The hopes and dreams of
several drivers were dashed just about the time the green
flagflew inthe UARA-STARS “Hometown
Superette 150” presented by Reynolds Insurance Agency
race on Saturday night at Greenville Pickens Speedway.
Brandon McCarson eventually took the checkered flag, but not
before an accident took out several drivers on the
frontstretch at the beginning of the race.
Darrell Wallace, Jr., who
started on the inside of the second row, appeared to miss a
shift as the field raced under the green to begin the nights
action. Wallace dove to the inside at the flagstand as
soon as he realized he missed a shift but the field behind
were already in the green, green, green, /go, go, go mode
and the results were horrific. There was just not enough
time to change over to the whoa, whoa, whoa mode before more
than 12 cars were piled up right in front of the grandstand.
The field was stopped until the wrecks could be towed away
and the fluids dried up.
Local Greenville Pickens
racers were both lucky, and unlucky, in the accident.
Anthony Anders, who was the fastest qualifier claiming the
Sunoco pole along with 2005 UARA-STARS series champion Matt
McCall landing the Brisco outside pole were in front of the
pileup. Brandon McCarson, who has a lot of experience at
GPS, also was ahead of the accident.
2006 UARA race winner at
Greenville Pickens Marty Ward was not as lucky and ended up
right in the middle of things, along with RA Brown, Randy
Porter, and Blair Addis. Ward suffered damage, but
eventually finished 14th. Brown, Porter, and Addis were
damaged too severely to continue. Addis did make two more
laps on the track but was penalized two laps for working
under the red flag conditions. Addis quickly retired
to the pits along with UARA-STARS regulars Matt Leicht, Jake
Crum and Barry Andrews.
David Roberts, who was
crowned Greenville Pickens Speedway track champion just one
week ago, had clutch problems during qualifying, and had to
enter a second-chance race to make the field. Roberts
started ninth in the heat race and won it securing himself a
starting position in the main event. Roberts and Jimmy Mann,
Jr. started 23rd and 25th in the main race.
When the field took the green after the first lap mishap,
Greenville’s Anthony Anders appeared to set sail. Anders led
the first 75 laps of the race before falling victim to a
blistered right rear tire and ending up 37 laps short of a
victory. Another Greenville Pickens regular, Kenneth Headen
took the point for the next 21 laps but he too had tire
problems but managed to hang on for a 7th place
finish.
In the end it was Brandon McCarson who grabbed the checkered
flag. Young Darrell Wallace, Jr. gave the front runners
plenty of work having stayed in the thick of things all
night long. Wallace captured second place followed by
fellow UARA-STARS regular Roger Lee Newton in third.
Newton came home as the “Holley Performer of the Race”
having gained 24 positions throughout the night just proving
to the locals how tough the UARA-STARS can be.
David Roberts had worked his
way all the way up to second, but with the extra 25 laps on
his tires due to the last-chance race, he faded to fourth
after a late caution. Another UARA-STARS regular Ross
Furr came home with the fifth place finish and gained points
on championship point leader Mark Setzer who came home in
twelfth place. Unofficially Furr could be in second
place in the points battle one point ahead of B.J. Mackey
who would fall to third. The championship will clearly
go down to the wire.
“We rolled this car out,
swept the dust off of it, and here we are." McCarson said.
"It sure is good to run like this here at Greenville
Pickens."
After Roberts finished fourth, he said he had just been
through a long day. “We were racing a Dodge engine I hadn’t
run in over a year, and I was just lucky to miss that big
wreck at the start of the race. If I hadn’t had to use up my
tires, maybe I could have done better, but we are very happy
with the way the night went.”
In the first Charger race, Andy Norris made his move in the
last two turns of the race to pass Robin Darnell for the
victory. Norris had pressed Darnell for much of the race and
was successful by waiting until the time was exactly right.
Andy Norris was the winner in the second Charger race and
Greg Darnell came home victorious in the Renegade event.
The UARA-STARS will be in
action again at Concord Speedway on October 20, 2007 for the
Fairborn Equipment
150
