TRAVIS PENNINGTON
SWEEPS FALL NATIONALS SUPER LATE MODEL ACTION AT DEEP SOUTH
SPEEDWAY
.....Ryan Little Wins
Sunday GM Performance Late Model Main Event After Cliff Williams Takes Friday
and Saturday Checkers
.....Rodney Wing Tops
Open Wheel Modified on Saturday and Sunday as Greg Hopkins Wins Weekend
Opener
Travis Pennington
rolled into Deep South Speedway for the three-day Fall Nationals and had never
before laid eyes on the high-banked track. When the three-day weekend concluded,
the Winston, Ga., driver was quite
familiar with the 4/10-mile oval and he was $6,500 richer for his
efforts. The son of Hall of Fame competitor and former NASCAR
Sprint Cup driver Jack Pennington earned $4,000
with a victory in a 40-lapper that closed out the special event at the
high-banked oval. Pennington started next to fast qualifier David Breazeale and
got the early jump. He then drove away from the field until 14th-starting Clint Smith showed up to challenge after using the high
side to reach the leaders. Smith vaulted into second place and twice chased down
the race leader from as far back as eight car lengths. He pulled almost dead
even with Pennington between turns one and two near the lap-30 mark, nearly
passing the young driver before falling back at the opposite end of the
high-banked oval. In addition to sweeping the super late model events for the
weekend, the teenage Pennington left town with the new track qualifying record
at a mark of 16.068 seconds in his Rocket Chassis super late model powered by a
Clements Racing Engine.
“The crew signaled to
me, so I knew somebody had to be getting close to me,” Pennington said.
Smith later started
to run Pennington down yet again, but a caution waved on lap 35 for a stalled
car on the front stretch, putting an end to the Senoia,
Ga. driver’s repeated
charges toward the front of the field. Smith wasn’t able to make as strong a bid
on the restart despite the race’s double-file restart, and finished four car
lengths behind Pennington.
“I almost passed him
the first time and was getting ready to try it again when that last yellow came
out,” Smith said.
Trailing the top duo
of Pennington and Smith across the stripe in the field were David Breazeale,
Mike Boland and Bub McCool as the top-five finishers.
SUPER LM FINISH
(Sunday Nov 16,
2008): Winner - Travis
Pennington (Winston, Ga) 2.Clint Smith
(Senoia, Ga) 3.David Breazeale
(Four
Corners,
Miss) 4. Mike Boland (Cuba, Ala) 5. Bub McCool
(Vicksburg, Miss 6.Tony Knowles
(Tyrone, Ga) 7.David Ashley
(Zachary, La) 8.James Ward (Lettsworth, La 9. Frank Wilson (Harold, Fla)
10.Dingus Griffin (Alexandria, Ala 11.Mickey Trosclair Jr (Luling, La) 12.Win
Ingersoll (Ft. Pierce, Fla 13.Chris Smith (Brewton, Ala)
14.Tony Morris (Murphreesboro, Tenn) 15.Justin McRee (Woodstock, Ala)
16.William Thomas (Phenix City, Ala) 17.Neil
Baggett (Shannon, Miss) 18.Rick Rogers (Knoxville, Tenn) 19.Shep Lucas
(McKenzie, Ala) 20.Patrick Michel (New Orleans, La)
Deep
South Speedway
2008
GM Performance Late
Model Champion Racks Up Season-Ending Win
Satsuma, Ala., driver
Ryan Little drove to a flag-to-flag victory worth $2,500 in a 30-lap crate Late
Model feature at Deep South Speedway on the final
night of the Fall Nationals at the 4/10-mile oval. Little’s win
was his third feature victory of the season. The second-generation driver is
also the track champion in the class for the ‘08 season, backing up last year’s
crown that he claimed in the same division. Little snapped Cliff Williams’ streak of two victories in a row during
the three-day event, holding off the Star, Miss., driver’s steady
attempts to unseat him from the point. Williams stayed close to Little but could
never get much closer than a car length and appeared headed to a runner-up
finish until tire problems dropped him out of the top five with less than five
laps remaining. He finished eighth. Little sailed from there and
sealed the victory over Mike Boland, Tracey Sutton, Cody Smith and Mark Clifton.
