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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Derek Hagar claimed USCS presented by K&N Filters 2013 National Championship
Atlanta, GA – November 30, 2013 – Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas captured the 2013 United Sprint Car Series presented by K&N Filters National Championship. The twenty-two year old past USCS Rookie of the Year (2006) made ten visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane as the series feature win leader for 2013. Additionally his 2013 USCS statistics show twenty-four top five and twenty-eight top ten finishes in the series thirty A-Main events. Hagar also claimed the title in the USCS Southern Thunder regional series. He bested ten-time series National Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee in both the National and Southern Thunder regional series point’s battles. Both titles are Hagar’s first United Sprint Car Series Championships. Hagar additionally finished in the runner-up spot in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series final standings just four points behind 2012 National Champion Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas and just four points away from a complete sweep of all three series.
Hagar finished the National title chase with 4415 Championship points followed by the veteran Terry Gray who was just 53 points back in the runner-up spot. Gray who has to be one of the top “points racers” ever, made his one feature win at Senoia Raceway on September 20th , twenty top-five finishes plus a total of twenty-nine top ten finishes with add up to 4362 points to stay within reach if Hagar faltered. The 2010 USCS Rookie of the Year, Morgan Turpen from Oakland, Tennessee who was the only female sprint car competitor near the top of the USCS standings finished in third place with 3583 points. Turpen grabbed her career fourth USCS feature win at Cleveland Speedway on Labor Day weekend and had a total of fourteen top five and twenty-three top ten finishes to complete her fourth successful season in the USCS while never finishing worse than fourth in the series final standings.
Last season’s (2012) National Champion Tim Crawley finished fourth in the National standings with 3415 National points. He had six trips to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane to accept feature winner honors. Crawley earned his third USCS Mid South Thunder Tour title (2008, 2012 and 2013) closing the deal on the final day of the season. Driving the Mike Ward Racing #88, Crawley was contending for the USCS National title in a see-saw battle with Hagar before deciding to skip the series two paved track events. Ageless veteran sprint car racer Ray Bugg from Iuka, Mississippi rounded out the top five in the series National point standings. Bugg used a number of top ten finishes and near perfect attendance to collect 3186 points, good enough for his best series finish ever. He also finished in sixth place in the final standings in both the Mid South and Southern Thunder regional series.
Two-time 2013 USCS feature winner Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee lead the next group of drivers in sixth place in the USCS National standings with 3067 points. Nicholson also finished in fourth place in the USCS Mid South Thunder regional series. The 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jeff Willingham from Ripley, Mississippi followed Nicholson in the National standings in seventh place with 2609 points. Willingham also collected a seventh place finish in the USCS Mid South regional series and eighth place in the final Southern Thunder region standings.
Three-time 2013 USCS feature winner Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who was the 2010 USCS Southern Thunder regional series Rookie of the Year finished in eighth place in the final USCS National sprint car standings with 2457 points. Riggins won on April 12th at Carolina Speedway and then visited the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane twice on back-to-back nights in October when the eighteen year-old driver swept the first ever USCS vs. URC North vs. South Shootout weekend at Carolina Speedway and at Cherokee Speedway.
Rookie drivers Curt Terrell from Bartlett, Tennessee, who contested his first full season in winged sprint cars and 13 year-old Taylor Tidmore from Hernando, Mississippi, who moved up from the USCS 600 mini sprints, finished in the ninth and tenth positions in the final 2013 point standings. The duo battled it out down to the final event for USCS Rookie of the Year honors. The pint-sized Tidmore led the Rookie standings through Labor Day weekend. The teenager then missed the September 14th race at Tennessee National Raceway due to last minute mechanical issues found before leaving the shop. This was the opportunity Terrell needed to edge past the talented teen for the title. Curt Terrell will be recognized for his achievements as the USCS National Rookie of the Year and Taylor Tidmore as USCS Mid South Thunder Tour Rookie of the Year at the 2013 USCS Champions Banquet..
USCS Mid South Thunder Tour regional series:
For the second straight year, Tim Crawley headed the top of the standings in the highly competitive USCS Mid South Thunder regional series that competes primarily in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. The 2012 National Champion tallied 2495 points while edging out 2013 National Champion, Derek Hagar by a scant 4 points. Hagar’s total of 2491 point’s was good enough to finish ahead of the Mid South regional series’ 2011 Champion, Terry Gray with 2415 points. Anthony Nicholson claimed the fourth position in the Mid-South region behind Gray with 2354 points. Morgan Turpen rounded out the top five by collecting 1997 points for her efforts. Ray Bugg finished sixth in the Mid-South standings with 1958 points. 2012 USCS Rookie of the Year Jeff Willingham was seventh with 1788 points followed by top rookie driver Curt Terrell in eighth place in the standings with 1757 points. Rookie sprint car driver Taylor Tidmore finished with 1682 points to finish ninth in the region and 2010 USCS Mid South Thunder Rookie of the Year, Jerod Roller from Hernando, Mississippi rounded out the USCS Mid South 2013 regional series point standings top ten with 1468 points. Eighty-four different drivers competed during 2013 USCS Mid South Thunder regional series events.
USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series:
Derek Hagar also captured the Championship in the USCS Southern Thunder presented by K&N Filters regional series that contests its’ events primarily in Eastern Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Eastern Tennessee with a Championship total of 2166 points. The title was decided on the final night in that region as well. Ten-time USCS National Champ, Terry Gray kept it close in that regional series battle and finished just 34 points behind Hagar with 2132 points for the runner-up spot. Morgan Turpen finished behind her veteran team-mate (Gray) in third place with 1791 points. Eric Riggins, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina who won three 2013 main events in the region, finished 13 points behind Turpen in fourth place with 1778 points. Lance Moss from Cherryville, North Carolina rounded out the top five in the regional series standings with 1488 points. Veteran open wheel racer Ray Bugg earned 1460 points to finish sixth in the final standings. Bugg was followed by 2012 series Champion, Tim Crawley with 1074 points in seventh place. Jeff Willingham finished in eighth place with 1065 points and Terry Witherspoon from Jacksonville, Florida followed Willingham in ninth place with a total of 1054 points. Joe Larkin from Suwannee, Georgia earned a spot in the regional series final point standings top ten with 1014 points. Sixty-nine drivers entered USCS Southern Thunder regional series events during the 2013 season.
One hundred and twenty-eight different drivers competed in the thirty 17th anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters events. Thirteen different drivers won 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour main events. Those included Tim Crawley who led the series victory column with ten wins. Hagar was followed by Tim Crawley with six feature wins. Eric Riggins, Jr. was next with three wins. Anthony Nicholson made two visits to the www.rockauto.com USCS victory lane at Toccoa Speedway on September 1 and again at Tennessee National Raceway on September 14th.
Nine other drivers collected one feature win during the 2013 season. Those included: Robbie Stillwagon from Burlington, New Jersey at Toccoa Speedway on April 13th. Dalton Davis from Millington, Tennessee collected his career-first USCS win at 411 Speedway on May 3rd. The 2011 USCS Rookie of the Year, Jordan “The Jet” Mallett got his career second USCS win at Riverisde Int. Speedway on June 29th. Brian Gingras from Lake;land, Florida won the road to Atlanta qualifier on the paved Watermelon Capital Speedway on July 20th. Top ranked pavement sprint racer, JoJo Helberg from California got past Gingras with two laps to go to win the 50-lap USCS Sprint Car Shootout on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s paved ¼ mile on August 30th. On the following night, Morgan Turpen bested Hagar and Company at Cleveland Speedway for her one win of the 2013 season. On November 3rd, Benton, Arkansas’ Cody Gardner won the first half of the USCS Flip Flop 50 at Riverside Int. Speedway. Marshall Skinner from Marion, Arkansas collected the victory in the second fully inverted 25-lap main event to close the season.
The seventeenth anniversary USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters kicked off on Friday, March 8th at Magnolia Motor Speedway and concluded at Riverside Int. Speedway on Sunday, November 3rd. For complete and archived results from these events please visit the series Official website at www.uscsracing.com .
The United Sprint Car Series thanks the 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour supporting sponsors including: K&N Filters, Hoosier Racing Tire, and USCS victory lane sponsor www.RockAuto.com plus Bulldog Rear Ends/DMI, DSR Fuel Systems, Engler Machine and Tool, JE Pistons, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, KSE Racing Products, Pro Shocks, Schoenfeld Headers, Simpson Racing Products, Something Inked and Wilwood Engineering.
The 2014 (18th Anniversary) USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour kicks off at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi on Friday, February 28th and Saturday, March 1st. A full schedule of 2014 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint car events will be available soon. For series rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office at 770-460-7223 or 770-865-6097.
Final 2013 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters National point standings (30 events)
Pos. Car# Driver Points
1 9Jr Derek Hagar 4415
2 10 Terry Gray 4362
3 10M Morgan Turpen 3583
4 88 Tim Crawley 3415
5 25 Ray Bugg 3186
6 16 Anthony Nicholson 3067
7 28 Jeff Willingham 2609
8 47 Eric Riggins Jr 2457
9 27 Curt Terrell 2384
10 13T Taylor Tidmore 2319
11 12 Dalton Davis 1544
12 3H Brandon Hanks 1538
13 23 Lance Moss 1488
14 5 Jerod Roller 1468
15 26 Marshall Skinner 1408
16 C4 Casey Rowland 1198
17 43 Terry Witherspoon 1186
18 44 Ronny Howard 1154
19 4m Michael Miller 1090
20 33 Joe Larkin 1014
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