By Rhiannon Kendrick and Chad Buford
August 1, 2010
When it rains, it pours, and for five straight weeks it poured on Double-X Speedway, causing five consecutive rain outs. With only two scheduled races left, race fans were relieved to see the gates open once again for “Sunday Night Thunder”. Hundreds of fans were on hand for the 8th Annual “Clyde Wood Memorial Race” which was co-hosted by Roy Wood, son of the late Clyde Wood. For the eighth consecutive year, Clyde’s granddaughter, Felicia Wood presented custom made trophies to each of the five feature winners. Mary Wood, widow, was unable to attend due to illness. Clyde’s oldest son Charlie assisted in the flagstand, from which his father flagged countless races.
Race fans observed a moment of silence in memory and honor of ‘XX’ concessionaire Harold Clennin. Harold had served Double-X race fans for more than twenty years and will be greatly missed by his racing family.
The opening ceremony included the invocation by David Hoellering and National Anthem by Barbara Whittle at which time Bailey Elliott circled the track in his micro sprint while flying the checkered flag as well as two black streamers symbolizing the absence of Clyde and Harold.
The memorial race boasted three classes of sprint cars including the 360 Winged Outlaw Warriors, 600cc Winged Sprints, and the “topless” Ozark Mountain Midgets as well as the street stocks and hobby stocks.
Becoming the seventh different driver this year to win his first career Winged Outlaw Warrior A Main, Sean McClelland of Tulsa OK also claimed his first Clyde Wood Memorial victory Sunday night.
Farmington’s Dustin Barks looked poised to make it two in a row as he outran California’s Randy Martin into turn one and led the first two laps. McClelland was on the move early as he shot around the high side to move into third and nearly got by Martin on the opening lap from his sixth starting position. A lap later, McClelland would get by Martin for second.
On lap three, Barks got too high in between turns three and four and slid off the track bringing out a yellow flag. On the restart, McClelland took control as Tim Crawley, Benton AR, made his way past Martin for second. One lap later, California’s Tyler Blank worked his way past Martin for third and set his sights on McClelland and Crawley.
On lap eleven, things would get very interesting as Jon Corbin, Kansas City, and Clarksburg’s Lanny Carpenter made contact in turn one causing Corbin to spin in front of the leaders. McClelland and Crawley were able to go over the bank in turn one and continue on with no problem. Carpenter and Corbin both were done for the night.
On the restart, McClelland again took off with Crawley giving chase. As the laps wore on and the leaders encountered heavy traffic, Crawley and Blank were able to get up to and pressure McClelland, but neither was able to get by the current ASCS Sooner Region point leader.
There would be one more stop on lap twenty seven as Jason Schroeder, Gardner KS, spun in between turns three and four to bring out a caution.
On the final restart, McClelland again proved to be too strong as he went on to to the win in his Maxwell Oil Triple X with Myers power. Crawley was second in Mike Ward’s Boater Sports Maxim with McCarver power.
Blank was a strong third in his Blank’s Backhoe/Schlotz Landscaping JEI with Patriot power. Randy Martin would run fourth in his Diamond Pet Foods J&J with Roush-Yates power. Mark Shirshekan rounded out the top five after an intense battle with Martin for the fourth spot, in his Cooper Enterprises Wesmar-powered J&J.
Curtis Evans ran a solid race to finish sixth in his Arctic Cat Maxim and Jonathan Cornell was seventh in the Kiowa Line Builders Maxim. Rounding out the top ten were Adam Jones, Miranda Arnold, and current WOW point leader Eric Todd, who started twenty-second.
Heat race winners were McClelland, Blank, and Crawley.
Top five in Double-X sprint points are Blank 498, Adam Jones 468, Tony Crank 426, Evans 362, and Dakota Carroll 307.
As the “topless” Ozark Mountain Midgets started their main event Gavin Galbraith of Washington shot out for a significant lead over the rest of the field with Danny Frye, St. Charles, attempting to make up ground behind him. A caution with eight laps down had Frye turned around in turn two, giving Eric Todd of Falcon time to shine and challenge Galbraith. However, Galbraith was first to the finish line with Todd in second. Todd McVay of Grain Valley, Warsaw’s Richard Kreisel, and Mat Fox of Sedalia rounded out the top five. Frye and Galbraith each won their heat race.
The 600cc Winged Sprints brought nineteen cars for twenty laps of fast, head-flinging action. With the outside pole position, it was Mexico’s Cole Melby of who jumped out to a lead above polesetter Lane Wilson of Creighton. Soon, both Nathan Benson, Concordia, and Drew Shiveley of Columbia were battling ahead of Wilson, testing each other’s speed along the stretches. Columbia’s Dean Hathman took advantage of a restart and stole third place from Shiveley. In the end Melby took the checkered with Benson and Hathman following behind. Shively and Dallas Wood of Jefferson City finished fourth and fifth. Wilson and Melby won the heat races.
In the Street Stock feature, it was smooth sailing for Tipton’s Harlan “Boy” Dowell as he held the lead all fifteen laps to take the checkered. “The Tipton Tornado” Tim Cressley and Ray Smith of Centertown battled behind John Clancy, Jr. of California; however, after Clancy pulled out of the race with one lap to go, it was Smith who won the battle and a second place finish. Rounding out the top five were Tipton’s Tim Cressley, Gary Foxworthy of Eldon, and Bill Schaar of Ft. Leonard Wood. Heat winners were Dowell and John Clancy Jr.
The fifteen car hobby stock feature didn’t run quite as smoothly but in the end it was Luke Skidmore of Green Ridge taking home the trophy with Syracuse’s Gage Nicholson a close second. Will Register, Sedalia, took third with Chuck Coffee of Windsor fourth and Jefferson City’s Chase Fischer fifth. Skidmore and Nicholson won the heats. Point leaders are Skidmore 556, Nicholson 544, Fischer 450, Cherry Wineland 430, and Coffey 359.
Next week Double-X Speedway welcomes race fans to the 2010 Championship race with the 600cc micro midgets as guest class. Point champions will be determined after the last point race of the night. Following the awards will be the annual Powder Puff, Mechanics, and Officials races. Gates will open at 5:00 with regular admission rates. Hot laps will start at 7:00 and racing at 7:30. The parking lot will be open at noon for tailgating.