By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – May 28, 2015 – The United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters www.uscsracing.com concludes its highly competitive 10th annual USCS Sprint Speed Week at historic Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas on this Saturday,(July 4th) at 7:30 pm. The race is entitled as the 9th Annual “Rumble at the River” at the 1/4-mile high-banked gumbo clay oval.
The race will be the final round of a five race over eight day mini-series at tracks located in a close proximity to one another in the Mid-South area. This event is also set to be race number 14 on the season for the touring USCS sprint car drivers.
The USCS Sprint Speedweek 2015 Round One event on Saturday night at Jackson Motor Speedway in Jackson, Mississippi was won by 2013 USCS National Champion, Derek Hagar from nearby Marion, Arkansas who is entered for Thursday’s event. Hagar defeated a stellar 33 car field his first visit of the 2015 season to the www.rockauto.com USCS Victory Lane and his 30th career USCS victory.
The Sunday, May 24th event at Greenville Speedway (Greenville, MS) was rained-out as was the Thursday night May 28th event at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama for the second straight year. The Round Four event at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi was also won by Derek Hagar. The Greenville speedway event was made up on Saturday, June 20th and Tim Crawley was the winner.
The Riverside International Speedway USCS event is expected to draw a large field of winged sprint car drivers. Drivers from at eleven states entered the first event on Saturday, May 23rd at Jackson Motor Speedway (Jackson, MS) from as far away as North Carolina and Washington state.
The 2014 USCS Sprint Speedweek events averaged 28 cars per event with 30 entering at Riverside International Speedway for the finale event in 2014. There’s no reason to believe Saturday, July 4th event will have any less participation.
Twenty-One year old Morgan Turpen who is the Nation’s top-ranked female sprint car driver is the current USCS National point standings leader. She also leads the standings in the USCS Mid-South regional series. Another young driver, sixteen Year-old Marco Island Rookie of the Year contender, Nicholas Snyder is in third place in the National standings and scored a career-first win at Travelers Rest Speedway on May 8th..
An action packed program awaits fans as the USCS presented by K&N Filters sprint car racing format will include test and tune hot laps followed by the evening’s first sprint car race, the Hoosier Speed Dash that showcases the top six cars from the previous USCS main event in an edge-of-your-seat six-car shootout. Next up will be qualifying heat races followed by Last Chance/B-Main race(s). The evening’s grand finale will be the 9th Annual 30-lap USCS “Rumble at the River” winged sprint car A-main event.
The race will award USCS presented by K& Filters National Championship points as well as USCS Mid-South Thunder regional series Championship points. The USCS Mid-South Thunder regional series primarily consists of races in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and West Tennessee.
Just a few of the noted drivers who are entered include eleven-time and defending USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee plus the 2012 National Champion, Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas. National points leader, Morgan Turpen from Cordova, Tennessee is entered . Derek Hagar is the recent USCS Sprint Speedweek wins leader with 5 for 8 over the past two seasons so far. He won three of the four mini-series events held during 2014 season.
Also on the racing program are several of Riverside’s weekly Saturday night racing divisions including the Limited Late Models, Riverside Stock Cars, Open Wheel Modifieds and the popular 305 Winged Sprint Cars.. The largest Fireworks Display in the speedway’s history is also planned to celebrate American Freedom.
For more information on Riverside International Speedway visit www.riversideinternationalspeedway.com The office number is 901-840-1970 and the race day phone number is 870-735-8071. For more information on the USCS Speed Week 2013 including the full 2013 schedule, please visit www.uscsracing.com . Call the USCS Office at 770-865-6097.