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DLM SANCTIONS >> CAROLINA CLASH SUPER LATE MODELS (CLASH) >> Carolina Clash Gets Ready for Lancaster Motor Speedway
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Message started by LMR on 04/10/12 at 4:55pm

Title: Carolina Clash Gets Ready for Lancaster Motor Speedway
Post by LMR on 04/10/12 at 4:55pm

Carolina Clash Super Late Models
April 10, 2012
_______________________________________

The Carolina Clash Gets Ready for Lancaster Motor Speedway

by Mark Huey, Carolina Clash PR
The Carolina Clash is set to hit the high banks on Saturday, April 14 for a 40 lap, $4,000 to win feature event.

Jeff Smith and Luke Roffers will ride a wave of momentum into Lancaster as each driver has been victorious with Clash so far in 2012. Along with their wins, each has scored top six finishes to back up their wins, putting them just one point apart in the point standings. Smith leads the standings by 1 over Roffers. Smith was able to pick up his 2nd ever Carolina Clash win at 311 Motor Speedway last weekend and is ready to add to his career win totals. Smith last held a checkered-flag at Lancaster in April 2010 in a Clash South race. Luke Roffers has never won at Lancaster, but he has a Wolf Pack Rocket car very capable of winning there.

Many teams in the top ten in points with Carolina Clash have already experienced Lancaster Speedway at least once in 2012. Ricky Weeks, Jeff Smith, Dennis Franklin, Johnny Pursley, Donald Bradsher, Ross Bailes, Tim Allen, and Doug Sanders all competed in the April 7 Carolina Crown event, but there are two drivers in particular who have mixed emotions about their return to Lancaster Speedway for another weekend of super late model racing.

Johnny Pursley, of Clover, SC, currently is third in points. He is the most recent Carolina Clash winner at Lancaster Speedway. Since 2005, eight different drivers have captured Clash checkered-flags there - Dennis Franklin and Ricky Weeks each have two wins. Along with Pursley, Randall Chupp, David Smith, Tim Allen, Petey Ivey, and Jeff Smith have all won there once.

Autryville, NC driver Scott Autry and the Cape Fear Motorsports Team are still feeling like a "King" after taking home the $20,000 Carolina Crown victory, an event where Autry started last and finished first. Autry used skill and luck to survive the 75-lap main event. He gave much credit to Wolf Pack Racing for preparing the car for each event. The 2002 champion of Carolina Clash has now experienced a Lancaster victory, but will his luck hold out for a second week in a row? They are currently fourth in the points.

On the other hand, Gaffney, SC driver Mike Gault may not be as excited as Scott Autry about a return to Lancaster, but he definitely will have redemption on his mind, especially when he approaches turn three on track. Last Saturday night, Gault exited the speedway at the most volatile point of the track, and at a very high rate of speed. Super late model cars can touch speeds in excess of 115 MPH at the entrance of turn three after powering to full song down the very lengthy LMS super-stretch. To those who have experienced Lancaster Speedway, both as spectators and as drivers, all known how crucial that corner is - and how unpredictable it can be. Over the 57 years of racing at Lancaster, many drivers have gone "out of the lights and into the night" in turn three. Mike Gault became the first 2012 inductee of that infamous club, when his #17 Gault's Auto Parts and Used Cars Rocket took flight into the Carolina pine thicket surrounding the turn three area of the Lancaster Motor Speedway. Gault was uninjured in the crash, but definitely would rather pay the price of admission to Carowinds for such an experience next time. However, Gault will be ready. The race team was pleasantly surprised to find out that his newly-found logging equipment only suffered minor frame damage and will be ready for another go at Lancaster, but has no plans of entering his racecar into auditions for "Ax Men." Gault currently is fifth in points.

The 2011 Lancaster event was plagued by weather problems as cool temperatures in March clashed with a warm-moist April air mass that brought powerful storms ripping across the upper-piedmont of the Carolinas, sending fans and race teams scrambling for cover as winds upward of 75 MPH and golfball-sized hail spiraled down onto Lancaster County. Finally, the event was held on April 30, 2012 with Johnny Pursley capturing the checkered-flag. Pursley is very familiar to the speedway, as he and his father, Big John Pursley, have won many races in Late Models there. John's racing career spans back to the Modified-Six Cylinders when Lancaster held that division weekly in the late 1980s. The Pursley family, along with the "Fan in the Stands" Mr. Robert "Pop" Pursley, made the color red very famous to Lancaster Speedway.

A bevy of drivers are within arms reach of the point lead among the top five, where only 11 points separate. Added to a couple repeat starters, it could be a beneficial points night or one that drivers would rather forget.

With speeds eclipsing 120 MPH and the ends of these historic stretches of red clay, the Clash daredevils are again faced with blink-of-an-eye decision making, as they encounter the tight corners. Track owner Mr. Doug McManus, LMS Director of Competition Mr. Bruce Arrants, and Carolina Clash series owner Mr. Larry Lee each invite all of you to Carolina Clash event #236, 11th at Lancaster Speedway since 2005, and race #3 on the 2012 season.

Lancaster Speedway is located off US Highwy #521 in Lancaster County, South Carolina. The track address is 223 Shiloh-Unity Rd., Lancaster, South Carolina 29720. The track phone is 803-285-1877. Check the Lancaster Speedway website at www.lancasterspeedway.net for late breaking information and rules for support divisions that will be in action.

Information is also online at www.carolinaclash.com or on the Carolina Clash Facebook page.

Grandstand admission will be $20 and pit admission is $30.

Other divisions running at Lancaster Speedway will be:
NDRA GM Performance Late Models - $1200 to win, $100 to start
Lancaster Speedway Super Street - $600 to win
Lancaster Speedway Crate Sportsman - $600 to win
Lancaster Speedway Pure Street - $500 to win
Lancaster Speedway "Classic Vintage" - $150 to win