Southern All Stars Asphalt Series: Early Bird 100 - Report and Results
2 March 1998
PATIENT VETERAN NABS EARLY BIRD 100
Montgomery, Ala. - Eight days after the action began, Fayetteville, GA's
Ronnie Sanders took the checkered flag to win the Early Bird 100 at
Montgomery (Ala.) Speedway USA in the season opener for the Southern All
Stars Asphalt Series. The win, worth $5,000 to Sanders, came as a result of
staying out of trouble and near the front for the entire race before
inheriting the lead with just four laps to go.
Following a rain out a week ago, 42 of the original 48 cars that were on
hand came back to Montgomery to finish filling the field for the Early Bird
100. There were 28 cars that had been locked in following first round
qualifying, but 8 more positions remained to be filled to round out the 36
car starting lineup. That total soon jumped to 10 spots available when
David Hole spun coming out of turn four during practice and Chris Mullinax
had nowhere to go and slammed into the driver’s side door of Hole's car.
Safety crews were quickly on the scene and Hole was taken to a local
hospital complaining of pain in his lower left leg. Although Mullinax had
been hard on the brakes when the two cars collided, it still took almost 45
minutes to separate the two cars which were locked together. Neither
Mullinax or Hole would be able to make the race, for which they had already
qualified and Terry Mason and Tim Bryant were moved into the 26th and 27th
starting spots.
Following practice, Second Round Qualifying was held and A.W. Kirby from
Nashville, TN set the fast time of 19.201 seconds around the half mile oval
to pace the six cars that were able to make the field. Roger Scott and
Steve Cook were awarded provisional starting spots based on 1997 SAS points
and Fast Qualifier John Wilkinson III filled the final starting position as
he attempted to take the $10,000 bonus for starting at the rear and winning
the race.
With Wilkinson starting at the tail of the field, Dave Mader III of
Mooresville, NC led the field down to the green flag. The first attempt to
get the race underway resulted in a major pile-up in turn one that involved
at least 10 cars. Most received minor damage to the bodywork, but the cars
of Bryant, Patrick Lawler and Wesley Stephens were unable to continue,
reducing the field to 33 cars. On the restart everyone made it cleanly
through the first lap without incident with Mader grabbing the point,
trailed closely by Tony Walls, Donny Brusso, Mike Harmon and Johnny
Brazier.
On lap 2 Mike Garvey spun in turn four bringing out a brief caution and it
was back to full bore racing, With the order at the front remaining static,
the action was taking place back in the pack where Bobby Gill was coming to
the front in a hurry from his 17th starting position. Using the outside
groove, Gill picked off Darrell Brown on lap 9 and Jerry Godwin on lap 10
to move into the top 10. On lap 13 Harmon was able to work his way around
Brusso on the inside of turn two to move into third, but Mader and Walls
were pulling quickly away from the field, having opened up a 5 car length
lead.
By lap 20 the front runners were Mader, Walls, Harmon, Dan Beddingfield and
Brusso when the second caution came out for a two car spin on the back
straight. Gill was continuing his run to the front, and Wilkinson, still
after the bonus was slowly working his way through the field and had
reached 23rd spot when the yellow flew.
Once again under green flag conditions Andy Antinoro moved past Brusso into
fifth while Gill continued his high side attack. On lap 39 as the car
entered turn three, Antinoro was on the bottom with Ronnie Sanders sliding
to the high side. Gill tried to put his car in the middle and there was
contact between him and Antinoro causing both to spin out and damaging
Gill’s car. As the cars spun they tapped the car of Tommy “Texas Tornado”
Grimes causing him to spin sideways, but the Texan quickly gathered the car
up and only lost one spot in the incident. With Antinoro now at the rear,
Buddy Welch assumed the fifth spot in the running order.
By the halfway point of the race, Wilkinson had worked his way inside the
top 15 and was picking off cars at a steady rate. Mader continued in the
lead, with Walls right on his bumper and looking for a way around. Harmon
remained a steady third with Beddingfield fourth and Sanders now into
fifth. Grimes held down sixth with Brown, Tim Fryar, Gary Jones and Garvey
rounding out the top ten.
On lap 60 Walls finally was able to get his nose under Mader in turn three
and zipped into the lead. In turn two Mader's car suddenly slowed and he
headed for the pits and out of the race. Joey Clanton brought out the next
caution when he spun on the exit of turn two and many of the front runners
chose this caution to head for the pits and two fresh tires. When pits
stops were completed the front five consisted of Walls, Beddingfield,
Grimes, Brown and Jones.
On the restart Brown dropped to the low side coming off turn four and
blazed past Grimes to take third and Walls came under heavy pressure from
Beddingfield. On lap 72 Walls exited turn two and dropped the right side
off the car off the track on the exit. Smoke immediately erupted from the
car and although Walls kept it going hard through turns three and four, it
was spraying liquid on to the track. Brown and Grimes, still battling hard
for third hit the oil and both slammed hard into the turn four wall. Both
cars were able to make it to the pits for repairs but their chance of
taking the win was over as both lost laps in the pits. A lengthy caution
followed while track crews cleaned up the oil spill that circled the track.
With Walls' retirement Beddinfield took over the lead with Jones now in
second, Garvey third, Chris Horton up to fourth and Godwin in fifth. Warren
McMahan was running in sixth and sitting in seventh was Wilkinson, well
positioned for a final run at the bonus. Brazier, Sanders and Harmon filled
the rest of the top 10.
