By Pete Walton
Eastaboga, Alabama – April 24, 2021 – After a three-hour rain-delay for two thunderstorms and for damage from 40-50 mile per hour winds that took down trees adjacent to the pit area and caused tow vehicle damage for several race teams., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. picked up where he left off on Friday night by winning the USCS Silver Shootout 25th Anniversary celebratory event for the United Sprint Car Series at Talladega Short Track. Stenhouse won Friday night’s 25-lap USCS preliminary main event as well.
Stenhouse started on the outside of the front row next to K&N Pole Position starter, Kyle Amerson from Montgomery, Alabama after a six draw in the K&N Filters Pole Award drawing moved the high passing points earner 13-time USCS National Champion and Brown and Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat winner Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee back to sixth on the grid.
When the green flag waved the NASCAR Cup Series driver beat Amerson to the first turn and jumped into the lead on lap one into the lead. A lap two caution for a spun-out car in turn three brought out the races first yellow. After the re-start Stenhouse led Amerson and two-time series National Champion, Morgan Turpen from Oakland, Tennessee to the next caution for another spinout in the second turn.
When the green waved for the final time the race went the final twenty-seven laps of the weekend finale from green to checkers. Stenhouse dominated and lapped the fourth-place car on the final circuit and rolled into the www.RockAuto.com
USCS Victory Lane for the fifth time in his last six USCS starts to pick up the $2500 win plus $1500 in lap prize money to collect $4,000 for his efforts.
Kyle Amerson held onto the runner-up spot until lap twenty-four when eleventh starting 2020 USCS Mid-South regional series Champion, Dale Howard from Byhalia, Mississippi got past him for the second position. Dale Howard, Amerson, Sprint Car Hall of Famer and current USCS National points leader, Danny Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio and Morgan Turpen followed Stenhouse across the scoring stripe to complete the top five of the running order.
Dewayne White, also from Byhalia, Mississippi who finished in the runner-up spot on Friday night for a career best United Sprint Car Series effort, led the next group in sixth place. 13-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray who won the first-ever USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour event at Talladega Short Track on April 25, 1997 followed White in seventh place. Ronny Howard from Nesbit, Mississippi who ran higher in the order earlier in the 30-lap contest finished in eighth place followed by USCS regular Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi in ninth place and Dennis Misuraca from Jacksonville, Florida rounded out the top ten.
Kyle Amerson kicked off the USCS action by winning his second USCS Hoosier Speed Dash of the weekend. Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina won the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat Race. Terry Gray won the Brown and Miller Racing Solutions Second Heat Race. Dale Howard advanced nine positions in the main event to earn the Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger Award.
The next United Sprint Car Series (USCS) Outlaw Thunder Tour sprint car event is coming up fast on this coming Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st at the newly re-configured 3/8-mile oval at I-75 Raceway near Sweetwater, Tennessee. The www.RockAuto.com
USCS Mini Sprint join the USCS Sprint Cars on the race program on both nights at I-75 Raceway. For more event info and track directions please visit www.i75raceway.com
For USCS info and schedules please visit www.USCSracing.com
or call 770-865-6097.
United Sprint Car Series
Talladega Short Track
Eastboga, Alabama
Saturday April 24, 2021
Engler Machine & Tool Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 47R-Eric Riggins Jr[1]
2. 10M-Morgan Turpen[4]
3. 10K-Dewayne White[7]
4. 44-Ronny Howard[6]
5. 33-Joe Larkin[5]
6. 15-Danny Burke[2]
7. 12M-Greg Merritt[3]
8. 3M-Dennis Misuraca[8]
9. 3-Howard Moore[9]
Morgan Turpen rounded out the top five.
Brown & Miller Racing Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 10-Terry Gray[4]
2. 17JR-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[3]
3. 4-Danny Smith[1]
4. 29-Kyle Amerson[6]
5. 47-Dale Howard[2]
6. 28-Jeff Willingham[8]
7. 7E-Eric Gunderson[7]
8. 13-Chase Howard[5]
DNS: 5-Justin Barger
Hoosier Speed Dash – MidSouth (6 Laps)
1. 29-Kyle Amerson[1]
2. 47-Dale Howard[2]
3. 17JR-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[4]
4. 4-Danny Smith[6]
5. 3-Howard Moore[5]
DNS: 10K-Dewayne White
Feature (30 Laps)
1. 17JR-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[2]
2. 47-Dale Howard[11]
3. 29-Kyle Amerson[1]
4. 4-Danny Smith[8]
5. 10M-Morgan Turpen[3]
6. 10K-Dewayne White[5]
7. 10-Terry Gray[6]
8. 44-Ronny Howard[7]
9. 28-Jeff Willingham[9]
10. 3M-Dennis Misuraca[13]
11. 33-Joe Larkin[10]
12. 47R-Eric Riggins Jr[4]
13. 7E-Eric Gunderson[12]
14. 12M-Greg Merritt[16]
15. 13-Chase Howard[14]
DNS: 3-Howard Moore
DNS: 5-Justin Barger
DNS: 15-Danny Burke