Columbus, MS - Saturday night, a major hurricane howled through "The Baddest Bullring in the South".
The 4th Annual "Hurricane 30" would bring in 36 Super Late Model race teams to battle for $1,500-to-win in what would be the final "tune-up" opportunity before the $20,005-to-win Magnolia State 100 on October 7-8, Mississippi's biggest racing event. 137 total race teams were on hand with all local divisions also in action.
The high-banked speedway was prepped to a crowd-pleasing fast, tacky, and racy surface providing some of the wildest on-track action of the season. 2005 MSCCS Champion "The Ragin' Rebel" David Breazeale would set fast time in qualifying with a 13.96-second lap, just beating Mike Boland's 13.98. Boland would suffer a burned piston on his second qualifying lap and would be forced to roll out a backup car, relegating him to the rear of the feature field. Jason Smith would then assume the outside pole, while Mark Stokes, Kelly Hanvey, and Keith Flurry would take exciting B-Main victories.
Breazeale would jump to the lead at the drop of the green as Smith and "The Intimagator" Chris Wall engaged in side-by-side war for the runner-up spot. Rodney Wing and 2005 MSCCS Rookie of the Year Ronny Lee Hollingsworth battled high and low behind the race for second, with three-wide action in the rearview. A lap two caution would halt the early action, and the restart would bring about a pileup on the front stretch before the race could get underway once again.
Wall would claim second place behind Breazeale on the restart, with Hollingsworth going under top-running Smith to challenge for third place. The two would remain side-by-side around the track for several laps as Wing and Rick Rickman battled behind them and Wall began to reel in Breazeale as the two started to navigate lapped traffic. By lap 10, the two leaders had reached a three-wide traffic jam of backmarkers, but Breazeale would be able to hold of challenges from Wall as Hollingsworth finally took third place for his own.
Smith would move in to battle Hollingsworth once again on lap 15, this time trying the bottom of the track, while Wall chased Breazeale through a steady stream of lapped traffic. Breazeale would finally break into the clear on lap 17, while Smith would once again duel Hollingsworth door-to-door as Wing looked closely on. Smith would lose several spots on lap 19 as he streaked down the front stretch infield, and Wing, Neil Baggett, and Scott Dedwylder would all blast by.
A debris caution would break up the action and bring Breazeale back to the field on lap 21, with Breazeale, Wall, Hollingsworth, Wing, and Dedwylder in the top five. Boland had by then made his way all the way from his dead-last starting spot up to 7th behind Baggett and ahead of Smith, with Greg Fore and Hanvey now in the top ten.
Hollingsworth would quickly rocket off the top of turn 2 to claim second place on the restart, and the notorious traffic master Boland would somehow jump from 7th to battle for 4th place in short order and start to go after Wall for 3rd after dispatching Wing. The two would lock horns in door-to-door action as Dedwylder and Wing duked it out for 5th on lap 24, with Baggett exiting to the pits under green. Wall would shut the door on Boland and set off after Hollingsworth just before the final caution on lap 28 saw Terrell Stripling fly full-speed off of the turn 3 pit exit.
With a two-lap dash waiting to settle the score, Breazeale would lead Hollingsworth, Wall, Boland, and Dedwylder in the top five. While Breazeale had already seemed to lay claim to the win, the race for second in the final two laps would be incredibly fierce. Wall would race inside of the Hollingsworth and the two would run side-by-side with Boland only inches behind, often sticking his own nose between the pair. The advantage would shift back and forth between Wall and Hollingsworth for what would be the longest and most exciting two laps of the night, and as Breazeale took the checkered flag, Wall inched ahead coming off of turn 4 and heading to the flagstand. Hollingsworth would use every bit of momentum he could find to rocket back into position alongside Wall as they raced to the checkers, Boland all the while looking for a way around both of them. Hollingsworth would win the race to the line by mere inches to take the runner-up spot over Wall and Boland.
With Breazeale taking the $1,500 Hurricane 30 victory, he became the only Super Late Model driver to win two feature races at Columbus Speedway in teh entire 2005 racign season. Hollingsworth, Wall, Boland, and Dedwylder would round out the top five while Greg Fore, Wing, Hanvey, Mark Stokes, and Tombo Callahan would take top-ten honors.
In Open-Wheel Modified action, a first-lap mess in turn 1 would take out several of the leaders, including Brooks Strength, Tony Gray, Jimmy Brasfield, and Mike Shaw. From there, Shay Knight would take over the lead and dominate the event until a late caution for the barrel-rolling #911 machine of brought the field back together. Rusty Duncan would not let Knight get away with an easy victory, running the middle line under the rim-riding "Knight Rider" for the final 6 laps until Knight claimed the win. Duncan, Lee Ray, Blake Koenigsberger, and Bill Sudduth would earn top-five honors.
One of the most exciting events of the wild night of action was the Late Model Stock division. Early leader Jason Sanderford would lose the lead mid-race to Ben McReary, then regain the point as Randy Boyd Thompson moved in to make it a position-swapping, line-swapping three way-duel. Thompson would finally take over for good on lap 12, going on to win over Sanderford, McReary, Mike Langford, and Randy Harmon.
Trey Bright took Street Stock honors with a strong performance over TK King, Jeffrey Walker, Kevin Monahan, and Danny Gable. Allen Gilreath would lead the way in Mini Stock action once again, his fourth victory in four appearances at The Bullring, and claim his own bounty. Jennifer Shelton, Austin Broadaway, Michael Pendley, and Hugh Shaffer would round out the top five. Keith and Kevin Monahan would take the Cruiser win, and 12-year-old Ben Williams would win his second Hot Shot victory in a row.
Points championships for the 2005 season would also be finalized as the event served as the final Weekly Racing Series event of the year. The Champions would be: Tombo Callahan - Super Late Model; Lee Ray - Modified; Jeremy Glasgow - Late Model Stock; Danny Gable - Street Stock; Stanley Busbin - Mini Stock; John Beard - Cruiser; Roger Wright III - Hot Shot. Congratulations to the Champs!
NEXT WEEKEND - THE $20,005-TO-WIN 16TH ANNUAL MAGNOLIA STATE 100! Mississippi's biggest racing event of the year presented by Singleton Motorsports and Columbus Speedway will see a weekend of wild action as "The Baddest Bullring in the South" separates the men from the boys. Super Late Models hit the high banks in Columbus' patented no guts, no glory style for $20,005-to-win! Also featuring Open Wheel (IMCA-type) Modified $2,005-to-win, Late Model Stocks $1,200-to-win, and Street Stocks $1,000-to-win. Full event information is available at www.ColumbusSpeedway.net - see the online flyer. More information to be released this week!
SUPER LATE MODELS
Hurricane 30 - $1,500-to-win
36 Entries
1ST 54 DAVID BREAZEALE
2ND 18 RONNY LEE HOLLINGSWORTH
3RD 71 CHRIS WALL
4TH 222 MIKE BOLAND
5TH 33 SCOTT DEDWYLDER
6TH 77 GREG FORE
7TH 10 RODNEY WING
8TH 32 KELLY HANVEY
9TH 2 MARK STOKES
10TH 20 TOMBO CALLAHAN
11TH M6 MARTY HARDY
12TH 57 ROGER SHIRLEY
13TH 99 JERRY JACKSON
14TH 12 JASON SMITH
15TH 327 HARVEY TOLLISON
16TH 86 TERRELL STRIPLING
17TH 21 NEIL BAGGETT
18TH 27 STACY TAYLOR
19TH 68R BRANDON REGISTER
20TH 9 CLINT LOGAN
21ST 86 RICK RICKMAN
22ND 11 KEITH FLURRY
23RD 225 JUSTIN MCREE
24TH 16 MIKE POYNER
MODIFIED
Top 10
22 Entries
1ST 3 SHAY KNIGHT
2ND 12 RUSTY DUNCAN
3RD 2 LEE RAY
4TH 31 BLAKE KOENIGSBERGER
5TH 41 BILL SUDDUTH
6TH 15 DAVID HONEYCUTT
7TH 12 BRENT BURNS
8TH 36 RON GRANDEL
9TH 36 MIKE ELLIS
10TH 21 JAMIE PICKARD
LATE MODEL STOCK
Top 10
23 Entries
1ST K3 RANDY BOYD THOMPSON
2ND 82 JASON SANDERFORD
3RD 21 BEN MCCREARY
4TH 22 MIKE LANGFORD
5TH 1 RANDY HARMON
6TH 65 BILLY FRANKLIN
7TH 7 JEREMY GLASGOW
8TH F17 PAUL FAUCETT
9TH 60 ALAN JAYNES
10TH 7T TERRY MOSLEY
STREET STOCK
Top 5
21 Entries
1ST 82 TREY BRIGHT
2ND 6 TK KING
3RD 1 JEFFREY WALKER
4TH 83 KEVIN MONAHAN
5TH 47 DANNY GABLE
MINI STOCK
Top 5
16 Entries
1ST 42 ALLEN GILREATH
2ND 02 JENNIFER SHELTON
3RD 77 AUSTIN BROADWAY
4TH 57 MICHAEL PENDLEY
5TH 89 HUGH SHAFFER
TWO-PERSON CRUISER
Top 5
14 Entries
1ST 71 KEITH & KEVIN MONAHAN
2ND 13 JACOB STAPP & CLIFF SWEDENBERG
3RD 272 STEVEN PRINCE & DJ JENNINGS
4TH 14 KRIS & AUDREY MONAHAN
5TH 11 WAYNE & JAMIE SUDDUTH
HOT SHOT
5 Entries
1ST 1 BEN WILLIAMS
2ND 8 BLAINE DAVIS
3RD 44 RUSS HUDSON
4TH 11 ROBBY TAYLOR
5TH 2 KALI DELOACH
