"The Kosciusko Kamikaze" Anthony Rushing will not stop winning Super Late Model special event races at Columbus Speedway. He just won't. Nobody seems to be able to make him stop.
Rushing, who has a habit of dominance in big events at Johnny Stokes' popular speedplant, started on the outside of the front row beside polesitter "The Tarheel Tiger" Ray Cook Saturday night for the feature of the 3rd Annual Rebel Challenge presented by Brown Engineering Racing Engines. Grandstands filled with fans eager to see the 51 Super Late Model entries including both regional and national stars "get it on" in Columbus style for the $8,000 for leading the last of 50 laps of action-packed feature racing. All event proceeds were slated to go toward the Bobby Brown Scholarship fund. Popular announcer Ross Tingle paired with special guest announcer Ben Shelton of MidsouthRacing.com to call the event.
Three B-Mains would fill out the feature field on Saturday night, as the top 18 cars were locked into the feature after qualifying and heat race action on Friday night. The "Hooligan race" action proved to be incredible, with Ed Dixon, Terry English, and "Marvelous" Mark Stokes taking wins in some of the finest racing of the night. Scott Shepherd, "The Prowler" Shawn Edwards, and "Lugnut" Rodney Wing would also fight their way into the main event through the last chance races.
Rushing wasted no time rocketing into his customary high groove when the green flag fell on the 50-lap feature field, with Cook taking on the hub as Greg "Wild Thang" Johnson looked on in third. Johnson would dive to the bottom to challenge for second, taking the spot momentarily. Cook held on and pulled up behind Rushing, as David Earl Gentry and "The Showstoppa" Randle Chupp went high and low, side-by-side behind Johnson for fourth place. Chupp would then dive to the bottom in front of Gentry and look under Johnson as Brian Birkhofer moved in low to challenge Gentry for 5th only to see "The Real Deal" Don O'Neal pull up beside him to his inside as Dennis Erb, Jr. looked on at close range. By this time, Rushing had already begun to blast through lapped traffic as the early laps wound down at a torrid pace.
Rushing had little trouble with backmarkers as he pulled away from Cook, but behind the two the racing continued to be ferocious as Chupp moved in on Johnson while being himself run down by Birkhofer. "Birky" would slidejob Chupp in turn 3/4 and grab the third spot on lap 20, but Chupp regained the position in turn 1. The scene was repeated several times as the two waged their own war, swapping positions and racing lines until O'Neal crept into the picture and moved to Birkhofer's inside again. Chupp would once again dive to the bottom to challenge Johnson before the first caution of the event fell on lap 25 as 7-time MS State Champ Mike Boland found himself planted in the turn 4 wall, ending his hopes of a march from midpack.
After the first restart was negated by an incident on the front stretch, Rushing would again set sail as Cook, Johnson, and O'Neal blasted around 3-wide looking for the runner-up spot. Gentry, a master of running the absolute bottom groove at Columbus, moved into the picture, going under both Birkhofer and O'Neal as he moved back into the top part of the field after falling back drastically from his 3rd place starting spot early on. O'Neal would go back to work on Johnson, using the middle of the track, while Gentry moved around Birkhofer. Birkhofer would then hit the rim and rocket all the way to 3rd place around the whole group, closing the deal right before caution fell on lap 29 for a lost driveshaft. At this point, the top ten cars were Rushing, Cook, Birkhofer, Johnson, Gentry, O'Neal, Erb, English (from 20th), "The Pontotoc Pirate" Steve Russell, Gary Webb, and Ed Dixon (from 19th).
Birkhofer would blast to the hub on the restart but would be unable to unseat Cook as Rushing moved out again, while Johnson in the middle and Gentry on the hub would run the next few laps door-to-door until Don O'Neal rocketed into the battle. Gentry would finally pull off the pass and take 4th before another caution on lap 34 was thrown for Ronny Lee Hollingsworth. Birkhofer continued to make moves on Cook as Rushing scraped the turn 1/2 wall in a shower of sparks but kept sailing around the speedway until another caution came out on lap 36 for O'Neal.
