<img src="http://www.stlracing.com/photopost/data/3044/2mars2.jpg" border="1" width="425">
Bill Frye -- Photo by Tony Hammett!
<a href="http://www.stlracing.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3044&password=&page=1" target="_blank">CLICK HERE FOR MORE MARS RACING PHOTOS FROM MEMPHIS</a>
By Ben Shelton
MEMPHIS, TN - The O’Reilly Thunder Racing Series hosted the 2004 championship launch for the O’Reilly Mid America Racing Series on Friday night.
A stellar field of 42 super late models checked in to do battle for the $3,000 top prize in the MARS sanctioned event. Wendell Wallace earned the pole position for the feature event after accumulating the most passing points in his heat race. Starting to his outside was Bill Frye, who was debuting his 25th Anniversary car, which carries the #25 instead of his familiar #66. At the drop of the initial green flag, Wallace snagged the lead as Brad Looney shot up from his fifth starting spot to take a peak on the inside of Wallace. Before one lap could be completed, fourth starting Johnny Lancaster looped his mount in turn four bringing out the caution. The field lined back up for a complete restart with the next attempt to get the race underway being waived off as Wallace fired a little too soon. The third time was a charm though as Wallace grabbed the lead with Looney rocketing into the second spot as Frye fell back to third. As Wallace began to stretch his lead over Looney and Frye, action was heating up in the back of the field as three and four wide battles were taking place throughout the field. One of the hardest chargers was Jeff Floyd, who started 20th on the grid. By lap eight, Floyd had moved up to the tenth spot. Up front Wallace began catching lapped traffic on the thirteenth circuit. The heavy traffic began to impede Wendell’s progress as Looney and Frye began to close in on the top spot. By lap eighteen the top trio were all within a car length of one another, and on lap nineteen Frye catapulted past Looney into the second spot as he set his sights on Wallace. Frye took advantage of Wallace’s difficulty with a lapped car to take the lead as the duo exited turn four on lap 25. Once in the lead Frye moved down to the hub as Wallace headed for the cushion. Frye slowly extended his lead over the rest of the field until a series of cautions on lap 33 bunched the front runners back together for a seven lap shootout. During the lap 33 caution it became apparent that Frye had sustained damage to his right front wheel as it appeared to angle toward the right. As the event went back green flag racing it became apparent that Frye was battling an ill handling car as he did his best just to maneuver his car through the turns. Even with this handicap Frye was able to hold on for the win over Wallace, Brad Looney, Steve Rushin Jr., and Jeff Floyd. Brad Looney, Bill Frye, Johnny Lancaster, Wendell Wallace, and Chris Ragan won the heats. Al Purkey and Brandon McCormick topped the b-mains to transfer to the main event.
The Cash-In-A-Flash sprint car division saw an all too familiar face in victory lane as Tim Crawley from Mabelvale, Arkansas made it two straight wins at MMP. Paul Sides and Mike Ward led the field to the green flag for the twenty lap event with Sides taking the lead into turn one before Ward shot by for the top spot going down the back stretch. As Ward started to motor away from his competition, Tim Crawley started to pressure Sides for second and took over the runner up spot on lap 2. Sixth starting Vowan, took the third spot away from Sides on the third go round as Crawley was trying to catch Ward. Ward had a ten car length lead when disaster struck on lap 7 when he made contact with a lapped car causing him to spin. He was able to continue racing, but had to go to the rear of the field for stopping on the track. With Ward at the back, Crawley inherited the lead with Vowan in second, Dale Howard in third, and Terry Gray in fourth. As the race went back green flag, Gray got by Howard and Vowan to move into the second spot. Over the remainder of the race, Gray pursued Crawley, but was unable to catch him. At the line Crawley was followed by Gray, Darren Stewart, Vowan, and Dale Howard. Heat races were won by Paul Sides, Mike Ward, and Jody Roland, while Jan Howard won the b-main.
