From Pete Walton
BLUE RIDGE, Ga. (June 10, 2017) — The defending and two-time USCS National Champion, Morgan Turpen from Cordova, Tennessee scored her second United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters win of the weekend and eighth of the 2017 season on Saturday night at Blue Ridge Motorsports Park in front of another standing room only crowd for the series. Turpen made a mid-race pass on early leader and heat race winner, Dale Howard from Byhalia, Mississippi after a hard-fought battle for the lead and then pulled away to approximately 10-car length lead on the final lap. Turpen also won on the series’ previous night’s stop at Fort Payne Motor Speedway.
In the www.rockauto.com USCS Victory Lane at the end of the 30-lap main event, Turpen said” I really had to race hard tonight for this one and I really appreciate the car Terry Gray gave me tonight. We really like this J&J Auto Racing car, it has been fast every night.”
Dale Howard said in a post race interview, “We were pretty fast early, but our motor was kind of flat. We had the same probably last week at Talladega. We gotta’ go home and find the problem to get a few more R.P.M’s”.
Behind the fleeting Turpen/Howard duo in a three-car battle for the final podium position were third-year sprint car young gun driver, Kyle Amersonfrom Matthews, Alabama, sprint car veteran Ryan Coniam from Denver, Colorado and eleven-time USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee. Those three drivers put on quite a battle for the huge crowd in attendance. In the end, it was Amerson who claimed the K&N Filters Podium Award third position behind Howard with Coniam following in fourth place and veteran Terry Gray rounding out the top five.
Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi headed the next group in sixth place followed by Joe Larkin, a USCS regular and veteran sprint car racer from Suwannee, Georgia who finished in seventh place. Sprint car Rookie of the Year contender, Don Warren from Clarksville, Tennessee driver finished in eighth place. Joey Schmidt from Ellisville, MS followed in ninth place and Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia rounded out the top ten finishers.
Morgan Turpen won the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat. Dale Howard collected the win in the Brown and Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat. Tim Crawley also earned the most passing points in the heat race action. As the first heat race-winner, Turpen then drew a Zero in the K&N Filters Pole Award drawing. This placed her on the K&N Filters Pole Position and second heat winner, Dale Howard outside the front row. Jeff Willingham started tenth and passed four cars, earning him the Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award.
Next on the schedule for the USCS drivers is their annual USCS Alabama Sprint Car Nationals and Randy Helton Memorial Race at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, Alabama on next Saturday, June 17th The speedway’s website is found at www.eamsdirt.com .The track’s phone number is 334-297-2594.
The United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters would like to gratefully thank its sponsoring partners for their involvement in the 2017 and 21st annual USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour: K&N Filters, www.rockauto.com,Engler Machine and Tool, Butlerbuilt, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Saldana Racing Products, Pyrotect Racing Cells, Bell Racing USA, PRO Shocks, DMI/Bulldog Rear Ends. KSE Racing Products, DHR Suspensions, Schoenfeld Headers, DSR Fuel Systems, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Arizona Sport Shirts and Hero Graphics.
For USCS rules, schedules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com . or call the series at 770-460-7334 or 770-865-6097. You may also like and follow Uscsracing on Facebook and or @uscsracing on Twitter.
USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters winged srint cars
at Blue Ridge Motorsports Park on Saturday, June 10, 2017 results:
HOOSIER Tire Speed DASH – (6 Laps)
1. 1s-Joey Schmidt[1] ; 2. 21h-Dale Howard[4] ; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett[2] ; 4. 10-Terry Gray[3] ; 5. 10m-Morgan Turpen[6] ; 6. 1a-Lee Moore[5]
Engler Machine & Tool First Heat –
(8 Laps)
1. 10m-Morgan Turpen[2] ; 2. 10-Terry Gray[1] ; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett[4] ; 4. 5w-Ryan Coniam[6] ; 5. 1a-Lee Moore[5] ; 6. 33-Joe Larkin[3]
Brown and Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat – (8 Laps)
1. 21h-Dale Howard[1] ; 2. 1s-Joey Schmidt[3] ; 3. 29-Kyle Amerson[5] ; 4. 67-Brian Thomas[2] ; 5. 28-Jeff Willingham[4] ; 6. 99-Don Warren[6]
USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour Winged Sprint A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 10m-Morgan Turpen[1] ; 2. 21h-Dale Howard[2] ; 3. 29-Kyle Amerson[4] ; 4. 5w-Ryan Coniam[7] ; 5. 10-Terry Gray[5] ; 6. 28-Jeff Willingham[10] ; 7. 33-Joe Larkin[11] ; 8. 99-Don Warren[12] ; 9. 1s-Joey Schmidt[3] ; 10. 67-Brian Thomas[8] ; 11. 1a-Lee Moore[9] ; 12. 14-Jordon Mallett[6]
USCS Sprint Car Series Race Awards:
Hoosier Tire Speed Dash: 1s Joey Schmidt
Engler Machine and Tool First Heat: 10m Morgan Turpen
BMRS Second Heat: 21 Dale Howard
K&N Filters Pole Award: 10m Morgan Turpen
JE Pistons Top Guns Award: 21 Dale Howard
K&N Filters Podium (3rd place) Award: 29 Kyle Amerson
Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award: 28 Jeff Willingham
PRO Shocks Top Five Award: 29 Kyle Amerson (3rd place)
Saldana Racing Products Super Sixth Award: 28 Jeff Willingham
Pyrotect Racing Cells Lucky Seven Award: 33 Joe Larkin
DHR Suspension 8th place Award: 99 Don Warren
DMI/Bulldog Rear Ends Top Ten Award: 67 Brian Thomas