By Lonnie Wheatley
TULSA, Okla. (August 29, 2011) – With Tommy Bryant back atop the Smiley’s Racing Products ASCS Gulf South point charts, the series championship battle continues with a pair of Labor Day weekend events in south Texas.
The weekend double kicks off Saturday night at the Gator Motorplex in Willis, TX, then concludes on Sunday night with an encore performance at Beaumont’s Golden Triangle Raceway Park.
The event originally scheduled for Friday night at Texana Raceway Park in Edna, TX, has been canceled, while the Sunday portion of the weekend shifted from Lufkin to Beaumont.
After changing rides after the 11th event of the season that put the wraps on a Memorial Day weekend triple, Bryant temporarily lost ground to Ray Allen Kulhanek and George White but took full advantage of the recent August 19-20 weekend double to vault back to the top spot aboard the Cooper No. 28.
Bryant’s lead is a slim one however, as he is just one-point ahead of rival and defending series champion Kulhanek with White falling 34 points off the lead pace after three consecutive rough outings.
Brandon Berryman, a two-time series champ, has quietly worked back into title contention with a win in the most recent Beaumont outing among six top-tens in the last seven events. Berryman is just 66 points out of the lead after being as much as 161 points off the lead pace several weeks ago.
Chris Sweeney is currently fifth in points, with the balance of the top ten including Travis Elliott, Channin Tankersley, Greg Rilat, Beau Smith and Michael McNeil.
With the championship hanging in the balance, only two events remain after this weekend double including a Royal Purple Raceway stop on September 17 and then the season finale at Battleground Speedway on October 1.
Both nights of action are set to go green at 7:00 p.m.
The Gator Motorplex is located in Willis, TX, off I-45 Exit 98 (Shepherd Hill exit), then east, then 1.4 miles south on SR 75. For more information, contact the track at 936-588-6127.
Golden Triangle Raceway Park is located 9.5 miles west of I-10 on US 90 near Beaumont, TX. For more information, contact the track at 409-752-7200.
The Smiley’s Racing Products ASCS Gulf South Region is slated for 28 nights of racing action at eleven different tracks throughout Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in 2011.
Past ASCS Gulf South Region Feature Winners at Gator Motorplex:
5/28/11 – Gary Wright
9/4/10 – Jason Johnson
5/29/10 – Kent Lewis, Jr.
5/23/09 – Skip Wilson
3/28/09 – Jason Johnson
7/19/08 – Tommy Bryant
5/24/08 – Chris Sweeney
9/16/06 – Brad Best
5/27/06 – Chris Sweeney
10/8/05 – Travis Rilat
4/16/05 – Scottie McDonald
Past ASCS Gulf South Region Feature Winners at Golden Triangle Raceway Park:
8/19/11 – Brandon Berryman
6/17/11 – Channin Tankersley
5/27/11 – Gary Wright
5/13/11 – Channin Tankersley
4/15/11 – Ray Allen Kulhanek
3/4/11 – Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
9/3/10 – Jason Johnson
8/20/10 – Jason Johnson
7/16/10 – Gary Wright
6/18/10 – Tommy Bryant
5/28/10 – Chris Morgan
3/5/10 – Gary Wright
10/2/09 – Channin Tankersley
9/18/09 – Jason Johnson
7/17/09 – Aaron Reutzel
6/19/09 – Travis Rilat
5/16/09 – Gary Wright
5/16/09 – Tommy Bryant (4/24 Makeup Feature)
3/6/09 – Gary Wright
8/15/08 – Channin Tankersley
7/18/08 – Gary Watson
5/9/08 – Channin Tankersley
2/29/08 – Jason Johnson
9/28/07 – Jason Johnson
6/22/07 – Michael Dupuy
5/18/07 – Brandon Berryman
4/6/07 – Jason Johnson
9/29/06 – Kevin Ramey
8/18/06 – Jason Johnson
6/23/06 – Gary Watson
8/19/05 – Ray Allen Kulhanek
6/17/05 – Ray Allen Kulhanek
4/15/05 – Travis Rilat
9/18/04 – Kelly Angelette
7/9/04 – Stephen Chevallier
* 9/28/02 – Michael Dupuy
* 9/27/02 – Tim Crawley
7/5/02 – Buddy Bodden
5/24/02 – Jason Johnson
* 4/5/02 – Zach Chappell
* – Indicates events held in conjunction with ASCS National Tour.
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.