The Burch’s Automotive mini stock division saw a new face in victory lane as Chris Lackey picked up his first ever feature win. Greg Fisher and Rick Sirkel started on the front row for the feature with Fisher taking the initial lead as Lackey and Lee Switcher battled for the second spot. The red flag flew before the first lap could be completed when Joey Maxwell made hard contact with the turn one wall and flipped his car. Maxwell was uninjured but done for the night. As the race went back green Fisher grabbed the lead once again with Lackey and Switcher in pursuit. By the race’s midpoint Lackey was applying heavy pressure to Fisher and ultimately took the lead and went on to take the win. Switcher, Shane Parker, Greg Fisher, and Roy Webb rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Greg Fisher and Rick Sirkel.
O’Reilly Mid America Racing Series Late Models
Carcount: 42
Heat #1: 1)Brad Looney 2)Steve Rushin 3)Jeff Taylor 4)Jessie Bailey 5)Keith Craft 6)Jason Bodenhammer 7)Jack Sullivan 8)Mike Carr 9)Brian Malone
Heat #2: 1)Bill Frye 2)Jerry Buck 3)Peyton Taylor 4)Brandon Mccormick 5)Danny Christian 6)Robert Lovette 7)Larry Clawson 8)Dean Carpenter
Heat #3: 1)Johnny Lancaster 2)Jerry Inmon 3)Gary Stolba 4)Jamie Dacus 5)Dewaine Hottinger 6)Jimmy Brotherton 7)Leslie Essary 8) 6K-Knight
Heat #4: 1)Wendell Wallace 2)Jon Mitchell 3)Jeff Waller 4)Brian Holliway 5)Shane Essary 6)Barry Burch 7)Brian Taube 8)Al Purkey
Heat #5: 1)Chris Ragan 2)Raymond Merrill 3)Terry Phillips 4)Jeff Floyd 5)Joey Mack 6)Dustin Mooneyham 7)Mark Sartain 8)Dane Dacus
Top Qualifier: Wendell Wallace
Provisionals: Dewaine Hottinger, Leslie Essary, Dane Dacus (Promoter’S Option)
B-Main #1 Finish (Top Two Transfer): 1)Brandon Mccormick 2)Joey Mack 3)Jason Bodenhammer 4)Brian Holliway 5)Keith Craft 6)Larry Clawson 7)Dewaine Hottinger 8)Dean Carpenter 9)Jack Sullivan 10)Jimmy Brotherton 11)Brian Taube
B-Main #2 Finish (Top Two Transfer): 1)Al Purkey 2)Jeff Floyd 3)Jamie Dacus 4)Danny Christian 5)Shane Essary 6)Dustin Mooneyham 7)Barry Burch 8)Brian Malone 9)Mark Sartain 10)Robert Lovette 11)Mike Carr
Feature Results: 1)Bill Frye 2)Wendell Wallace 3)Brad Looney 4)Steve Rushin Jr. 5)Jeff Floyd 6)Jon Mitchell 7)Peyton Taylor 8)Jessie Bailey 9)Brian Holliway 10)Jerry Buck 11)Brandon Mccormick 12)Chris Ragan 13)Al Purkey 14)Raymond Merrill 15)Joey Mack 16)Jeff Taylor 17)Jerry Inmon 18)Terry Phillips 19)Leslie Essary 20)Dane Dacus 21)Johnny Lancaster 22)Dewaine Hottinger 23)Jeff Waller
Cash-In-A-Flash Sprint Cars
Carcount: 27
Heat Winners: Paul Sides, Mike Ward, Jody Roland
B-Main Transfers:
Feature Results: 1)Tim Crawley 2)Terry Gray 3)Darren Stewart 4)Bryce Vowan 5)Dale Howard 6)Raymond Stull 7)Eddie Gallagher 8)Jody Roland 9)Jan Howard 10)Mike Ward 11)Paul Sides 12)Marshall Skinner 13)Kenny Coke 14)Greg Merritt 15)Josh Baker 16)Cody ? 17)Dj Masner 18)Justin Sturch 19)Ricky Stenhouse Jr 20)Steven Tiner
Burch’S Automotive Mini Stocks
Carcount: 11
Heat Winners: Greg Fisher, Rick Sirkel
Feature Results: 1)Chris Lackey 2)Lee Switcher 3)Shane Parker 4)Greg Fisher 5)Roy Webb 6)Rick Sirkel 7)John Mcgarvey 8)David Dunham 9)Jason Pope 10)Joey Maxwell
Bill Frye -- Photo by Tony Hammett!