“This is a really
great way for us to end the season,” Little said.
GM Performance Late
Model Finish (Sunday Nov 16, 2008): Winner - Ryan Little (Satsuma, Ala)
2.Mike Boland (Cuba, Ala) 3.Tracey Sutton (Flomaton, Ala) 4.Cody Smith (Holt,
Fla) 5.Mark Clifton (Flomaton, Ala) 6.Jamey Smith (Purvis, Miss) 7.Stephen
Brantley (Monroeville, Ala) 8.Cliff Williams (Jackson, Miss) 9.Todd Jones (Pace,
Fla) 10.Phillip Anderson (Calhoun, Ga) 11.Michael Santangelo (New Orleans, La)
12.Kenneth Montiel (Satsuma, Ala) 13.Craig Grice (Sneeds, Fla) 14.Al Kouhout
(Moselle, Miss) 15.Joseph Joiner (Repton, Ala) 16.Marcus Minga (Shannon, Miss)
17.Josh Huss (Flomaton, Ala) 18.Kevin Maher
(Flomaton, Ala) 19.Isaiah Day 20.Edward Guidry 21.Ben McCreary (Baldwyn,
Miss) 22.Virgil Taylor (Thorsby, Ala) 23.Danny Joe Thomas (Robertsdale, Ala)
24.Nathan Ingersoll (Robertsdale, Ala)
Rickey Haugen Strikes
for Second
Street Stock Shootout Win
of Weekend in Fall Nationals at Deep
South Speedway
With a Street Stock
Shootout win already under his belt from Friday night Pace, Florida ace Rickey
Haugen left no doubt that he was not to be denied another trip to the winner’s
circle as he pulled off the repeat outgunning the field with a rousing run to
victory again on Sunday. Haugen, who saw his GM Performance Late
Model car destroyed in a wild crash on Saturday, got back behind the wheel of
his red 22G machine and streaked to his second win of the Fall Nationals
weekend. Following Haugen to the stripe were James Woods in second
with Calvin Cook coming home in third place. Michael Williams and
Nick White rounded out the top-five in the final day of Street Stock
action.
Mary Ester,
Florida young gun Josh
Livingston stung the field for the win in Sunday’s Stinger division action.
Livingston was followed to the finish line by Angela Hayes in second, Wayne
Dillon in third, with Cliff Robinson and Aaron Kiaunis finishing fourth and
fifth respectively. Jay Coleman of Cantonment, Florida won the Vintage
Racecar Hi-Rev Performance Dash for Cash on Sunday to follow up on his Saturday
night win in the Hi-Rev Performance Vintage Racecar main event.
Josh Kimmons took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Bomber feature followed
in the top-five by Jacob Broughton, Al Hardy, Jamie Young and Davod Edmundson as
the top-five finishers.
Wing Makes it Two in
a Row in Open Wheel Modified Action at Deep
South
Rodney Wing backed up his Saturday night win in Open Wheel Modified
action during the Fall Nationals at Deep South Speedway taking the second
$1,500.00 win in as many nights as the Meridian, Mississippi veteran outgunned a
hard-charging Brooks Strength for the win. Noah Daspit claimed the
third spot as Nathan Ingersoll and Joe Phillips rounded out the top-five.
