From Jacob Seelman
Greenville, MS — (August 2, 2014) — One night after he was outrun at one of his best race tracks, Tim Crawley put himself back on top. Crawley, the 2012 United Sprint Car Series filtercharged by K&N champion from Benton, Arkansas, blasted away from the K&N Filters Pole Position and held off a late-race charge from Mississippi hotshoe Michael Miller to win his second straight Ellis Palasini Black Widow Classic at Greenville Speedway during Saturday night’s 30-lap finale A-main. The victory was Crawley’s 71st career USCS feaure win and sixth series win of 2014. Crawley has now won six of the last seven USCS features he has entered and six of the last 10 USCS races overall.
“We had the rain on Friday night and the track was pretty heavy then, but tonight it was way more like it normally is for us,” Crawley said in www.rockauto.com Victory Lane. “There at the end I could hear (Miller) up top there and I’d have moved up in about one more lap. Sometimes when you’re riding out front there you can’t tell what’s going on behind you, but I had already seen Miller up high on that first run and I figured it was him. One more lap we’d have made a race out of it, but we hung on for this one tonight.”
Miller, from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, made a valiant charge on the extreme high line of the race track to close within two seconds of Crawley in the final twelve laps, but ran out of time to make a challenge for the win and had to settle for second.
“Man, I tell you what, Wesley and the staff here at Greenville did a fine job tonight; complete 180 from how this track was Friday night. This is the Greenville that I’m accustomed to,” Miller explained on the frontstretch following the race. “To run (second) behind Crawley, it’s amazing; he’s a super driver. It’s just an honor to get to see the 88 and not be getting lapped. I’m ecstatic tonight.”
The race was slowed by caution only once, when Jerod Roller and sprint car rookie Brett McMillen spun in turn 2 on lap 8 of the main event. Behind Crawley and Miller, Cordova, Tennessee native and female top gun Morgan Turpen rounded out the podium in third. Friday night’s Greenville winner Anthony Nicholson, from Bartlett, Tennesse finished fourth and ten-time USCS champion Terry Gray, also from Bartlett, rounded out the top five.
2010 USCS Mid-South regional Rookie of the Year Roller, out of Hernando, Mississippi finished sixth after flipping during Friday night’s A-main and fellow Mississippian Ronny Howard, from Nesbit, came home seventh. Klint Angellette crossed the line eighth in his first USCS start of the year and 2013 Cajun Sprinters’ Association champion Shane Morgan was ninth at the checkered flag. 2012 series Rookie of the Year Jeff Willingham, from Ripley, Mississippi completed the top ten.
Morgan Turpen kicked off the evening’s racing action by winning the Hoosier Tire Speed Dash, and Tim Crawley scored the win in the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat. Anthony Nicholson rolled to the victory in the Butlerbuilt Second Heat.
Tim Crawley was the provisional pole-sitter after scoring the most passing points in heat race action, and after a zero came up in the K&N Inversion Draw, Crawley received the K&N Filters Pole Award. Michael Miller passed the most cars in the A-main (six) to grab the Willwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award.
The United Sprint Car Series filtercharged by K&N continues their 2014 schedule on Friday night, August 8th with the rescheduled Sprint Car Mania VI event at Boyd’s Speedway in Ringgold, Georgia. For rules, schedules and more information on the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour, please visit www.uscsracing.com or call 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097.
RESULTS: USCS Sprint Car Series “Ellis Palasini Black Widow Classic: Finale Night”; Greenville Speedway; August 2nd, 2014
Hoosier Tire Speed Dash: Morgan Turpen, Anthony Nicholson, Tim Crawley, Terry Gray, Shane Morgan, Michael Miller (DNS).
Engler Machine and Tool First Heat: Tim Crawley, Klint Angellette, Ronny Howard, Terry Gray, Michael Miller, Terry Witherspoon, Greg Merritt.
Butlerbuilt Second Heat: Anthony Nicholson, Morgan Turpen, Jerod Roller, Jeff Willingham, Brett McMillen, Shane Morgan.
USCS Sprint Car Series filtercharged by K&N Ellis Palasini Black Widow Classic Finale A-main: 30-laps
#88 – Tim Crawley, Benton, AR
#4M – Michael Miller, Ocean Springs, MS
#10M – Morgan Turpen, Cordova, TN
#16 – Anthony Nicholson, Bartlett, TN
#10 – Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN
#5 – Jerod Roller, Hernando, MS
#44 – Ronny Howard, Nesbit, MS
#19 – Klint Angellette, Thibodaux, LA
#01 – Shane Morgan, Biloxi, MS
#28 – Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS
#43 – Terry Witherspoon, Jacksonville, FL
#44C – Brett McMillen, Piperton, TN
#44S – Greg Merritt, Nesbit, MS
USCS Sprint Car Series Race Awards:
Hoosier Tire Speed Dash: #10M – Morgan Turpen
Engler Machine and Tool First Heat: #88 – Tim Crawley
Butlerbuilt Second Heat: #16 – Anthony Nicholson
K&N Filters Pole Award: #88 – Tim Crawley
JE Pistons Top Guns Award: #10M – Morgan Turpen (3rd place)
K&N Filters Podium (3rd place) Award: #10M – Morgan Turpen
Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award: #4M – Michael Miller
Keizer Aluminum Wheels Top Five Award: #10 – Terry Gray
Saldana Racing Products Super Sixth Award: #5 – Jerod Roller
Pyrotect Racing Cells Lucky Seven Award: #44 – Ronny Howard
DMI/Bulldog Rear Ends Top Ten Award: #28 – Jeff Willingham