This time, Cook would hang tight with Rushing after fending off another dive-bomb maneuver by Birkhofer on the restart. Gentry would pick up the battle for 4th with Johnson, pulling alongside the #19 on every lap as Birkhofer once again made his way up to challenge Cook for second place at both ends of the race track. Birkhofer, unable to complete the pass, would move back to the top line, allowing Cook to resume his pursuit of Rushing. By lap 43, Cook was pasted on Rushing's rear bumper, and on lap 44 the #53 Mopar dove hard to the inside of turn 1 in a final attempt to unseat the leader. Cook grabbed the spot at the turn 2 exit and began to slide up in front of Rushing as the two moved on to the backstretch, but Rushing "poured the coal" to the #70 1/2 and rocketed off the turn 2 cushion right back into the lead. Cook would gather Rushing back in momentarily as Birkhofer once again tried to take second using the bottom to no avail.
Rushing held on up front as the final laps ticked away, taking the checkers at the $8,000 payday. Cook, Birkhofer, Johnson, and Gentry would earn top-five honors, while English, Chupp (who had to come back up from the rear of the field), Erb, O'Neal(also making his way from the back), and Webb completed the top 10. Rushing, whose all-or-nothing style earned both cheers and jeers as he sat in victory lane, claimed to be pacing himself on the track until Cook made his move for the lead late in the race. Terry English, who started 20th in the feature after making the race from the consy and finished 6th, earned with the $100 Hard Charger Award posted by avid Columbus Speedway fan and supporter Mr. Owanna Wheeler and presented by his granddaughter Stephanie.
"Mr. Untouchable" Jason Hollis shed Eric Hickerson to claim the early lead in the $1,200-to-win Open Wheel Modified feature, and it was a foregone conclusion to many fans that the blue #5 would roll on to victory like so many times before at Columbus. This time, those fans would turn out to be wrong, as after a lap 4 caution Scottie Gowers moved around Hollis on the hub and held on to the top spot, followed by Brad Qualls. As Gowers and Qualls ran the low side of the track, Hollis continued running the rim, moving back in on the two leaders before Junior Lemmings charged in to go side-by-side with Hollis in a race for third place.
Qualls would soon begin to work on Gowers, the two leaders going door-to-door for a number of laps before Qualls took the top spot away on lap 13. As Hollis fell back through the field, Shane Stephens battled Lemmings to take third place away on lap 16. Qualls would move out and run to the checkers, taking the win over Gowers, Stephens, Lemmings, and Todd Gray.
Chris McElhenney in "The Fastest Truck on Dirt" led flag-to-flag in Pros Street feature action, holding off Mike Langford early on. Chad Nickoles would creep up on third place runner Marvin Beard, going side-by-side with the #20 for several laps before taking the position away on lap 8, two laps before Beard lost his engine. Langford would slip after the restart, and Nickoles capitalized by taking second place, but it was McElhenney going on glory and taking the feature win. Nickoles, Langford, Joel Wright, and Beard rounded out the top five.
Jeremy Glasgow fought off "Big Money" David Honeycutt early in Street Stock action, with Chad Nickoles looking on. Nickoles would challenge Honeycutt before the top two stretched out from the field, interrupted only by a pair of cautions. Honeycutt would challenge Glasgow repeatedly until breaking his left front suspension late in the race, giving his spot up to Nickoles as 4th-place Jason Hollis poured smoke off of his right rear tire as the laps wound down. Glasgow took the win with Nickoles, William Sykes, Hollis, and Jimmy Anderson bringing in the top five spots.
The Mini Stock feature was relatively uneventful compared to their usual super-competitive style of racing as Mike Minor led every lap after holding off early challenges by Edgar Richardson. Minor would win the race with Richardson, Joe Patillo, Jamie Richardson, and Robert Sanders earning top-five honors. Jeremy Robertson and Alan Hall survived the usual early, middle, and late race mayhem to sweep the weekend in Two-Person Crusier feature action.