Open Wheel Modified Finishing Order
(Sunday Nov 16,
2008):
Winner – Rodney Wing (Meridian, Ms) 2. Brooks Strength (Bryam, Ms)
3.Noah Daspit (Kiln, Ms) 4.Nathan Ingersoll (Robertsdale, Ala) 5.Joe Phillips
6.Brian Conway (Loxley, Ala) 7.Rodney Malloy (Elberta, Ala) 8.Pop Booker 9.David
Seffens (Holt, Fla) 10.Greg Hopkins (Molino, Fla) 11.Lance McKenzie (Brewton,
Ala) 12.Kyle Rutkoski (South Eight, Ala) 13.Bucky Lane (Foley, Ala) 14.Scott
Marlow (Mobile, Ala) 15.Todd Neiheiser (Panama City, Fla) 16.Will Rhodes
(Pensacola, Fla) 17.Brandon Dortch (Perdido, Ala) 18.Rodney Rutherford
19.Darrell George (Chipley, Fla) 20.Jeff Culpepper (Hamilton, Ga) 21.Shawn Pitts
22.Wade Black (Bay Minette, Ala)
Saturday Night Action from Fall
Nationals
Georgia Teenager Strikes for
Victory at Deep South Speedway with New Track Record
A full night of racing heated up
the chilly night at Deep South Speedway in round two of the Fall Nationals
Saturday evening with eighteen year old Travis Pennington roaring to the win in
the Super Late Model Feature event. Pennington led wire-to-wire in
the thirty lap main for the full field of hard chargers from the pole position
by virtue of a new track record in time trials. Pennington’s
qualifying lap of 16.068 seconds around the half-mile oval set the stage for his
run to victory surpassing the previous mark set by World of Outlaws campaigner
Tim Fuller of Edwards, New York. Saturday’s main event would see David Ashley
credited with second place while Shep Lucas, Tony Knowles and Justin McCree
rounded out the top-five finishers.
Another action-packed GM
Performance Crate-Engine Late Model feature event saw Cliff Williams make it two
in a row with a repeat performance of his Friday night win. Williams, from
Jackson, Mississippi led a charge of TrakStar Racecars
in a clean sweep of the top-three finishing spots Saturday night.
Mike Boland turned up the heat on the leader in the closing laps but
Williams outgunned Boland to the checkered flag with Deep South Speedway
2008 GM Performance Late Model champion
Ryan Little came home in third with Florida’s James Ussery finishing fourth
while Robertsdale, Alabama’s Danny Joe Thomas took fifth.
The
Open-Wheel Modified feature win went to Rodney Wing of Meridian, Mississippi. Wing held on to the
top-spot throughout the main event despite numerous yellow flags which slowed
the event. Fellow Mississippi racer Noah Daspit took the
runner-up spot with Todd Neiheiser, Mike Ladner and Brooks Strength completing
the top-five of the finishing order.
In
other Saturday night battles Jay Coleman (Cantonment, Fla) struck paydirt with a speedy run
to Victory
Lane in the H-Rev
Performance Vintage Racecar feature. Coleman sped to the finish
line ahead of Chris Bayhi (Pensacola, Fla) and Stuart Wilson (Harold, Fla) with Jody Beech and Johnny
Blackwell rounding out the top-five finishers. Allen Taylor,
a.k.a. The Saraland Express, showed the field why he won the 2008 Super Hobby
Championship this season as he blasted out front to take the win over Jerry
Dickinson, Arthur Sawyer, Michael Rhodes and Rocky Degury.
Saturday night’s Stinger division win went to Wayne Dillon with Gary
Watson claiming the runner-up spot, while Randy Johnson came home third with
Angela Hayes fourth and Kenneth Clemmons taking the fifth spot.
Keith Presnall prevailed in a wild Hobby Stock feature event as he roared
home with the win finishing ahead of Shannon Hodges, Terri Woods, Junior Vick
and Jenny Woods in the top-five.
