Post by LMR on 11/20/11 at 1:30am
Southern All Star Series
Cleveland Speedway
November 19, 2011
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Cook conquers Southern All Stars Series Gobbler finale at Cleveland Speedway
by Steve Hixson
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (November 19) - Ray Cook of Brasstown, NC picked up his 1st ever GOBBLER victory Saturday night at Cleveland Speedway in the 23rd edition of the season finale. Cook a fan favorite known as the “TAR-HEEL TIGER” rocketed into the lead from his outside FRONT ROW JOE starting position to lead every lap of the 50 lap $5,000 to-win Southern All-Star sanctioned event. In victory lane Cook climbed out of his D&R Motorsports #53 “Hicks and Ingle Co, RockStar Energy Drink, Makita Industrial Power Tools, VP Racing Fuels, PRC” sponsored Race Engine Design powered MasterSbilt racecar to the delight of many racefans.
Pole-sitter Brian Reese, was quickly overpowered by Dale McDowell and Jonathan Davenport, and began a race long battle with Shane Clanton. Davenport got by McDowell for third place but a lap 5 caution for Preston Graves negated the pass. After the restart Cook builds up a god 5-car length advantage over McDowell as Davenport takes 3rd from Reese. Now, Davenport and McDowell battle for position and “SUPERMAN” flies by “McDADDY” easily. Caution #2 appears on lap-20 for fluid on the track. Cook is in firm control by halfway as Davenport can only keep a few cars length to the leader.
Caution #3 pops on lap-35 when back-marker racer Brent Miller gets into the wall in turn-4. Cook billows smoke from his car while under caution but restarts without any difficulty. David Payne rears another caution, spinning in front of the field after hitting fluid on the track on the lap-35 restart. Meanwhile the battle for the 2011 S.A.S Championship wages between Billy Ogle Jr. and William Thomas who are racing 6th and 7th respectfully. Ogle gets by Thomas late in the race and seals up the title, as Cook goes on to claim GOBBLER 23.
In the JOE LEE JOHNSON MEMORIAL LLM/Crate race, 43-Late Models entered with Josh Henry (#B00) of Newport,TN taking an impressive victory in his Cleveland Speedway debut. In the Limited division feature Jordan Rodabaugh (# 66) of Soddy Daisy was victorious. Jason Brown (# 42) of Chattanooga, won the Hobby Feature and Grady Stokes (# 4) of Chatsworth, GA won the Pony feature race.
S.A.S Official Results
1 Ray Cook (# 53) of Brasstown, TN
2 Jonathan Davenport (# 49) of Blairsville, GA
3 Dale McDowell (# 17M) of Chickamauga, GA
4 Brian Reese (# 33) of Sharpsburg, GA
5 Shane Clanton (# 25) of Locust Grove, GA
6 Billy Ogle Jr. (# 201) of Knoxville, TN
7 William Thomas (# 22) of Phenix City, AL
8 Riley Hickman (# R1) of Ooltewah, TN
9 Michael Page (# 0) of Woodstock, GA
10 Jason Wilson (# 22) of Gadsden, AL
11 Kayne Hickman (# 41) of Soddy Daisy, TN
12 Steve Smith (# 3) of Powell, TN
13 Shawn Chastain (# X15) of Murphy, NC
14 Dennis Erb Jr. (# 28) of Carpentarsville, IL
15 Shan Smith (# 99W) of Crossville, TN
16 George Mashburn (# 13) of Murphy, NC
17 David Payne (# 8) of Murphy, NC
18 Johnny Chastain (# 00) of Murphy, NC
19 Derek Ellis (# 99) of Chatsworth, GA
20 Ronny Lee Hollingsworth (# 18) of Northport, AL
21 Brett Miller (# 25) of Knoxville, TN
22 Brad Hall (# 47) of Knoxville, TN
23 Preston Graves (# 105) of Murphy, NC
24 Tommy Kerr (# 4T) of Rockford, TN