NEXT WEEKEND - Columbus Speedway is CLOSED. Mississippi State Championship Challenge is in action at Queen City Speedway in Meridian, MS - stop by the MSCCS website at www.stateseries.com for details. TWO WEEKS - regular weekly action at Columbus Speedway for the James King Memorial prep race.
THREE WEEKS - FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, APRIL 2ND and 3RD - THE $12,000-TO-WIN 12TH ANNUAL JAMES KING MEMORIAL!!!!! One of Columbus Speedway's signature events, featuring Super Late Models racing for a $12,000 payday! All other divisions will also compete in special event action! A true event in every sense of the word, something is always going on at Columbus Speedway during James King Memorial weekend! Stop by the official Columbus Speedway website located at www.midsouthracing.com/columbusindex.htm for details as well as full Rebel Challenge results from all classes including B-Mains.
THE THIRD ANNUAL REBEL CHALLENGE
$8,000-TO-WIN, 50 LAPS
Super Late Models - 51 entries
(Starting position in parenthesis)
1ST 70 1/2 ANTHONY RUSHING (2)
2ND 53 RAY COOK (1)
3RD 15B BRIAN BIRKHOFER (8)
4TH 19 GREG "WILD THANG" JOHNSON (4)
5TH 56 DAVID GENTRY (3)
6TH 96 TERRY ENGLISH (20)
7TH 114 RANDLE CHUPP (6)
8TH 28 DENNIS ERB, JR (9)
9TH 71 DON O'NEAL (7)
10TH 56 GARY WEBB (10)
11TH 72 STEVE RUSSELL (14)
12TH 888 JASON CLIBURN (12)
13TH 71 CHRIS WALL (16)
14TH 50 ED DIXON (19)
15TH 5 SHAWN EDWARDS (23)
16TH 10 RODNEY WING (24)
17TH 211 SCOTT SHEPHERD (22)
18TH 14 BRANDON KING (18)
19TH 18 RONNY LEE HOLLINGSWORTH (17)
20TH 2 MARK STOKES (21)
21ST 10 JAY BRINKLEY (13)
22ND 54 DAVID BREAZEALE (5)
23RD 222 MIKE BOLAND (11)
24TH 8 DENNIS DUNCAN (15)
Open Wheel Modified - Top 10
$1,200-to-win
1ST 007 BRAD QUALLS
2ND 2 SCOTTIE GOWERS
3RD 15 SHANE STEPHENS
4TH 12 JUNIOR LEMMINGS
5TH 7G TODD GRAY
6TH 99 ERIC HICKERSON
7TH 5 JASON HOLLIS
8TH 3E FRANK EDWARDS
9TH 32 SHANE HARRIS
10TH 2 LEE RAY
Pro Street - Top 5
1ST 27 CHRIS MCELHENNEY
2ND 11 CHAD NICKOLES
3RD 22 MIKE LANGFORD
4TH C23 JOEL WRIGHT
5TH 20 MARVIN BEARD
Street Stock - Top 5
1ST 7 JEREMY GLASGOW
2ND 11 CHAD NICKOLES
3RD 12 WILLIAM SYKES
4TH 97 JASON HOLLIS
5TH 35 JIMMY ANDERSON
Mini Stock - Top 5
1ST 2 MIKE MINOR
2ND 133 EDGAR RICHARDSON
3RD P4 JOE PATILLO
4TH 69 JAMIE RICHARDSON
5TH 1 ROBERT SANDERS
Two-Person Cruiser - Top 5
1ST 69 JEREMY ROBERTSON & ALLEN HALL
2ND 38 BRAD FORTNER & ?