Super Late Model Main Event
Finishing Order (Saturday, Nov 15, 2008): Winner – Travis
Pennington (Winston, Ga) 2.David Ashley (Zachary, La) 3.Shep
Lucas (McKenzie, Ala) 4.Tony Knowles (Tyrone, Ga) 5.Justin McCree (Woodstock,
Ala) 6.Ricky Idom (Hattiesburg, Ms) 7.Clint Smith (Senoia, Ga) 8.Bub McCool
(Vicksburg, Ms) 9.Mickey Trosclair (Luling, La) 10.Devin Jones (Baker, Fla)
11.Chris Hoomes (Brewton, Ala) 12.Jason Phillips (Milton, Fla) 13.James Ward
(Lettsworth, La) 14.Chris Smith (Brewton, Ala) 15.Rick Rogers (Knoxville, Tenn)
16.James Ussery (Cottondale, Fla) 17.Randy Little (Satsuma, Ala) 18.William
Thomas (Phenix City, Ala) 19.Neil Baggett (Shannon, Ms) 20.Dingus Griffin
(Alexandria, Ala) 21.Frank Wilson (Harold, Fla) 22.Mike Boland (Cuba, Ala)
23.Tony Morris (Murphreesboro, Tenn) 24. David Breazeale (Four Corners, Ms)
GM Performance Late Model Finishing
Order (Saturday, Nov 15, 2008): Winner – Cliff Williams
(Jackson, Ms) 2.Mike Boland (Cuba, Ala) 3.Ryan Little
(Satsuma, Ala) 4.James Ussery (Cottondale, Fla) 5.Danny Joe Thomas (Robertsdale,
Ala) 6.Todd Jones (Pace, Fla) 7.Kevin Maher (McDavid, Fla) 8.Steven Rogers
(Knoxville, Tenn) 9.Larry Cifra (Moss Point, Ms) 10.Ricky Haugen (Pace, Fla)
11.Mark Clifton (Flomaton, Ala) 12.Phillip Anderson (Calhoun, Ga) 13.Craig
Turner (Flomaton, Ala) 14.Michael Santangelo (New Orleans, La) 15.Jeremy Hines
(Seymour, In) 16.Larry Boutwell (Baker, Fla) 17.Jamey Smith (Purvis, Ms) 18.Cody
Smith (Holt, Fla) 19.Monte Skinner (Satsuma, Ala) 20.Marcus Minga (Shannon, Ms)
21.Ben McCreary (Baldwin, Ms) 22.Chris O’Connor (Cantonment, Fla) 23.Darren
Joyner (Repton, Ala) 24.Steven Brantley (Monroeville, Ala) 25.Jeremy Idom
(Hattiesburg, Ms)
Open Wheel Modified Finishing Order
(Saturday, Nov 15, 2008): Winner – Rodney Wing (Meridian,
Ms) 2.Noah Daspit (Kiln, Ms) 3.Todd Neiheiser (Panama City, Fla) 4.Mike
Ladner (Biloxi, Ms) 5.Brooks Strength (Bryam, Ms) 6.John Hartman (Loxley, Ala)
7.Greg Hopkins (Molino, Fla) 8.Nathan Ingersoll (Robertsdale, Ala) 9.Darrell
George (Chipley, Fla) 10.Wade Black (Bay Minette, Ala) 11.Willie Peak (Hogchain,
Miss) 12.Lance McKenzie (Brewton, Ala) 13.Scooter Grice (Pensacola, Fla)
14.Brian Conway (Loxley, Ala) 15.Jeff Culpepper (Hamilton, Ga) 16.Brandon Dortch
(Perdido, Ala) 17.Shawn Pitts 18.Will Rhodes (Pensacola, Fla) 19.Rodney
Rutherford 20.Don Livingston (Mary Ester, Fla) 21.Michael O’Connor (Pensacola,
Fla) 22.Scott Marlow (Mobile, Ala) 23.Ricky Culpepper (Hamilton, Ga) 24.David
Seffens (Holt, Fla) 25.Kevin Settles (Ponce DeLeon, Fla)
Cliff Williams and Greg Hopkins
Take Feature Wins in Opening Night of Fall Nationals at Deep South Speedway
…Rickey Haugen and Red Dog Reynolds
Speed to Victory in Friday Night Slugfests to Kick Off Weekend of
Racing
Night number one of the three-day Fall Nationals at Deep South Speedway
saw lightning fast racing action on the high-banked oval near the Gulf Coast
with Cliff Williams of Jackson, Mississippi taking the win in the first of three
rounds in the GM Performance Late Model action. 2008 Deep South
Speedway Open Wheel Modified Champion Greg Hopkins of Molino, Florida welcomed a
traveling band of modified racers to his turf in night one of three divisional
bouts by showing the visitors the way around the half-mile speed plant and
taking the checkered flag going away. In other Friday night racing
two of the toughest racers in the region backed up their 2008 seasons with
Mobile, Alabama’s Lee ‘Red Dog’ Reynolds fighting his way to the front and
roaring on to the win in the Hobby Stock main event and Rickey Haugen of Pace,
Florida carving another notch in his gun belt with the win in round number one
of the weekend’s Street Stock Shootouts. Michael Rhodes came home
the winner in Friday night’s Super Hobby feature.
