Pollard, Grill Take Wins in Alabama Pro 200

By Mark Chisum

 

South Alabama Speedway closed the 2011 racing season with the Alabama Pro 200 Weekend. The Pro Late Model portion of the weekend consisted of Twin 100’s for Pro Late Models, and two of the best Pro Late Model drivers shared top honors. Bubba Pollard and Augie Grill have won many races around the south, and each picked up another win at South Alabama Speedway.

Logan Boyett turned the fastest lap in qualifying, touring the 4/10 mile oval in 15.310 seconds. Inversion put Boyett fourth in the field, with Chris Davidson pulling the pill for the pole. Davidson edged of Hunter Robbins as the field roared into turn one to take the lead. Robbins followed, but slid back in the field in the next few laps as Brandon Odom, Grill, Boyett, and Pollard got past the Montgomery driver. Pollard was making the biggest move, coming from the seventh starting spot, and moving into second by lap 23. Davidson maintained his lead over Pollard and Odom through several caution periods.

At lap 50, Davidson led Pollard, Odom, Dakota Stroup, and Korey Ruble. The lineup stayed the same until a lap 64 caution. Unfortunately for Davidson, the caution ended his night. Trying to get around a lapped car, Davidson committed to the inside, just as the slower car went to the inside. The two got together, ending Davidson’s shot at victory. Pollard inherited the lead, but was receiving a lot of pressure from Odom.

The race went green from lap 64 and Odom was glued to Pollard’s bumper. Odom looked for a way past the Viper Series Champion, but couldn’t muster up enough speed to make a pass. As the laps ran down, Pollard began to creep away from Odom. Pollard led Odom to the checkers to take his fifth win at SAS this season. Stroup was third, followed by Ruble and Anderson Bowen.

The top seven finishers were inverted for the second 100, with Stroup pulling the #1 and setting on the pole. Grill lined up outside. It took a couple of starts before the green stayed out, and Stroup was involved in one of the cautions, and went to the rear after making repairs. Dwayne Buggay moved up to the pole, but Grill got the jump from the outside to take the lead. Grill’s lead was short-lived as Pollard sped past on lap three. Pollard’s time as leader was twice as long as Grill’s, as Ruble moved to the front position on lap seven. After a lap 12 restart, Pollard regained the top spot, only to have Ruble fight back and reclaim the lead on lap 24.

Ruble led until Grill took control on lap 35. Grill led Ruble, Pollard, Davidson, and Boyett to the crossed flags. Grill built a comfortable lead over Ruble during a long green period, which ended on lap 75. ON lap 76, Pollard spun and was sent to the rear of the field. Boyett was the one on the move, however, and after the restart, moved past Davidson to take third. Two laps later, Boyett worked his way past Ruble to move into second with 22 laps to go.

Boyett gave Grill a test for a few laps, but Grill began to pull away as the laps ran out. Ruble was third with Davidson fourth, Pollard came back to finish fifth.

In the Modified Feature, Donald Crocker took the lead on lap 30 and led the final 10 laps to take the win. Pollard set fast time in qualifying and led the first 29 laps with Crocker close behind. Crocker finally worked his way past Pollard and eased away to take the win. Mike Daniels was third, followed by Heath Mills and Kevin Peel.

In Friday night’s action, Brandon Odom led all 60 laps to take the Street Stock feature win. Odom started on the pole and outran Jody Henderson to turn one to take the lead. Henderson chased Odom during the first half of the race, but couldn’t quite keep the leader’s pace. On lap 32, Chris Lucas moved past Henderson for second. Lucas pulled to Odom’s bumper with a lap 40 caution, but after the restart, Odom pulled back out to a comfortable lead. Odom maintained that lead to the end. Lucas crossed the line second with Henderson third. Dennis Thomas was fourth and Billy Ammons fifth.

Kim Bishop continued his domination of the Roadrunner class, taking the win. Bishop started on the pole and led all 25 laps to take the win. Chris Yeakos came from the fourth starting spot to finish second. Ricky Strickland was third with Mike Wolfe fourth, and David Daniels fifth.