3RD 11 WAYNE SUDDUTH & JAMIE SUDDUTH
4TH M2 MELVIN MURPHY & TAYLOR MURPHY
5TH 37 SEAN LYTLE & MIKE HARRIS
Rushing, who has a habit of dominance in big events at Johnny Stokes' popular speedplant, started on the outside of the front row beside polesitter "The Tarheel Tiger" Ray Cook Saturday night for the feature of the 3rd Annual Rebel Challenge presented by Brown Engineering Racing Engines. Grandstands filled with fans eager to see the 51 Super Late Model entries including both regional and national stars "get it on" in Columbus style for the $8,000 for leading the last of 50 laps of action-packed feature racing. All event proceeds were slated to go toward the Bobby Brown Scholarship fund. Popular announcer Ross Tingle paired with special guest announcer Ben Shelton of MidsouthRacing.com to call the event.
Three B-Mains would fill out the feature field on Saturday night, as the top 18 cars were locked into the feature after qualifying and heat race action on Friday night. The "Hooligan race" action proved to be incredible, with Ed Dixon, Terry English, and "Marvelous" Mark Stokes taking wins in some of the finest racing of the night. Scott Shepherd, "The Prowler" Shawn Edwards, and "Lugnut" Rodney Wing would also fight their way into the main event through the last chance races.
Rushing wasted no time rocketing into his customary high groove when the green flag fell on the 50-lap feature field, with Cook taking on the hub as Greg "Wild Thang" Johnson looked on in third. Johnson would dive to the bottom to challenge for second, taking the spot momentarily. Cook held on and pulled up behind Rushing, as David Earl Gentry and "The Showstoppa" Randle Chupp went high and low, side-by-side behind Johnson for fourth place. Chupp would then dive to the bottom in front of Gentry and look under Johnson as Brian Birkhofer moved in low to challenge Gentry for 5th only to see "The Real Deal" Don O'Neal pull up beside him to his inside as Dennis Erb, Jr. looked on at close range. By this time, Rushing had already begun to blast through lapped traffic as the early laps wound down at a torrid pace.
Rushing had little trouble with backmarkers as he pulled away from Cook, but behind the two the racing continued to be ferocious as Chupp moved in on Johnson while being himself run down by Birkhofer. "Birky" would slidejob Chupp in turn 3/4 and grab the third spot on lap 20, but Chupp regained the position in turn 1. The scene was repeated several times as the two waged their own war, swapping positions and racing lines until O'Neal crept into the picture and moved to Birkhofer's inside again. Chupp would once again dive to the bottom to challenge Johnson before the first caution of the event fell on lap 25 as 7-time MS State Champ Mike Boland found himself planted in the turn 4 wall, ending his hopes of a march from midpack.
After the first restart was negated by an incident on the front stretch, Rushing would again set sail as Cook, Johnson, and O'Neal blasted around 3-wide looking for the runner-up spot. Gentry, a master of running the absolute bottom groove at Columbus, moved into the picture, going under both Birkhofer and O'Neal as he moved back into the top part of the field after falling back drastically from his 3rd place starting spot early on. O'Neal would go back to work on Johnson, using the middle of the track, while Gentry moved around Birkhofer. Birkhofer would then hit the rim and rocket all the way to 3rd place around the whole group, closing the deal right before caution fell on lap 29 for a lost driveshaft. At this point, the top ten cars were Rushing, Cook, Birkhofer, Johnson, Gentry, O'Neal, Erb, English (from 20th), "The Pontotoc Pirate" Steve Russell, Gary Webb, and Ed Dixon (from 19th).
Birkhofer would blast to the hub on the restart but would be unable to unseat Cook as Rushing moved out again, while Johnson in the middle and Gentry on the hub would run the next few laps door-to-door until Don O'Neal rocketed into the battle. Gentry would finally pull off the pass and take 4th before another caution on lap 34 was thrown for Ronny Lee Hollingsworth. Birkhofer continued to make moves on Cook as Rushing scraped the turn 1/2 wall in a shower of sparks but kept sailing around the speedway until another caution came out on lap 36 for O'Neal.
