ATWOOD, Tenn. (October 15, 2016) — Tim Crawley of Benton, AR was crowned the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour Presented by K&N Filters “King of the Hill” on Saturday night with a trip to the www.RockAuto.com Victory Lane victory in the USCS 25-lap main event at Clayhill Motorsports. It was the second win for the 2012 USCS National Champion during the 2016 20th Anniversary season at the West Tennessee clay oval.
For the first half of the race, Crawley was settled into the third spot behind early race leader Dale Howard of Byhalia, MS and Derek Hagar of Marion, AR. Hagar dropped out of the race on lap 16, and Crawley camped out behind Howard on the high side of the race track until lap 22 when he dove for the bottom groove.
Crawley raced Howard side-by-side down the front straightaway and into turn one. Crawley was able to take the lead coming off the second turn on lap 23, and then led the final two tours around the track to take the win to go with his Clayhill Motorsports win in May during Speedweeks.
“At first, it was kind of a single file groove around the top, so while I was riding behind Derek and Dale, I kept checking out the middle to bottom grooves to see if there was anything down there to race on,” Crawley said. “After Derek dropped out, I pulled the wing back, dove for the middle, got under Dale and it worked out.”
Howard was able to hang on for the second spot and third went to the defending USCS National Champion Morgan Turpen of Cordova, TN, who started eighth and earned the Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award. Marshall Skinner of Marion, AR took the fourth spot, and 11-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN was fifth.
Teammates Turpen and Gray continue their friendly, but hard fought battle for the 2016 USCS National Championship. Dustin Homan of Manquan, MO finished sixth and seventh went to Howard Moore of Memphis, TN. Brad Bowden of Hernando, MS took the eighth spot, and Danny Sams III of Englewood, FL was ninth. Jeff Willingham of Ripley, MS rounded out the top ten.
In preliminary action, the six-lap Hoosier Tire Speed Dash was won by Skinner. In eight-lap Heat Race action, the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat was won by Howard Moore, and Dale Howard won the Brown and Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat.
After earning the K&N Filters Pole Award, Howard took the lead at the drop of the green flag followed by Crawley, Hagar, Moore, and Gray. Hagar got by Crawley to take over the second spot on lap two, Gray passed Moore for the fourth spot on lap three. Skinner moved up to challenge Moore for the fifth spot on lap four, but Moore reclaimed the spot on lap five.
On lap 15, Hagar closed in on Howard to challenge for the lead, and pulled to the inside of the leader in turn four. Howard held on to the point through turns one and two on lap 16, but Hagar suddenly slowed off the pace going down the backstretch to bring out the only caution flag of the race.
Howard led Crawley, Gray, Moore, Skinner, Homan, and Turpen down for the restart, and several drivers got busy in the ten lap dash to the finish. Skinner passed Moore and Gray to move up to the third spot on lap 17.
Lap 18 saw Turpen passing Moore to move into the top five. Turpen wasn’t done yet, as she passed her teammate Gray for the fourth spot on lap 19, and then powered by Skinner for third on lap 21. While Crawley was putting his inside move on Howard to take the lead on lap 23, Skinner got back by Turpen to reclaim the third spot, only to see Turpen return the favor on the final lap.
The next event for the 20th Anniversary United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour Presented by K&N Filters will be the OneDirt.com World Short Track Championship Race at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC on October 20-22.
For rules and updated schedule information about the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour, please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office at 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097. You can also like the United Sprint Car Series Facebook page at USCS Racing.
In USCS RockAuto.com 600 Mini Sprint action, B.J. Gatewood of Caruthersville, MO took a wire-to-wire win in the 20-lap main event to collect the $1000 winner’s paycheck.. Kyle Carpenter of Baldwyn, MS took the second spot and Jim Young of Johnstown, PA finished third. Fourth-place went to Bobby Zaiontz of Columbus, MS, and Bob Trapino of Alpharetta, GA was fifth.
Remeno Loyal of Snellville, GA finished sixth and Conner Morrell of Bradenton, FL drove to a seventh-place finish. Matt McCullough of Snellville, GA took the eighth spot and Daryl Parvin of Corinth, MS was ninth. Tucker Boulton of Brighton, TN rounded out the top ten. In preliminary action, Loyal won the five-lap Hoosier Tire Speed Dash and the two six-lap Rock Auto.com Heat Races were won by Dusty Young of Little Rock, AR and Zaiontz.
Ashley Newman of Ripley, TN won the 25-lap K&N Filters USCS Outlaw Modified Series main event. Bart Richardson of Bradford, TN took the second spot and third went to Preston Seratt of Dyersburg, TN. Shane Akin of Medina, TN finished fourth and Greg Welch of Sardis, TN was fifth. Troy Dow of Mumford, TN took the sixth spot and Junior Lemmings of Jackson, TN was seventh.
Hunter Wilbanks of Lakeland, TN finished eighth and ninth went to David Esch of Gleasson, TN. Paul Reeder of Maulin, MO rounded out the top ten. In preliminary action, the three eight-lap heat races were won by Hunt Gossum of Atwood, TN, Dow, and Richardson.
USCS OUTLAW THUNDER TOUR PRESENTED BY K&N FILTERS RESULTS:
FEATURE RACE – 25 LAPS:
POS START CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN
1. 4 88 Tim Crawley Benton, AR
2. 1 4 Dale Howard Byhalia, MS
3. 8 10m Morgan Turpen Cordova, TN
4. 5 26 Marshall Skinner Marion, AR
5. 6 10 Terry Gray Bartlett, TN
6. 7 10p Dustin Homan Manquan, MO
7. 3 40 Howard Moore Memphis, TN
8. 10 59 Brad Bowden Hernando, MS
9. 9 24 Danny Sams III Englewood, FL
10. 12 28 Jeff Willingham Ripley, MS
11. 11 38 Tony Agin Fort Myers, FL
12. 13 93 Jake Knight Georgetown, MS
13. 2 9jr Derek Hagar Marion, AR
14. 14 25 Ray Bugg Iuka, MS