<a href="http://www.stlracing.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3044&password=&page=1" target="_blank">CLICK HERE FOR MORE MARS RACING PHOTOS FROM MEMPHIS</a>
By Ben Shelton
MEMPHIS, TN - The O’Reilly Thunder Racing Series hosted the 2004 championship launch for the O’Reilly Mid America Racing Series on Friday night.
A stellar field of 42 super late models checked in to do battle for the $3,000 top prize in the MARS sanctioned event. Wendell Wallace earned the pole position for the feature event after accumulating the most passing points in his heat race. Starting to his outside was Bill Frye, who was debuting his 25th Anniversary car, which carries the #25 instead of his familiar #66. At the drop of the initial green flag, Wallace snagged the lead as Brad Looney shot up from his fifth starting spot to take a peak on the inside of Wallace. Before one lap could be completed, fourth starting Johnny Lancaster looped his mount in turn four bringing out the caution. The field lined back up for a complete restart with the next attempt to get the race underway being waived off as Wallace fired a little too soon. The third time was a charm though as Wallace grabbed the lead with Looney rocketing into the second spot as Frye fell back to third. As Wallace began to stretch his lead over Looney and Frye, action was heating up in the back of the field as three and four wide battles were taking place throughout the field. One of the hardest chargers was Jeff Floyd, who started 20th on the grid. By lap eight, Floyd had moved up to the tenth spot. Up front Wallace began catching lapped traffic on the thirteenth circuit. The heavy traffic began to impede Wendell’s progress as Looney and Frye began to close in on the top spot. By lap eighteen the top trio were all within a car length of one another, and on lap nineteen Frye catapulted past Looney into the second spot as he set his sights on Wallace. Frye took advantage of Wallace’s difficulty with a lapped car to take the lead as the duo exited turn four on lap 25. Once in the lead Frye moved down to the hub as Wallace headed for the cushion. Frye slowly extended his lead over the rest of the field until a series of cautions on lap 33 bunched the front runners back together for a seven lap shootout. During the lap 33 caution it became apparent that Frye had sustained damage to his right front wheel as it appeared to angle toward the right. As the event went back green flag racing it became apparent that Frye was battling an ill handling car as he did his best just to maneuver his car through the turns. Even with this handicap Frye was able to hold on for the win over Wallace, Brad Looney, Steve Rushin Jr., and Jeff Floyd. Brad Looney, Bill Frye, Johnny Lancaster, Wendell Wallace, and Chris Ragan won the heats. Al Purkey and Brandon McCormick topped the b-mains to transfer to the main event.
The Cash-In-A-Flash sprint car division saw an all too familiar face in victory lane as Tim Crawley from Mabelvale, Arkansas made it two straight wins at MMP. Paul Sides and Mike Ward led the field to the green flag for the twenty lap event with Sides taking the lead into turn one before Ward shot by for the top spot going down the back stretch. As Ward started to motor away from his competition, Tim Crawley started to pressure Sides for second and took over the runner up spot on lap 2. Sixth starting Vowan, took the third spot away from Sides on the third go round as Crawley was trying to catch Ward. Ward had a ten car length lead when disaster struck on lap 7 when he made contact with a lapped car causing him to spin. He was able to continue racing, but had to go to the rear of the field for stopping on the track. With Ward at the back, Crawley inherited the lead with Vowan in second, Dale Howard in third, and Terry Gray in fourth. As the race went back green flag, Gray got by Howard and Vowan to move into the second spot. Over the remainder of the race, Gray pursued Crawley, but was unable to catch him. At the line Crawley was followed by Gray, Darren Stewart, Vowan, and Dale Howard. Heat races were won by Paul Sides, Mike Ward, and Jody Roland, while Jan Howard won the b-main.
