By Kelley Carlton

Gaffney, SC – For the second time this year, Tennessee’s Randy Weaver has arrived at an O’Reilly Southern All Star Racing Series event having never turned a competitive lap on the host track. And he produced a big win for a second time. A Saturday afternoon heat race win driving Sanford Goddard’s Warrior House Car put Weaver on the outside pole of the 15th Annual Blue-Gray 100 feature line up. Weaver rode along in second behind pole sitter Jimmy Owens until a flat right rear on Owens mount handed the lead over to Weaver. Weaver then saved his tires and held off Randle Chupp and Brandon Kinzer for the biggest win of his career.

Owens grabbed the lead at the outset of the 100 lapper as Weaver, Jeff Smith, Chupp and Jeff Cooke completed the top five. Chris Madden moved by Brandon Kinzer and Cooke to move into fifth as the pack completed lap two. As Owens began to open up some daylight on Weaver, Madden moved past Smith for third. The field stabilized for several laps until Cooke looped his machine on lap twenty-six while running fifth. A suspension problem would eventually end Cooke’s night. Jack Pennington and Royce Bray both pitted for a tire change.

Many of the drivers had planned to pit after the halfway mark if they could catch a caution. The last several Blue-Gray events have come down to drivers having newer tires or drivers saving their tires for the finish. Another long green flag run would end when Freddy Smith lost a tire with fifty-eight laps on the scoreboard. Jeff Smith had to retire under the caution with engine problems. Freddy Smith, Madden and Ricky Weeks all suffered tire failures during the caution period and pitted for fresh Hoosier rubber.

After another caution flag for a spinning Jimmy McCormick, Jeremy Clements and James Roulette pitted for tires. Owens led the field to green after a debris caution on lap seventy. But it became apparent that Owens was beginning to struggle with tire wear. The Newport, Tennessee driver wasn’t able to motor away from Weaver as he had done previously.

Weaver pulled to Owens door several times but Owens would slam the door down the straightaways. But disaster would strike Owens as he blew a right rear tire on lap eighty-three.

Weaver took over the lead with Chupp, Kinzer, Mark Vineyard and Dennis Franklin in tow. Weaver obviously knew he needed to take care of his tires on the restarts as he didn’t fire until he had his Warrior Grand Prix completely straight up out of the turns. Chupp looked beneath Weaver on a few occasions but could pull alongside. Weaver pulled away over the waining laps and took a four car length win. Chupp would hold on for second with Kinzer, Vineyard and Franklin rounding out the top five.

Weaver was jubilant in victory lane “This is the biggest win of my career. We knew we could hold these guys off. We just needed to be careful not to spin the tires too much on restarts and then try and keep it from scooting through the corners. We kind of drove it like an asphalt car those last few laps there. I want to thank Sanford and Sandy (Goddard) for letting me drive their car for this race. It was a great car and we appreciate it. I want to thank Danny and all these guys for working the car. We will be back over here in March.” Madden rallied for a sixth place finish and officially clinched the 2005 OSAS points championship. Mark Vineyard was also crowned as the 2005 OSAS Behind the Wheel / Late Model America / Cleveland Speedway Driving School Rookie of the Year and moved into second in the overall points chase.

Official Finish
1 – 20th Randy Weaver
2 – 6 Randle Chupp
3 – 18 Brandon Kinzer
4 – 4 Mark Vineyard
5 – 2 Dennis Franklin
6 – 44 Chris Madden
7 – 4 Ed Basey
8 – 21 Royce Bray
9 – 01 Jack Pennington
10 – 1 Ricky Weeks
11 – 00 Freddy Smith
12 – 20 Jimmy Owens
13 – 51 Jeremy Clements
14 – 15 Jimmy McCormick
15 – 88 Petey Ivey
16 – U2 Buckshot Miles
17 – 05 James Roulette
18 – 70 Jeff Smith
19 – 99 Jeff Cooke
20 – 5 Greg Knight
21 – 45 Kevin Tessner
22 – 121 Benji Cole
23 – 42 Doug Sanders
24 – 00 Noel Tucker

Cautions: 6 Lead Changes: 1 Lap Leaders: 1-82 Owens, 83-100 Weaver Heat Race Winners: Owens, Weaver, Chupp and Jeff Smith Consolation Race Winners: Basey and Cole PPM Products Hard Charger: Ed Basey

O’REILLY SAS DIRT RACING SERIES SUPER LATE MODEL UPCOMING EVENTS SAT NOV 20—CLEVELAND SPEEDWAY—CLEVELAND, TN--$5,000


Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on the Message Board! or send a letter to the editor!