This time, Cook would hang tight with Rushing after fending off another dive-bomb maneuver by Birkhofer on the restart. Gentry would pick up the battle for 4th with Johnson, pulling alongside the #19 on every lap as Birkhofer once again made his way up to challenge Cook for second place at both ends of the race track. Birkhofer, unable to complete the pass, would move back to the top line, allowing Cook to resume his pursuit of Rushing. By lap 43, Cook was pasted on Rushing's rear bumper, and on lap 44 the #53 Mopar dove hard to the inside of turn 1 in a final attempt to unseat the leader. Cook grabbed the spot at the turn 2 exit and began to slide up in front of Rushing as the two moved on to the backstretch, but Rushing "poured the coal" to the #70 1/2 and rocketed off the turn 2 cushion right back into the lead. Cook would gather Rushing back in momentarily as Birkhofer once again tried to take second using the bottom to no avail.
Rushing held on up front as the final laps ticked away, taking the checkers at the $8,000 payday. Cook, Birkhofer, Johnson, and Gentry would earn top-five honors, while English, Chupp (who had to come back up from the rear of the field), Erb, O'Neal(also making his way from the back), and Webb completed the top 10. Rushing, whose all-or-nothing style earned both cheers and jeers as he sat in victory lane, claimed to be pacing himself on the track until Cook made his move for the lead late in the race. Terry English, who started 20th in the feature after making the race from the consy and finished 6th, earned with the $100 Hard Charger Award posted by avid Columbus Speedway fan and supporter Mr. Owanna Wheeler and presented by his granddaughter Stephanie.
"Mr. Untouchable" Jason Hollis shed Eric Hickerson to claim the early lead in the $1,200-to-win Open Wheel Modified feature, and it was a foregone conclusion to many fans that the blue #5 would roll on to victory like so many times before at Columbus. This time, those fans would turn out to be wrong, as after a lap 4 caution Scottie Gowers moved around Hollis on the hub and held on to the top spot, followed by Brad Qualls. As Gowers and Qualls ran the low side of the track, Hollis continued running the rim, moving back in on the two leaders before Junior Lemmings charged in to go side-by-side with Hollis in a race for third place.
Qualls would soon begin to work on Gowers, the two leaders going door-to-door for a number of laps before Qualls took the top spot away on lap 13. As Hollis fell back through the field, Shane Stephens battled Lemmings to take third place away on lap 16. Qualls would move out and run to the checkers, taking the win over Gowers, Stephens, Lemmings, and Todd Gray.
Chris McElhenney in "The Fastest Truck on Dirt" led flag-to-flag in Pros Street feature action, holding off Mike Langford early on. Chad Nickoles would creep up on third place runner Marvin Beard, going side-by-side with the #20 for several laps before taking the position away on lap 8, two laps before Beard lost his engine. Langford would slip after the restart, and Nickoles capitalized by taking second place, but it was McElhenney going on glory and taking the feature win. Nickoles, Langford, Joel Wright, and Beard rounded out the top five.
Jeremy Glasgow fought off "Big Money" David Honeycutt early in Street Stock action, with Chad Nickoles looking on. Nickoles would challenge Honeycutt before the top two stretched out from the field, interrupted only by a pair of cautions. Honeycutt would challenge Glasgow repeatedly until breaking his left front suspension late in the race, giving his spot up to Nickoles as 4th-place Jason Hollis poured smoke off of his right rear tire as the laps wound down. Glasgow took the win with Nickoles, William Sykes, Hollis, and Jimmy Anderson bringing in the top five spots.
The Mini Stock feature was relatively uneventful compared to their usual super-competitive style of racing as Mike Minor led every lap after holding off early challenges by Edgar Richardson. Minor would win the race with Richardson, Joe Patillo, Jamie Richardson, and Robert Sanders earning top-five honors. Jeremy Robertson and Alan Hall survived the usual early, middle, and late race mayhem to sweep the weekend in Two-Person Crusier feature action.
