FASTRAKPR
06-19-2007, 12:24 AM
PURSLEY takes FASTRAK Late Model win at TOCCOA to become 8th different winner in 8 events in 2007!
By Mike Leone
June 16, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toccoa, GA…When is the last time you can ever remember hearing of 8 races and 8 different winners? Obviously the level of competition in the FASTRAK Late Model Series continues to be some of the best in the country as "Big John" Pursley took the win this past Saturday night in the Southern/Mid-East combination Touring event at Toccoa Speedway in Georgia.
Exactly 40 late models were on hand at the "oldest running dirt track in Georgia". One competitor did not make it through "pre race" inspection relegating the field to a fantastic car count of 39 of the toughest competitors in the nation. This was an amazing accomplishment as this was the largest "regular" car count of the entire 2007 season (not including special events Lowe’s and the Winter Nationals). 2006 National Champion Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance was in attendance for his first Touring event of the 2007 season.
Local star Crandall Turner was the "Top Gun" in qualifying although through the “Kids 6-Car Drawing” it relegated him to the outside of the front row. "Big John" Pursley of Clover, Sc. was the lucky one this night, as the child drawing on his behalf gave him the number one starting position. The Turner boys were hot as they qualified first and third, but a few other competitors had things in mind as the 21 of Frankie Beard was second, the 90 of John Llewellyn fourth, and the T21 of Ty Lowe sixth.
Four heats were put into effect with two semi mains to allow everyone an opportunity to make the big show. The autograph session was a huge hit as it was packed. The drivers went through the grandstands with their helmets afterwards to take up a collection for Richard "Paperman" Pearson. Pearsons wife has been seriously ill and all of the competitors were glad to lend a helping hand as were the fans. Paperman is a big part of racing in the local area reporting the results from all local tracks.
The 50-lap main event got exciting very quickly as lap one saw North Carolina competitor Donald Bradsher rolling his beautiful #93 car down the back straight. The incident also damaged several other competitors’ cars including that of Kip Cochran, Jack Pennington, Roger Arowood and Todd Higdon. Although Pennington in the 01 machine made several valiant attempts he eventually retired for then night from result of the accident. Bradshers #93 machine returned to action several times without the front end bodywork as did Higdon, but both eventually retired for the evening.
As the event got underway, Pursley in the number one machine took first place coming off of turn two and kept that position during the night but not without serious challenges of competitors Crandall Turner and David "Bad Boy" McCoy.
The passing was incredible throughout the field all night long. One fan was stated as saying, "I have never seen this much passing at Toccoa or anywhere for that matter. It was two, three and sometimes four-wide in every corner. I don't remember one lap it wasn't at least two wide and I did see them go four-wide on several occasion. Now some of those didn't work out but several times they did make it through. I didn't even know you could run 4 wide at Toccoa. I haven't been at Toccoa in years to see a race and I had never been to a FASTRAK race before, but I will be back. These drivers are some of the best I’ve ever seen. They were inches from each other all night long. I just don't see how they do it. There is action everywhere on the track each lap and sometimes I just couldn't figure out which cars to watch. It was incredible racing. To be honest with you I was surprised how good the racing really was. I haven't seen racing like this in years".
The "Young Gun Gang" was represented well with the #22c of Chris Ferguson finishing fifth, the 2#2 of William Thomas seventh. Travis Pennington, Jody Nipper and JJ Nye all had problems in the heats and did not start the main event for the first time in 2007. The "Young Gun Gang" of the FASTRAK series is considered to one of the best in the country.
Passing for the night: Tremendous. There were a total of 175* positions changed during the evenings 50-lap main event with the Hard Charger award going to Young Gun Gang member William Thomas. Thomas was awarded a provisional starting position coming in as point leader and worked his way to an eventual 7th place finish earning him the "hard charger" award. (* positions changed based on where competitors started in the main and where they finished. Does not count multiple passes).
Top Gun: Crandall Turner
Hard Charger: William Thomas
Finishing results:
1 John Pursley
2 David McCoy
3 Crandall Turner
4 Ty Lowe
5 Chris Ferguson
6 Clayton Turner
7 William Thomas
8 Johnny Pursley
9 Lee Cooper
10 Scott Knowles
11 John Llewellyn
12 Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance
13 Joey McCoy
14 Todd Murphy
15 George Reece JR
16 Scott Childress
17 Kip Cochran
18 Vic Chandler
19 Billy Buffington
20 Frankie Beard
21 Todd Higdon
22 Jack Pennington
23 Donald Bradsher
24 Glen Nix
25 Ellis Parker
DNQ: Jason Walls, Roger Phillips, Mike Garrett, Alton Watts, Colby Harvey, Anthony Meadows, Travis Pennington, Chris Chandler, Vince Fannello, Michael Barnett, Jordy Nipper, Harley Holden, JJ Nye, David Smith
Upcoming Events:
June 23 East Alabama Motor Speedway, Phenix City AL
June 30 Volunteer Speedway, Bulls Gap, TN (3rd Annual "Firecracker 75")
July 4 Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer, PA ($5,000 to-win National event)
July 4 Antioch Speedway, Morganton, NC
July 7 Lancaster Speedway, Lancaster, NC
To join our mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/fastrakpr/post?postID=XNm2hEt80ba1CHoWSxP5h4fpPhR5V9nEwe144b VUDI5sAaHIHZNflCw8zg_ptvsE46jD0EPJNqn90aQcFS6IK_TQ HMA). For more information check out www.fastrakracing.com (http://www.fastrakracing.com/) or call Stan Lester at 678-935-7304
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis, Modern Chevrolet and Schoenfeld Headers.
