Racers Enjoy Another Night at Fast Trax Speedway
By: Linda M. Horn
FTS News
Each Friday night Chatham's Fast Trax Speedway entertains racers and race fans of all ages with great racing action and tons of family fun. Anyone with a love of fast cars and dirt slinging fun should make a point to spend their Friday nights at Fast Trax and be a part of the fun and excitement that's available for you each week. Track management, Jerry and Laura Smith, along with track owners, Billy and Sandra Bagwell, and all of the FTS Staff strive to make Fast Trax Speedway a fun-filled place for everyone. Mr. Billy and Glenn worked extra hard on the track surface in preparations for Friday night and repaired several spots in the track that have been coming apart over the past few races. The track was in much better condition this week and will continue to stay in good condition for our racers. One Driver commented that it was "excellent".
To get the racing action kicked off each week, Heat Races are ran to get the Feature starting positions in place. Heat Race wins Friday night went to John Smith (84) in the Stocker Division, Stanley Patrick (24) in the Pure Stock Division, Shane Walker (10W) in the Street Stock Division, Shawn Key (12) and David Edwards (D3) in the Sport Mod Division and Chris Huckaby (D6) in the Modified Division.
To get Feature racing action to the track Friday night, the Sport Mod class was first in the nights running order. A sixteen car field of great drivers presented race fans with side by side racing action for twenty laps. Though this class underwent several caution delays, each green flag lap was more exciting than the one before. One driver maintained the lead position throughout the show, but the positions to follow him changed each lap around the track. David Edwards (D3) led the entire race to take the win at the finish line, while pole-sitter Shawn Key (12) fell back to 5th in the final Finishing Order.
Scott Duke (99D) started third after a second place finish in his Heat race, and took second place honors in the Feature. After a not so good finish in the Heat race, Ben Leedy (B99) started the 20 lap Feature in thirteenth place and moved his way through the field for an impressive third place finish at the checkered flag. The fourth place finisher for the night was a familiar driver in an unfamiliar car! Heath Wilson normally seen in the A1, was driving the red and black "X" car owned by Russell Wade of Farmerville Friday night. Robbie "Catfish" Riehn (85) started tenth and brought the new bodied Catfish Motorsports machine up to a sixth place finish.
The Pure Stock Division was next on the track for some more exciting Feature racing action. As the green flag waved, Stanley Patrick (24) took the lead for the first three laps of the show. Bryan Baker (442) made his way in front of Patrick to lead two laps before Patrick would take the lead once again. Another two laps passed before the leader changed again. This time it was James Shirley (00s) and his co-driver and son, seven year old Kyle Shirley. The Shirley team led the remainder of the show to take the Feature win two weeks in a row. Patrick maintained a second place finish, followed by Baker in third, Jason Page (20) in fourth and Summer Futch (B1) rounded out the Top 5.
The Modified Division lacked car count, but was definitely not lacking the ability to entertain the race fans. Twenty laps of racing action, with only one caution delay had fans on the edge of their seats. Laps one through five were led by Pole-sitter, Chris Huckaby (D6) before Dougie Murphrey (25) made his move to the front of the pack to take the lead position for the remaining fifteen laps. Murphrey is no stranger to the FTS Victory Lane, and is currently leading the 2009 Modified Points Chase.
Maintaining a close trail behind Murphrey was the second place finisher, Huckaby (D6) followed by James Harper (88) in third, Randy Thompson (47) in fourth and Jeremy Allen (76) in fifth place. Richard Roberts (26) took sixth place for the night. K44, Kevin Gathright experienced mechanical problems with only five laps to go, causing him to pull off the track from his fifth place running position. Nicholas Brown (c3) also experienced trouble and pulled off from his 6th place position half-way through the race.
The Stocker Division is an interesting class to watch at Fast Trax. It's a great starter class for anyone wanting to learn the ropes of dirt track racing. Seven cars made up the class Friday night, with John Smith (84) earning Pole-position after winning the Heat race. Nick Murphy started in the outside position of the front row and took the lead spot on the start of the twelve lap race. Muprhy held his lead spot and took the win at the checkered flag with 13 year old Taylor Baker (0) coming across the finish line in second place. Last weeks winner, Austin Trichell (5T) grabbed a third place finishing spot this week, with newcomer, Kolby Patrick (c1) taking fourth. Randy Trimm (15) was fifth, followed by John Smith (84) who was not able to finish the race.
The Young Guns Division featured four participants this week. Tanner Kellick (3K), Eddie Underwood (4), TJ Bond (12B) and Dalton Patrick (21jr). These kids are great competitors on the track and can generally be found playing around together in the pits. As FTS Flagman, Gorgeous Glenn, waved the green flag to start the race, Eddie Underwood (4) took the lead position. TJ Bond (12B) did a quick spin around in turn four on the start and made a fast recovery without the need of a caution delay before getting caught back up to the rest of the pack. Underwood took a spin in turn two with two laps complete, causing a caution and being placed on the rear of the restart. This placed Dalton Patrick (21jr) out front to lead the next two laps of the show. Patrick took a spin through the infield, came back on the track, without causing a caution, with only eight laps remaining placing Underwood back out front.
Underwood maintained the lead position to grab the win for the night. Tanner Kellick (3K) took second place for the night, followed by Dalton Patrick (21jr) in third and TJ Bond (12B), last weeks winner, taking fourth.
The final Feature of the night brought the Street Stock Division to the track for twenty laps of extreme racing action. Shane Walker (10W) sat in Pole Position of the starting line-up with Casey Hobson (7) to his right. Hobson took the lead as the green flag dropped and led the first five laps of the race. Walker made several attempts to get around Hobson and was finally successful. Walker led one lap before a caution in turn two placed him to the rear of the restart. Hobson held the lead spot for the remaining fourteen laps to take the Street Stock Feature Win.
Walker moved his way back through the field for a second place finish, followed by Rodney Howell (11H) in third, Joe Rachal (210) in fourth and Kenneth Knighten (711) in fifth.
Fast Trax Speedway thanks each and every driver, crew member and race fan who spends their Friday nights at the Chatham facility. Without each of you it just wouldn't be a race night. Be sure to be at the track Friday, June 26th to witness another great night of racing action brought to you by Fast Trax Speedway and provided to you by the many wonderful racers in our area.