughes held on for third, followed by Southard and Chip Owen. The Sportsman Division saw Gary Southard and Kevin Durden pulling double duty. Southard was filling in for Scott Wilkerson, while Durden was in the seat of Billy Cannon’s #4. The Race started with Southard taking the early lead, followed by Rob Cooper and Durden. Cooper once again showed some patience, and worked both grooves looking for a way around Southard. Cooper finally got the opening he was looking for, and drove under Southard on the front straight to take the lead. Cooper went on to claim the victory, followed by Southard, Durden, Eddie Sapp and Matt Blum. The Pure Stock Division had a new winner for this season, as Jeff Tillman, who has been showing improvement every week, went wire to wire to claim his first win of the season. Tillman was challenged by Arnold Hughes and Joey Hunt, but was more than ready for the challenge. Tillman crossed the finish line with a car length lead on Hughes, with Hunt taking third, followed by Jason Holbrook and Mike Baker. The Mini Stock Division saw Josh Robertson power to an early lead, and set sail for the finish line. Robertson’s lead turned out to be short lived, as Clint Foley was running strong, and caught Robertson and passed him for the lead. Foley went on to claim the win, with Robertson finishing a very strong second. The real race was for third, with 3 cars all trying to claim that spot. At the end, Ronnie Hicks managed to grab third, followed by Billy Smith and Andrew Robertson. The V8 Bombers put on quite a show as well, but not for the win. Randy O’Neal took off at the green flag, and put his racer in another zip code. The battle for second, however, was not settled until the checkered fell. Michael Holbrook, Charlie Kennedy, and Kevin Hodge ran hard for 20 laps, trying to settle the battle. At the end it was Hodge taking second, followed by Kennedy and Holbrook. Final Results: 05-29-2004 Open Wheel Modifieds 1. #11 Gene Owen 2. #56 Kevin Durden 3. #14 Buddy Hughes 4. #39 Gary Southard 5. # 2 Chip Owen 6. #16 Larry Goolsby 7. #19 Rick Maguire 8. # 1 Greg Owen Sportsman 1. #98 Robbie Cooper 2. #12 Gary Southard 3. # 4 Kevin Durden 4. #13 Eddie Sapp 5. # 1 Matt Blum Pure Stock 1. #95 Jeff Tillman 2. #55 Arnold Hughes 3. # 5 Joey Hunt 4. #17 Jason Holbrook 5. #02 Mike Baker 6. #25 A.J. Northup 7. #59 Brett Flagg 8. #38 Dot Kelly 9. #33 Roger Bayles 10. #65 John Mamph Mini Stock 1. # 7 Clint Foley 2. #93x Josh Robertson 3. # 8 Ronnie Hicks 4. #00 Billy Smith 5. #93 Andrew Robertson 6. #81 Morris Richardson 7. #7x Mike Foley V8 Bomber 1. #22 Randy O’Neal 2. #37 Kevin Hodge 3. #34 Charlie Kennedy 4. #00 Michael Holbrook 5. #25 Ken Sheffield 6. # 7 Berlon Weeks 7. #26 Mike Reilly 8. #14 Bobby Rowe 9. #48 Gerold Bryant 10. # 9 Reed Gard Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!