Braselton, GA - United Sprint Car Seriesuscsracing.com "Asphalt Thunder" Tour points leader, Kenny Adams from Malabar, Florida made a daring move to the outside and charged past the front two rows of cars from his sixth starting position into the lead on lap one and held off a hard charging Jim Raptis and Terry Gray duo for the balance of the race to win the 40 lap USCS sprint car main event in the Dodge "Night of Thunder" at Lanier National Speedway on Saturday night. The win over drivers from seven states was worth $2100 to Adams and ran his win total in all 2003 events to an even twenty. Fourteen of those wins have come in United Sprint Car Series "Outlaw Thunder" Tour competition where Adams has eight paved track tallies and six wins on dirt.

Adams victory came before a large enthusiastic crowd that sat thru a three hour rain delay at the fabled 3/8 mile paved oval, due to a small thunderstorm cloud that parked over the speedway for nearly two hours. The real heroes for the night were track general manager Stan Narrison and Lanier National Speedway Vice President Randy Morris who to the pleasure of the fans and race teams waited out the rain and determined to put on the show dried the track and raced. The USCS season opener on March 15th at the speedway was rained out.

When rain changed the schedule, the USCS format deleted time trials and the series followed their normal USCS Dirt Series program for this paved track event with a draw and heat race for position format. Adams, the Lanier National Speedway track record holder, won the first heat race and defending USCS National champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee won the other. This gave Adams the opportunity to draw for the inversion and he used it to relegate himself and Gray to row three. Undaunted the "Malabar Missle" launched into turn one and drove up beside second row starters Will Ragsdale and Jim Raptis and pulled past pole starting Brad Davis from Mooresville, North Carolina entering turn three on lap one. Gray negotiated past Davis for second position on lap three and Raptis moved into third behind him on lap five. The duo chased the streaking Adams while battling hard with each other for second place, but Adams seemed to be getting the breaks in lapped traffic and maintained a safe margin for most of the event. Raptis who hails from Marietta, Georgia, passed Gray in one of their many lapped traffic skirmishes on lap twelve and held him of for the distance. Ted Williams from Atlanta fought past Brad Davis for a great run in fourth and Davis who has only raced a limited schedule this season, held on for a top five finish.

USCS rookie sprint car driver, Will Ragsdale from Easley, South Carolina, finished in sixth and had an impressive showing all night chasing Gray home in the second heat race finishing in second place. Randy Weaver from Powder Springs, Georgia who has sat the last three events out after a horrendous crash on August 2nd at Dixie Speedway looked great in his comeback event finishing seventh. Randy Helton from Palmetto, Georgia drove his "dirt" car to eighth place, followed by Doug Day wheeling Johnny Ardis' "Redneck Rocket" #30 car for the first time in ninth position and another improving USCS rookie driver, Jimmy Taylor from Green Pond, South Carolina rounded out the top ten.

Jim Raptis who follows Terry Gray in second place in the USCS National point standings, won the evening's Airflow Research Power Dash qualifier event.

. Fans don't have to wait long for the next USCS event as the two day "BAMA" Sprint Car Nationals at Green Valley Speedway in Glencoe, Alabama happens this Friday and Saturday nights September 5th and 6th. The track is located just south of Gadsden, Alabama 4 miles off US 431 on Green Valley Road. For further info visit www.uscsracing.com or call USCS at 770-313-3477 or Green Valley Speedway at 256-492-8550.

Airflow Research Power Dash - Jim Raptis, Terry Gray, Kenny Adams, Chris Hill, Randy Helton, Shawn Stafford.
Heat race #1 - Kenny Adams, Jim Raptis, Ted Williams, Jimmy Taylor, Randy Weaver, Randy Helton, Kenny Hart, Michael Craddock, Shawn Stafford, Kelly Glass.

Heat race #2 - Terry Gray, Will Ragsdale, Brad Davis, Aubrey Black, Doug Fitzwater, Chris Hill, Chris Manning. Doug Day, Scott Young.
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Lanier National Speedway 8/30/03 USCS main event (40 laps)
Winner = Kenny Adams, Jim Raptis, Terry Gray, Ted Williams, Brad Davis, Will Ragsdale, Randy Weaver, Randy Helton, Doug Day, Jimmy Taylor, Aubrey Black, Scott Young, Doug Fitzwater, Shawn Stafford, Michael Craddock, Chris Manning, Kenny Hart, Chris Hill, Kelly Glass.


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