The Burch’s Automotive mini stock division saw a new face in victory lane as Chris Lackey picked up his first ever feature win. Greg Fisher and Rick Sirkel started on the front row for the feature with Fisher taking the initial lead as Lackey and Lee Switcher battled for the second spot. The red flag flew before the first lap could be completed when Joey Maxwell made hard contact with the turn one wall and flipped his car. Maxwell was uninjured but done for the night. As the race went back green Fisher grabbed the lead once again with Lackey and Switcher in pursuit. By the race’s midpoint Lackey was applying heavy pressure to Fisher and ultimately took the lead and went on to take the win. Switcher, Shane Parker, Greg Fisher, and Roy Webb rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Greg Fisher and Rick Sirkel.
O’Reilly Mid America Racing Series Late Models
Carcount: 42
Heat #1: 1)Brad Looney 2)Steve Rushin 3)Jeff Taylor 4)Jessie Bailey 5)Keith Craft 6)Jason Bodenhammer 7)Jack Sullivan 8)Mike Carr 9)Brian Malone
Heat #2: 1)Bill Frye 2)Jerry Buck 3)Peyton Taylor 4)Brandon Mccormick 5)Danny Christian 6)Robert Lovette 7)Larry Clawson 8)Dean Carpenter
Heat #3: 1)Johnny Lancaster 2)Jerry Inmon 3)Gary Stolba 4)Jamie Dacus 5)Dewaine Hottinger 6)Jimmy Brotherton 7)Leslie Essary 8) 6K-Knight
Heat #4: 1)Wendell Wallace 2)Jon Mitchell 3)Jeff Waller 4)Brian Holliway 5)Shane Essary 6)Barry Burch 7)Brian Taube 8)Al Purkey
Heat #5: 1)Chris Ragan 2)Raymond Merrill 3)Terry Phillips 4)Jeff Floyd 5)Joey Mack 6)Dustin Mooneyham 7)Mark Sartain 8)Dane Dacus
Top Qualifier: Wendell Wallace
Provisionals: Dewaine Hottinger, Leslie Essary, Dane Dacus (Promoter’S Option)
B-Main #1 Finish (Top Two Transfer): 1)Brandon Mccormick 2)Joey Mack 3)Jason Bodenhammer 4)Brian Holliway 5)Keith Craft 6)Larry Clawson 7)Dewaine Hottinger 8)Dean Carpenter 9)Jack Sullivan 10)Jimmy Brotherton 11)Brian Taube
B-Main #2 Finish (Top Two Transfer): 1)Al Purkey 2)Jeff Floyd 3)Jamie Dacus 4)Danny Christian 5)Shane Essary 6)Dustin Mooneyham 7)Barry Burch 8)Brian Malone 9)Mark Sartain 10)Robert Lovette 11)Mike Carr
Feature Results: 1)Bill Frye 2)Wendell Wallace 3)Brad Looney 4)Steve Rushin Jr. 5)Jeff Floyd 6)Jon Mitchell 7)Peyton Taylor 8)Jessie Bailey 9)Brian Holliway 10)Jerry Buck 11)Brandon Mccormick 12)Chris Ragan 13)Al Purkey 14)Raymond Merrill 15)Joey Mack 16)Jeff Taylor 17)Jerry Inmon 18)Terry Phillips 19)Leslie Essary 20)Dane Dacus 21)Johnny Lancaster 22)Dewaine Hottinger 23)Jeff Waller
Cash-In-A-Flash Sprint Cars
Carcount: 27
Heat Winners: Paul Sides, Mike Ward, Jody Roland
B-Main Transfers:
Feature Results: 1)Tim Crawley 2)Terry Gray 3)Darren Stewart 4)Bryce Vowan 5)Dale Howard 6)Raymond Stull 7)Eddie Gallagher 8)Jody Roland 9)Jan Howard 10)Mike Ward 11)Paul Sides 12)Marshall Skinner 13)Kenny Coke 14)Greg Merritt 15)Josh Baker 16)Cody ? 17)Dj Masner 18)Justin Sturch 19)Ricky Stenhouse Jr 20)Steven Tiner
Burch’S Automotive Mini Stocks
Carcount: 11
Heat Winners: Greg Fisher, Rick Sirkel
Feature Results: 1)Chris Lackey 2)Lee Switcher 3)Shane Parker 4)Greg Fisher 5)Roy Webb 6)Rick Sirkel 7)John Mcgarvey 8)David Dunham 9)Jason Pope 10)Joey Maxwell