GM Performance Late Model Finishing
Order (Friday, Nov 14,
2008):
Winner – Cliff Williams (Jackson, Ms) 2.Chris
O’Connor (Cantonment, Fla) 3.Cody Smith (Holt, Fla) 4. Nathan Ingersoll (Robertsdale, Ala) 5. James Ussery (Cottondale, Fla) 6.Steven Brantley (Monroeville, Ala) 7.Ricky Haugen (Pace,
Fla) 8.Larry Cifra (Moss Point, Ms) 9.Jamey Smith (Purvis, Ms)
10. Monte Skinner (Satsuma, Ala) 11.Jeremy Hines (Seymour, In) 12.Johnny Wright 13.Kevin
Maher (McDavid, Fla) 14.Edward Guidry (Holrahan, La)
15.Steve Jernigan (Milton, Fla) 16.Josh Huss (Flomaton, Ala) 17.Randy Walters (Butler, Miss) 18.Joseph Joiner
(Milton, Fla) 19.Al
Kouhout (Moselle, Miss)
20.Michael
Santangelo (New
Orleans, La) 21.Mark
Clifton (Flomaton, Ala) 22.Darren Joyner (Repton, Ala) 23.Danny Joe Thomas (Robertsdale, Ala) 24. Jeremy Idom (Hattiesburg, Ms) 25.Kenneth Monteil (Satsuma,
Ala)
Open Wheel Modified Finishing Order
(Friday, Nov 14,
2008):
Winner – Greg Hopkins (Molino, Fla) 2.Mike Ladner (Biloxi, Ms) 3. Jeff Culpepper
(Hamilton, Ga) 4.Todd Neiheiser (Panama City, Fla) 5.Rodney Malloy (Elberta, Ala) 6.Shawn Pitts 7. Brian Conway
(Loxley, Ala) 8.Wade Black (Bay Minette, Ala) 9.Will Rhodes (Pensacola, Fla) 10.Bucky Lane (Foley, Ala) 11.Nathan Ingersoll (Robertsdale, Ala) 12.Ricky Culpepper (Hamilton, Ga) 13.Kevin Settles (Ponce DeLeon, Fla) 14.Brooks Strength (Bryam, Ms)
15.Brandon Dortch (Perdido, Ala) 16.Lance McKenzie (Brewton, Ala) 17. David Seffens (Holt, Fla) 18.Ron Tubbs (Gulfport, Ms) 19.Kyle Rutkoski (South
Eight, Ala) 20.Buster Foley (Elsinor, Ala) 21.Pop Booker 22. Don Livingston
(Mary Ester, Fla) 23.Todd Jones (Pace, Fla) 24.Rodney Wing (Meridian, Ms)
Deep South Speedway will host the
Mardi Gras Bash on the weekend of February 7-8 with special appearances of the
ASCS Sprint Cars and the Cajun Sprint Car Association in a battle of winged
sprint cars, plus the season-opening events for the GM Performance Late Models
and other support divisions. On March 13-14, the World of Outlaws
Late Models will battle at Deep South Speedway.
Complete information pertaining to
the 2008 Deep
South
Speedway Awards Presentations and Banquet,
as well as the Official 2009 Deep South Speedway Rulebook will be posted via the
track’s web site in the next few weeks. Deep South Speedway would
like to thank all of the competitors, fans, sponsors and officials of the 2008
season and looks forward to more exciting racing in the coming
season.
|