On the restart Jones failed to come up to speed and quickly lost positions
with Wilkinson now moving to sixth. A single car spin on lap 85 closed up
the field again under caution with Garvey and Horton now right behind
Beddingfield and Wilkinson now up to fourth spot. With just 10 laps to go
everything was set for an exciting shootout.
On lap 93 as McMahan tried to pass the lapped car of Mike Arnold on the
backstraight and the two got together and went hard into the turn three
barrier. With the cleanup in progress the order at the front was now
Beddingfield ahead of Sanders, Godwin, Wilkinson and Garvey.
Under Southern All Stars rules the last five laps of the race must be run
under green, so now a five lap shootout for the win was ready to be
unleashed with $10,000 on the line for “John Boy” Wilkinson. As the green
flag flew Wilkinson went low out of turn four and slipped past Godwin to
take third and closed on the back bumper of Horton. As the cars roared
through turn two, Wilkinson hit the left rear of Horton, spinning him out
and he himself was barely able to maintain control of his car. Godwin was
able to slide by on the low side and regain his lost spot. With the caution
now out and just four laps left it became mass confusion on the track as
everyone it seemed wanted to be in the top five! Officials were finally
forced to stop the cars on the track to get them to line up in single file
for the restart, and once they had them in line and ready to go,
Beddingfield could not get his engine started and the leader was forced to
the pits and the attention of his crew. Although he would rejoin the race
before losing a lap, he had lost the lead.
The order at the front now had Sanders in the lead with Godwin second and
Wilkinson third. Garvey and McGuire rounded out the top five as the last
four laps finally got underway. On the restart Garvey went to the outside
of Wilkinson in a bold move to take third, but Wilkinson headed low to get
under Godwin. Garvey, trapped behind Godwin, then headed low and was able
to follow Wilkinson around on the low side for third. With these three cars
fighting hard for second for almost a full lap, Sanders was able to open a
four car-length lead which was too much for Wilkinson to overcome in the
final three laps and he fell just one spot short of collecting the $10,000
bonus. Garvey finished in third with Godwin fourth and McGuire taking
fifth.
The race may have taken eight days to complete, but it had all the
excitement one could ask for with 4 different leaders, 10 cautions, a
thrilling four lap shootout and 13 cars on the lead lap battling for
position at the checkered flag. A really entertaining and exciting event
that bodes well for the Southern All Stars Series in 1998. The next race
for the asphalt series will be March 28 at Huntsville (Ala.) Speedway.
Montgomery Speedway USA - Provisional results for the
Southern All Stars Asphalt Series,
Early Bird 100:
Ps.Ql. No. Driver , Car Laps Notes
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -----
1 11 18 Ronnie Sanders JR Stinchcomb Industries Chev 107
2 36 59 John Wilkinson Hamner Race Eng Chev 107
3 15 55 Mike Garvey Corner Maker Chassis Chev 107
4 10 X2 Jerry Godwin RPM Chev 107
5 14 22m Jackie McGuire Shelby Concrete Chev 107
6 23 83 Joey Clanton Motorola/Southern Linc Chev 107
7 4 24 Mike Harmon Four Star Motorsports Chev 107
8 8 1 Tracy Goodson Lifestyle Vinyl Products Chev 107
9 5 71 Johnny Brazier Frogg Toggs/Moody Mondays Ford 107
10 6 44 Dan Beddingfield Caroline B Taylor Chev 107
11 13 51 Chris Horton Oliver Tire Chev 107
12 9 87 Buddy Welch Air Flow Awnings Chev 107
13 32 1Y Keith Cahela Y-Mart Chev 107
14 25 6 Gary Jones Jones Auto Parts/Griffin Radiat Chev 106
15 34 1c Steve Cook Shepherd Center Chev 106
16 19 22g Tommy Grimes RGR Systems/Nationwide Apps Chev 103
17 35 17 Roger Scott Bearden Electric/Calhoun Welding Chev 103
18 31 11L Donald Long Panhandle Grading and Paving Chev 100
19 22 33 Warren McMahan McSpadden Construction Chev 92
20 28 65 A.W.Kirby S&H Chrome Plating Chev 92
21 33 60 Mike Arnold AMC Trailers/Unifirst Chev 91
22 12 58 Darrell Brown Brown Trucking /Veterans Oil Chev 88
23 16 61 Tim Fryar Fryar Trucking/AFCO Chev 84
24 3 81 Tony Walls Chandeleur Homes Chev 76
25 2 22 Donny Brusso AAA Custom Cabinets Ford 70
26 1 84 Dave Mader III BRJ Race Cars/Hamner Engines Chev 63
27 29 18h Shad Hodgin Controtech/Colors Paint Chev 56
28 7 27 Andy Antinoro Guaranty Pest Cont/Compet Eng Chev 38
29 17 86 Bobby Gill Great American Race Cars/Hamner Chev 38
30 20 89 Lee Hansard Chastain Engine Center Chev 38
31 21 78 Brad Webb PRC Truck Accessories Chev 35
32 26 11m Terry Mason PostensOverhead Door/CCC Group Chev 27
33 18 1m Ken McFarland Chev 27
34 27 81b Tim Bryant Harrington Electrical Chev 0
35 24 2 Wesley Stephens Evans Norris/Laser Cutting Chev 0
36 30 31 Patrick Lawler Manheim Auctions Chev 0
Margin of Victory : 2 car lengths
Lap Leaders : Mader, Walls, Beddingfield, Sanders
Cautions : 10
Track Length : 0.5000 Miles
John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel