For Immediate Release:
7/3/06
Headquarters
Carnesville Ga.
Cooper goes flag-to-flag for $3,000 Volunteer Speedway Fastrak victory
By Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (July 1) – On night two of the Fastrak Champions Series “Crate Late Model Blowout at The Gap” weekend at Volunteer Speedway Saturday, Lee Cooper of Greer, S.C., started the 75-lap feature out front – and that’s where he stayed until the checkered flag waved in winning his third series event of the season which was worth $3,000.
Brad Hall set fast-time at 14.204-seconds (101.380 mph) in qualifying over the 33 cars that signed-in for time trials, with 16-year-old Brad Partin second-quickest at 14.265. With the top-6 qualifiers locked in based on time, their starting positions were determined by draw.
Cooper drew the pole position and Hall pulled the outside front row starting spot as a two year old from TN picked his winning number. Allen Champ and Chris Carlson drew positions three and four, respectively, with Matthew Daniels and Partin selecting the fifth and sixth starting positions. Dave Burks and Anthony Meadows each won heat races, while Timbo Mangum won the last chance consolation.
Cooper jumped out into the lead at the drop of the green over Champ, Hall, Daniels and Carlson. With cars running two- and three-wide back through the field in the early stages, Carlson had a battle on his hands with Meadows for the fifth spot. The pair ran door-to-door for three circuits before Meadows finally dropped Carlson back to sixth in the running order. The caution waved on lap 8 for a spin by Mangum.
Back under green, Cooper, Champ and Hall began to put a little distance between themselves and the single-file line of cars back through ninth. Another caution waved when A.J. Watson slowed with a flat right-rear tire and headed into the pits, tightening the field back up for another restart.
With Watson supposed to tag on at the rear of the field once he came back out onto the track, while the green flag was being given to the leaders up front he began jumping several cars about middle ways down the backstretch. Watson had his score card pulled by series’ officials, but that didn’t stop him from triggering a multi-car accident on the backstretch which badly damaged the cars of Bryan Easler, Greg Burchett and Shan Smith. The red flag had to be thrown for track officials to clean up the scene.
During the first half of the race, “yellow fever” was catching. The third-running Hall spun with a flat tire on lap 22, and while running in the fifth position on lap 28, Partin looped his mount in the fourth turn. With the middle of the track blocked, Burks had nowhere to go and slammed hard into the side of Partin, badly damaging Burks’ car and ending his night.
Halfway into the 75-lapper, the lead duo of Cooper and Champ and stretch their advantage over Daniels, Meadows and Matt Barrett to almost a full-straightaway. With Barrett pressuring Meadows for fourth on lap 51, he got loosed racing off the fourth turn and almost spun, allowing Shane Roberts, Carlson and Dusty Williams to speed past. Reeling his mount back in, Barrett then proceeded to try to reclaim the positions he had lost.
During the longest green flag run of the race, Cooper and Champ began having to work heavy lapped traffic with only 10 circuits remaining. With Champ riding right on the rear bumper of Cooper, on lap 69 racing off turn two Champ stuck the nose of his Monte Carlo under Cooper’s Time-Out Family Restaurant/Gregg’s Custom Cabinets/Treadwell’s Racing Stuff/Beaver Bail Bonds/American Billet/Simpson Racing Products/Barry Wright Race Cars/No. 57 Grand Prix. Getting a strong run down the backstretch into the third turn, Champ was below Cooper challenging for the lead. But directly in front of the leaders, Partin once again had his ride get out from under him and spun to bring out the caution.
But with an open track ahead of him over the final six laps, it was clear sailing to the checkers for Cooper as he captured the win over Champ, Daniels, Roberts and Carlson.
Completing the top-10 finishers were Williams, Chris Chandler, Barrett, Justin Sims and Chris Steele.
“Awesome, man this is just unreal to be able to say I won a race here at Volunteer Speedway,” said an elated Cooper in victory lane after climbing from his car. “This is a very prestigious track, and I can remember coming up here to watch races with my dad when I was just a young boy. I work for Barry Wright Race Cars, and I remember back when I was young seeing Scott Bloomquist win races here at ‘The Gap’ driving Barry’s house car.
“Being this is my first time to ever race here, we kind of struggled a little last night with the car early on. But following the heat races, we had the car dialed-in pretty well for the feature. We learned last night and came back tonight and turned in a good qualifying lap. Man, drawing the pole position was great. I knew the 47-car (Brad Hall) would be tough, considering he ran second last night to (Shannon) Buckingham. To be able to lead all 75 laps is just great, especially with such a strong field of cars that was present. We’re chasing this point championship with Fastrak, and winning tonight here at Volunteer Speedway is really a big boost to our confidence. I feel if we can win here, we can win anywhere we go.”
The Goodyear Bonus was a big hit with the fans and drivers alike. The two year old from TN picked the number one position for winning driver Cooper giving both the two year old fan and Cooper a $200 cash bonus. Thanks to the staff of Volunteer of letting the two year old come to Victory Lane to have his photo made with winning driver Cooper. “What a great event it was to have the two year old pick the winning number”, stated series Founder Stan Lester. “The crowd loved it. Everyone clapped after he drew that number one position. It was great! The fireworks went off very well during the driver introductions and the race was close with Champ running down Cooper while getting in lap traffic. Champ had his nose under Cooper on several occasions and had in not been for that last caution things were about to get interesting. All in all, the second annual shoot out at the Gap was great. Lots of three and sometimes even four wide racing was happening all night long. Track owner Joe Lovern had the track in good shape and it provide great racing. The teams all did a great job. It was really hard to believe the results on Saturday night versus Friday night. Only 3 teams finished in the top 10 both nights. It just goes to show how much these teams have learned about these type of cars since last years events. I can only imagine what 2007 will be like”.
1. Lee Cooper
2. Allen Champ
3. Matthew Daniels
4. Shane Roberts
5. Chris Carlson
6. Dusty Williams #18w-Savannah, GA
7. Chris Chandler #8-Weaverville, NC
8. Matt Barrett #34-Clinton, TN
9. Justin Sims #18s-Jefferson, GA
10. Chris Steele #2-York, SC***
11. Brad Partin #1-Knoxville, TN
12. Brad Kenyon #98-Chuckey, TN
13. Scott Childress #79-Greenville, SC***
14. Barry Arnold #15-Max Meadows, VA
15. Anthony Meadows #31-Lynette, AL
16. Brad Hall #47-Knoxville, TN
17. Glen Herrington #14-Cochran, GA
18. Dave Burks #B1-Abingdon, VA
19. Shan Smith #17ss-Dade City, FL
20. Bryan Easler #11-Woodruff, SC***
21. Greg Burchett #T31-Church Hill, TN
22. A.J. Watson #99-Loganville, GA
23. Timbo Mangum #T1-Lancaster, SC***
24. Kelly Glass #01-Jonesborough, TN__________________
Fastrak Racing Series Marketing Partners:
Goodyear Racing Tires, General Motors Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Ohlins Technologies, Sunoco Fuels, Bearden Oil Company, Duralite Wheels, CTC Photos. PPM Racing Products, Rapture Racing Carbs, Racing News, Raceiver.
Manufacturer Cup Participants:
Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis