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By Mike Leone
June 16, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toccoa, GA…When is the last time you can ever remember hearing of 8 races and 8 different winners? Obviously the level of competition in the FASTRAK Late Model Series continues to be some of the best in the country as "Big John" Pursley took the win this past Saturday night in the Southern/Mid-East combination Touring event at Toccoa Speedway in Georgia.
Exactly 40 late models were on hand at the "oldest running dirt track in Georgia". One competitor did not make it through "pre race" inspection relegating the field to a fantastic car count of 39 of the toughest competitors in the nation. This was an amazing accomplishment as this was the largest "regular" car count of the entire 2007 season (not including special events Lowe’s and the Winter Nationals). 2006 National Champion Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance was in attendance for his first Touring event of the 2007 season.
Local star Crandall Turner was the "Top Gun" in qualifying although through the “Kids 6-Car Drawing” it relegated him to the outside of the front row. "Big John" Pursley of Clover, Sc. was the lucky one this night, as the child drawing on his behalf gave him the number one starting position. The Turner boys were hot as they qualified first and third, but a few other competitors had things in mind as the 21 of Frankie Beard was second, the 90 of John Llewellyn fourth, and the T21 of Ty Lowe sixth.
Four heats were put into effect with two semi mains to allow everyone an opportunity to make the big show. The autograph session was a huge hit as it was packed. The drivers went through the grandstands with their helmets afterwards to take up a collection for Richard "Paperman" Pearson. Pearsons wife has been seriously ill and all of the competitors were glad to lend a helping hand as were the fans. Paperman is a big part of racing in the local area reporting the results from all local tracks.
The 50-lap main event got exciting very quickly as lap one saw North Carolina competitor Donald Bradsher rolling his beautiful #93 car down the back straight. The incident also damaged several other competitors’ cars including that of Kip Cochran, Jack Pennington, Roger Arowood and Todd Higdon. Although Pennington in the 01 machine made several valiant attempts he eventually retired for then night from result of the accident. Bradshers #93 machine returned to action several times without the front end bodywork as did Higdon, but both eventually retired for the evening.
As the event got underway, Pursley in the number one machine took first place coming off of turn two and kept that position during the night but not without serious challenges of competitors Crandall Turner and David "Bad Boy" McCoy.
The passing was incredible throughout the field all night long. One fan was stated as saying, "I have never seen this much passing at Toccoa or anywhere for that matter. It was two, three and sometimes four-wide in every corner. I don't remember one lap it wasn't at least two wide and I did see them go four-wide on several occasion. Now some of those didn't work out but several times they did make it through. I didn't even know you could run 4 wide at Toccoa. I haven't been at Toccoa in years to see a race and I had never been to a FASTRAK race before, but I will be back. These drivers are some of the best I’ve ever seen. They were inches from each other all night long. I just don't see how they do it. There is action everywhere on the track each lap and sometimes I just couldn't figure out which cars to watch. It was incredible racing. To be honest with you I was surprised how good the racing really was. I haven't seen racing like this in years".
The "Young Gun Gang" was represented well with the #22c of Chris Ferguson finishing fifth, the 2#2 of William Thomas seventh. Travis Pennington, Jody Nipper and JJ Nye all had problems in the heats and did not start the main event for the first time in 2007. The "Young Gun Gang" of the FASTRAK series is considered to one of the best in the country.
Passing for the night: Tremendous. There were a total of 175* positions changed during the evenings 50-lap main event with the Hard Charger award going to Young Gun Gang member William Thomas. Thomas was awarded a provisional starting position coming in as point leader and worked his way to an eventual 7th place finish earning him the "hard charger" award. (* positions changed based on where competitors started in the main and where they finished. Does not count multiple passes).
Top Gun: Crandall Turner
Hard Charger: William Thomas
Finishing results:
1 John Pursley
2 David McCoy
3 Crandall Turner
4 Ty Lowe
5 Chris Ferguson
6 Clayton Turner
7 William Thomas
8 Johnny Pursley
9 Lee Cooper
10 Scott Knowles
11 John Llewellyn
12 Steve “Hot Rod” LaMance
13 Joey McCoy
14 Todd Murphy
15 George Reece JR
16 Scott Childress
17 Kip Cochran
18 Vic Chandler
19 Billy Buffington
20 Frankie Beard
21 Todd Higdon
22 Jack Pennington
23 Donald Bradsher
24 Glen Nix
25 Ellis Parker
DNQ: Jason Walls, Roger Phillips, Mike Garrett, Alton Watts, Colby Harvey, Anthony Meadows, Travis Pennington, Chris Chandler, Vince Fannello, Michael Barnett, Jordy Nipper, Harley Holden, JJ Nye, David Smith
Upcoming Events:
June 23 East Alabama Motor Speedway, Phenix City AL
June 30 Volunteer Speedway, Bulls Gap, TN (3rd Annual "Firecracker 75")
July 4 Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer, PA ($5,000 to-win National event)
July 4 Antioch Speedway, Morganton, NC
July 7 Lancaster Speedway, Lancaster, NC
To join our mailing list, simply send an e-mail to fastrakpr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/fastrakpr/post?postID=XNm2hEt80ba1CHoWSxP5h4fpPhR5V9nEwe144b VUDI5sAaHIHZNflCw8zg_ptvsE46jD0EPJNqn90aQcFS6IK_TQ HMA). For more information check out www.fastrakracing.com (http://www.fastrakracing.com/) or call Stan Lester at 678-935-7304
Partners of the FASTRAK Racing Series Include: Goodyear Racing, GM Performance Parts, Maypole Chevrolet, Duralite Wheels, PPM Racing Products, Heintz Performance, MK-Direct, Braswell Carburetion, Mastersbilt Racing Chassis, TNT Racing Chassis, Rocket Racing Chassis, Modern Chevrolet and Schoenfeld Headers.
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