"If only we could have raced it on Friday...you could not have asked for better weather yesterday," were the words of Gordon Park Speedway promoter Brian Stewart, who stood at the gates of the track Saturday morning in disbelief as deteriorating weather conditions in the area forced the cancellation of nearly every racetrack in the better part of four southeastern states on Saturday. Around 11:00am Saturday, Stewart had to make a tough decision to postpone the third annual Jack Starrette Memorial Race. The rain date for this event will be announced early this week, as various factors are being considered in choosing this date.
"With the activities at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 18, we know that night would not be as good as May 25th. Also, there are also several regional super late model tour races on that same (May 17-18) weekend, which some of the local Georgia racers may have planned to attend, and I will be talking to Mr. Stewart on Monday to get a final decision," stated Mark Huey of the Carolina Clash series.
For now, the Carolina Clash tour returns to Carolina Speedway of Gastonia, NC for the 17th race all-time at the 4/10 mile action-track. This also marks the 249th race in the history of the series, which has featured 11 different winners in 16 races. Jeff Smith leads all winners with three wins at Carolina, followed by Ricky Weeks, Chris Ferguson and Dennis Franklin, who each have two wins. Tim Allen, Dan Breuer, Kelly Guy, Dean Bowen, Johnny Pursley, Dean Bowen and Luke Roffers each have one win there.
Since 2004, Carolina Speedway has hosted the season opener for the Carolina Clash season. Dan Breuer of Troutman, NC was the inaugural winner of Clash racing at Carolina Speedway when the series visited there on March 26, 2004. From 2004 - 2007, the series held only one race at the track, but began to hold multiple Carolina Clash races there annually since 2008. In 2011, the Carolina Clash series became the sanctioning body for the very successful Gaston Shrine Club Shrine 100 Race, held annually in August at Carolina Speedway. This season, Carolina Speedway will host an all-time high four events, with the third being the Shrine 100, and the fourth will be incorporated as the "King of the Carolinas" weekend in October, a part of the Roush Yates Performance Products and JE Pistons "Countdown to the Cup Championship."
Dennis Franklin picked up his 24th series win at the annual Skyler Trull Memorial Race at Carolina. Tim Allen won the next race at Fayetteville and Jonathan Davenport was victorious at 311 Speedway in the season's third race. The series has been idle since April 6, but will stampede into the month of May with a slate of races that will take the teams into three states - North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Franklin leads the JE Pistons & Roush Yates Performance Products point standings after three races.
Along with the Carolina Clash Super Late Models $4,000 to win main event, there will be the Dominos Pizza Street Stocks for $600 to win, the Stock Car Steel/SRI Open Wheel Modifieds for $600 to win, the Thunder (Crate) Sportsman for $500 to win, and the Tilley Harley-Davidson Renegades for $500 to win.
Track location and contact information is: 6335 Union Rd. Gastonia, NC 28056
Track phone: (704) 869-0313
Track website: www.carolinaspeedway.net
Series website: www.carolinaclash.com
The Carolina Clash would like to thank the following sponsors for their contributions to the series in 2013:
The Carolina Clash Series is sponsored by: JE Pistons, NCPR, sormance, Union eastern Nroth t Cup Martinsville weekend. community of Madison, just off US Highway 311 to Roush Yates Performance Products, Stock Car Steel & Aluminum/SRI, American Racer, Hoosier Racing Tires, VP Racing Fuels, Safety Kleen, Lincoln Electric, Collins Signs & Trophies, XS Power Racing Batteries, Heintz Brothers Performance, Performance Tees, Thomas Clarke Performance Web Designs, The Carolina Auto Racing Show (CARS), NASCAR Technical Institute, Racing Electronics, Lee Furniture Company, Rock Auto.com & R2C Performance Filters |