In the Coyote Feature, Joseph Chandler led early, and then fought back late to take the win. Chandler led the first 16 laps before Rusty Locklar took over the lead. Chandler stayed close and fought back to regain the lead four laps later. This time, Chandler held the lead on to the lead for good. Lee Rogers got past Locklar on lap 27, but couldn’t close the gap on Chandler. Chandler crossed the stripe with Rogers and Locklar in tow. Danny Thompson was fourth and Josh Wood fifth.

In the Mini Sportsman Feature, Cameron Henderson followed the same pattern as Chandler. Henderson led the first four laps with Eddy Hinson taking the point on lap five. Henderson retook the lead with four laps to go and went on to take the win. Dustin Monday followed Henderson past Hinson and took runner up honors. Dale McLendon and Lon Howell were fourth and fifth.

The weekend closed out the 2011 season at South Alabama Speedway. The track will reopen March 2-4, 2012 with the 36th Annual Rattler Weekend. For more information about South Alabama Speedway or the rattler Weekend, log on to the track’s web site at www.southalabamaspeedway.com.

 

Results

Pro Late Model

Alabama Pro 200

Race #1

1. Bubba Pollard

2. Brandon Odom

3. Dakota Stroup

4. Korey Ruble

5. Anderson Bowen

6. Augie Grill

7. Dwayne Buggay

8. Mason Mitchell

9. Chris Serio

10. Chase Oliver

11. Russell Fleeman

12. Danny Bagwell

13. Keith Cahela

14. Johnny Walker

15. Tony Clark

16. Jacob Wallace

17. Chris Davidson

18. Sam Smith

19. Spencer Davis

20. Roger Adkins

21. JT Schild

22. Logan Boyett

23. Hunter Robbins

24. Mark Day

25. Dennis Reno Jr.

26. Eric Courville

DNS Brandon Brilliant

DNS Cole Fancher

DNS Troy Grisaffi

 

Race #2

1. Augie Grill

2. Logan Boyett

3. Korey Ruble

4. Chris Davidson

5. Bubba Pollard

6. Anderson Bowen

7. Russell Fleeman

8. Dwayne Buggay

9. Mason Mitchell

10. Johnny Walker

11. Jacob Wallace

12. Chris Serio

13. Dakota Stroup

14. Tony Clark

15. Chase Oliver

16. Sam Smith

17. Mark Day

18. Brandon Odom

19. Keith Cahela

20. JT Schild

21. Danny Bagwell

DNS Spencer Davis

DNS Roger Adkins

DNS Hunter Robbins

DNS Dennis Reno Jr.

DNS Eric Courville

DNS Brandon Brilliant

DNS Cole Fancher

DNS Troy Grisaffi

 

Modified

1. Donald Crocker

2. Bubba Pollard

3. Mike Daniels

4. Kevin Peel

5. Brandon Curren

6. Mario Lupi

7. John Thomas

 

Street Stock

1. Brandon Odom

2. Chris Lucas

3. Jody Henderson

4. Dennis Thomas

5. Billy Ammons

6. Chris Salter

7. Todd Valdez

8. Michael Ledlow

9. Billy Maxie

10. Steve Allen

11. Craig Harrison

12. Johnny Otto

13. Joe Bethea Jr.

14. Richard Patino

 

Roadrunner

1. Kim Bishop

2. Chris Yeakos

3. Ricky Strickland

4. Mike Wolfe

5. David Daniels

6. Rick Thomas

7. Nick Petrie

8. Robert Berry

9. Gary Swanner

10. Bobby Rhodes

 

Coyote

1. Joseph Chandler

2. Lee Rogers

3. Rusty Locklar

4. Danny Thompson

5. Josh Wood

6. Tony Tidwell

7. Michael Piland

8. Dustin Jowwers

9. Dylan Wolfe

10. James Harris

11. Cameron Henderson

12. Bob Jones

13. Chris Johnson

 

Mini Sportsman

1. Cameron Henderson

2. Dustin Monday

3. Eddy Hinson

4. Dale McLendon

5. Lon Howell

6. Donald Mickle

7. Kevin Calloway

8. Donnie Howell

9. Gary Richards

10. Bobby Jennings

11. Jason Monaghan

12. Danny Dewrell

13. Paul Gay