From Carolina Clash PR Department

LAWNDALE, NC -May 3, 2008- Randle Chupp made a clean sweep of the Carolina Clash weekend at Cleveland County Speedway. After scoring the $5,000 victory on Friday night the Troutman, NC resident backed up his flag to flag performance from the night before as he rolled to the $10,000 win in the '8th Annual Skyler Trull Memorial'. By sweeping the two events Chupp received a $5,000 bonus, bringing his weekend total to $20,000.

"We had an awesome weekend," said Chupp following his race win. "I just have to thank this entire Starrette Trucking team for all their hard work," said the driver of the Starrette Trucking/Powell Construction/Randy Clary Racing Engines/American Race Tires/Rocket Monte Carlo.

Four time and defending Carolina Clash Series champion Ricky Weeks paced the field in qualifying. After time trials the top six drew for an inversion with Chupp and Friday night's runner-up Tim McCreadie sharing the front row.

As the field went green Chupp blasted into the lead with McCreadie dead in his tire tracks. Jonathan Davenport quickly made his presence know as he slid to third out of turn two with Casey Roberts and Damon Eller in tow. Chupp and McCreadie quickly sped away from the field as Davenport began to encounter handling problems. Davenport's handling issues were solved three laps later when the Blairsville, GA native slowed with a flat right rear tire, forcing the Beaver Bail Bonds/Barry Wright entry pitside for new rubber. This moved Weeks into the top five.

As the field went back green Gray Court, SC's Chris Madden began to flex his muscle. Driving with a heavy heart after the passing of his father-in-law late last week, Madden found the top of the speedway to his liking as he began to move forward from his tenth starting position. By lap 18 he was up to sixth and two laps later he swept around his former teammate Weeks to grab the fifth spot. He then chased down Roberts and moved him back to fourth before he set his sights on the leaders, who were in heavy lapped traffic during the middle stages of the 58 lap affair.

Another driver who was in the hunt all night was Brandon Kinzer but the Allen, KY resident slowed on lap 48 to bring out the fifth and final caution of the night.

On the restart McCreadie went high in turn one in search of a cushion but Chupp was to strong and held the former World of Outlaws Series Champion at bay. As the leaders raced into turn on the white flag lap a spinning Doug Sanders forced the lead duo to take evasive action. As the maneuvered to miss Sanders McCreadie was able to drive all the way up beside Chupp as the two entered turn three but Chupp was not to be denied as he beat McCreadie back to the line. Madden, Roberts and Eller rounded out the top five.

SKYLER TRULL MEMORIAL FINISH: 1. Randle Chupp 2. Tim McCreadie 3. Chris Madden 4. Casey Roberts 5. Damon Eller 6. Benji Cole 7. Ricky Weeks 8. Dan Breuer 9. Dennis Franklin 10. Jason Fitzgerald 11. G.R. Smith 12. Ed Gibbons 13. Doug Sanders 14. Gary Mabe 15. Brandon Kinzer 16. Scott Autry 17. Jonathan Davenport 18. Brent Dixon 19. Larry Blanekenship 20. Chris Meadows 21. Craig Shuffield 22. Petey Ivey 23. Anthony Sanders 24. Jeff Smith DNS; Justin Labonte, Chris Ferguson, Dale McDowell, Jeff Cooke

The next Carolina Clash event will be May 9th at Gordon Park Speedway in Augusta, GA. Saturday night May 10th the series will head for Screven Motor Speedway.


Have an opinion on this story? E-MAIL KARNAC to send a letter to the editor!