Cautions Good for Two South Alabama Drivers

By Mark Chisum

 

Caution flags at a race track usually aren’t a good thing. It usually means somebody has had a problem. Of course, sometimes, it can benefit a driver that has fallen behind the leader and needs help catching up, or maybe gain an advantage over a competitor. That was the case in a couple of races Saturday night at South Alabama Speedway.

In the Street Stock Feature, Chris Lucas got the advantage he needed over Brandon Odom with a lap four caution. Lucas and Odom ran side by side for three laps, swapping the lead each lap, before the caution flew on the fourth circuit. Lucas led the first lap, and most importantly, the third lap. When the caution flew on lap four, that put Lucas ahead of Odom on the track, and that’s all he needed. Odom pressured Lucas the rest of the way, but Lucas held his ground and never slipped, and beat Odom to the flag by half a car length. Behind the two leaders was an exciting battle for third as Darrell Cawley, Chris Salter, Jeremy Mack, Todd Valdez, Billy Maxie, and Johnny Otto ran in a tight formation for the third through eighth positions. Mack left the battle when he spun on lap eight. Salter was able to get inside of Cawley on lap 16 to gain the spot. Valdez followed to move into fourth. On the final lap, Maxie got past Cawley to move into the top five.

Greg Adams went with the “spin and win” option to capture the win in the CupLite Feature. Adams, starting seventh, moved into second on lap seven. He began to work on early leader Larry Crutchfield. On lap twelve, Adams tried to get under Crutchfield exiting turn two. However, he lost traction and spun. After completing a “360”, Adams found himself in fifth place, way behind the leader. Two laps later, it was Crutchfield going around, bringing out the caution, and giving Adams a second chance. With Jack Whittle taking over the point, Adams charged through the field, moving back into second in two laps. He worked his way under Whittle on lap 19, and completed the pass the next lap. Adams led the rest of the way to capture the win over Whittle. Crutchfield came back to finish third, followed by Zak Wallace, and Carroll Williams.

In the Vintage feature, Steve Stewart took the lead on the second lap and went on to take the win. Kip Whitehead came from the fifth starting spot to finish second. Lance Blacker was third, with Ricky Solomon fourth, and Randy Herrick fifth.

Kim Bishop overcame a lap 15 altercation to claim the win. Bobby Rhodes grabbed the early lead from the pole and led the first 14 laps. Bishop, meanwhile, was making his way through the field, and moved into second on lap eleven. He closed the gap on Rhodes and the two got together in turn one, resulting in Rhodes spinning. Both went to the rear of the field. Bishop was able to work his way back through the field and took the lead from Mike Wolfe with five laps to go.  Wolfe held on to finish second. Ricky Strickland was third, with Lee Monaghan and Rick Thompson rounding out the top five.

Rusty Locklar picked up his first win in the Coyote division. Danny Thompson led the first lap before Dylan Wolfe took over. Gordon Reese led the next two laps before Locklar took control on lap five. Once out front, Locklar had to hold off the challenge from Lee Rogers. Locklar was up to the task and led Rogers to the checkers. Reese was third, followed by Wolfe, and Thompson.

Eddy Hinson took the lead with five laps to go to capture another Mini Sportsman Feature win. Jeremy Geddings led the first lap with Joshua Sibley taking over on lap two. Sibley led until Hinson made the winning pass on lap 16. Sibley followed Hinson to the end. Geddings fell back to third at the end. Donnie Howell was fourth with Dale McLendon fifth.

South Alabama Speedway will be closed this Saturday but will reopen on May 21. The Pro Late Model Viper Series will headline the schedule that night. Also on the night’s schedule are feature races for the Modified, Roadrunner, Coyote, CupLite, Mini Sportsman classes. For more information, contact the track at (334) 565-3539, or visit the track’s web site at www.southalabamaspeedway.com.

 

Results

 

Vintage

1.        Steve Stewart

2.       Kip Whitehead

3.       Lance Blacker

4.       Ricky Solomon

5.       Randy Herrick

 

Street Stock

1.        Chris Lucas

2.       Brandon Odom

3.       Chris Slater

4.       Todd Valdez

5.       Billy Maxie

6.       Darrell Cawley

7.       Johnny Otto

8.       Dennis Thomas

9.       Jeremy Mack

10.   LaDunn Stokes

11.   Pebo Windham

12.   Lee McManus

DNS Craig Harrison

 

Roadrunner

1.        Kim Bishop

2.       Mike Wolfe

3.       Ricky Strickland

4.       Lee Monaghan

5.       Rick Thompson

6.       Nick Petrie

7.       Bobby Rhodes

8.       Chris Yeakos

9.       David Deboer

 

Coyote

1.        Rusty Locklar

2.       Lee Rogers

3.       Gordon Reese

4.       Dylan Wolfe

5.       Danny Thompson

6.       Adam Salter

7.       Cameron Grissett

8.       James Harris

9.       Chris Johnson

10.   Joseph Chandler

11.   Bobby Rhodes

12.   Jonathan Chandler

 

CupLite

1.        Greg Adams

2.       Jack Whittle

3.       Larry Crutchfield

4.       Zak Wallace

5.       Carroll Williams

6.       Karl Williams

7.       Rick Northey

 

Mini Sportsman

1.        Eddy Hinson

2.       Joshua Sibley

3.       Jeremy Geddings

4.       Donnie Howell

5.       Dale McLendon

6.       Karen Williams

7.       Lon Howell

8.       Cameron Henderson

9.       Bobby Jennings