By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (April 25, 2011) – The 2011 Smiley’s Racing Products ASCS Gulf South championship points chase continues this weekend as the series takes to the high-banked, 3/8-mile Battleground Speedway clay oval in Highlands, TX, on Saturday night.
Saturday’s card marks the first Gulf South stop of the season at Battleground after the event scheduled for March 5 was rained out.
A handful of events into the tenth year of ASCS Gulf South action, five different drivers have reached victory lane in as many features including Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2009 champion Aaron Reutzel, four-time ASCS National champion Gary Wright, two-time and defending Gulf South champion Ray Allen Kulhanek and Michael Dupuy.
While not yet among the feature winners, Fort Worth’s George White is out to the early lead in the championship points race with third-place finishes at Waco and Lufkin on April 1 and 2 the best of four top-ten feature runs.
White is out to the early lead by 17 points over Tommy Bryant, who has ranked among the top five in Gulf South points over each of the past four years including third in both 2009 and 2010.
Two-time ASCS Gulf South champion Brandon Berryman of Missouri City, TX, is 94 points out of the lead in third, with veteran Gulf South contenders Chris Sweeney (Channelview, TX) and Kulhanek (Montgomery, TX) rounding out the current top five.
The balance of the current top ten in points includes Travis Elliott (Alvin, TX), Chris Coker (New Braunfels, TX), Channin Tankersley (Highlands, TX), Michael McNeil (Alvin, TX) and Greg Rilat (Texas City, TX), with Jeffrey Newell (Tulsa, OK) and Wes Miller (Santa Fe, TX) among those just outside the top ten.
A total of 19 different drivers have competed in each of the five ASCS Gulf South events contested thus far in 2011, with 58 drivers competing in at least one event.
Saturday’s green flag at Battleground Speedway flies at 7:00 p.m.
Highlands’ high-banked, 3/8-mile Battleground Speedway dirt oval is located east of Houston off I-10 exit 787, then four miles north. For more information, contact the track at 832-421-7223.
The Smiley’s Racing Products ASCS Gulf South Region is slated for 26 nights of racing action at ten different tracks throughout Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in 2011.
Past ASCS Gulf South Region Feature Winners at Battleground Speedway:
8/21/10 – Jason Johnson
3/6/10 – Brian Brown
The 2011 season marks the 20th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series, with approximately 200 nights of competition at tracks throughout the nation and into Canada. Anchored by the Lucas Oil Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of ten different Regions throughout the nation.
Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.