NEXT WEEKEND - Columbus Speedway is CLOSED. Mississippi State Championship Challenge is in action at Queen City Speedway in Meridian, MS - stop by the MSCCS website at www.stateseries.com for details. TWO WEEKS - regular weekly action at Columbus Speedway for the James King Memorial prep race.
THREE WEEKS - FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, APRIL 2ND and 3RD - THE $12,000-TO-WIN 12TH ANNUAL JAMES KING MEMORIAL!!!!! One of Columbus Speedway's signature events, featuring Super Late Models racing for a $12,000 payday! All other divisions will also compete in special event action! A true event in every sense of the word, something is always going on at Columbus Speedway during James King Memorial weekend! Stop by the official Columbus Speedway website located at www.midsouthracing.com/columbusindex.htm for details as well as full Rebel Challenge results from all classes including B-Mains.
THE THIRD ANNUAL REBEL CHALLENGE
$8,000-TO-WIN, 50 LAPS
Super Late Models - 51 entries
(Starting position in parenthesis)
1ST 70 1/2 ANTHONY RUSHING (2)
2ND 53 RAY COOK (1)
3RD 15B BRIAN BIRKHOFER (8)
4TH 19 GREG "WILD THANG" JOHNSON (4)
5TH 56 DAVID GENTRY (3)
6TH 96 TERRY ENGLISH (20)
7TH 114 RANDLE CHUPP (6)
8TH 28 DENNIS ERB, JR (9)
9TH 71 DON O'NEAL (7)
10TH 56 GARY WEBB (10)
11TH 72 STEVE RUSSELL (14)
12TH 888 JASON CLIBURN (12)
13TH 71 CHRIS WALL (16)
14TH 50 ED DIXON (19)
15TH 5 SHAWN EDWARDS (23)
16TH 10 RODNEY WING (24)
17TH 211 SCOTT SHEPHERD (22)
18TH 14 BRANDON KING (18)
19TH 18 RONNY LEE HOLLINGSWORTH (17)
20TH 2 MARK STOKES (21)
21ST 10 JAY BRINKLEY (13)
22ND 54 DAVID BREAZEALE (5)
23RD 222 MIKE BOLAND (11)
24TH 8 DENNIS DUNCAN (15)
Open Wheel Modified - Top 10
$1,200-to-win
1ST 007 BRAD QUALLS
2ND 2 SCOTTIE GOWERS
3RD 15 SHANE STEPHENS
4TH 12 JUNIOR LEMMINGS
5TH 7G TODD GRAY
6TH 99 ERIC HICKERSON
7TH 5 JASON HOLLIS
8TH 3E FRANK EDWARDS
9TH 32 SHANE HARRIS
10TH 2 LEE RAY
Pro Street - Top 5
1ST 27 CHRIS MCELHENNEY
2ND 11 CHAD NICKOLES
3RD 22 MIKE LANGFORD
4TH C23 JOEL WRIGHT
5TH 20 MARVIN BEARD
Street Stock - Top 5
1ST 7 JEREMY GLASGOW
2ND 11 CHAD NICKOLES
3RD 12 WILLIAM SYKES
4TH 97 JASON HOLLIS
5TH 35 JIMMY ANDERSON
Mini Stock - Top 5
1ST 2 MIKE MINOR
2ND 133 EDGAR RICHARDSON
3RD P4 JOE PATILLO
4TH 69 JAMIE RICHARDSON
5TH 1 ROBERT SANDERS
Two-Person Cruiser - Top 5
1ST 69 JEREMY ROBERTSON & ALLEN HALL
2ND 38 BRAD FORTNER & ?
3RD 11 WAYNE SUDDUTH & JAMIE SUDDUTH
4TH M2 MELVIN MURPHY & TAYLOR MURPHY
5TH 37 SEAN LYTLE & MIKE HARRIS
