Carolina Clash Series
July 20, 2013
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Carolina Clash Series Announces Schedule Changes in Second Half of 2013
Series Officials Confirm September 7th Date at Friendship Speedway in Elkin, NC

Carolina Clash series president Larry Lee stated Wednesday that all tire samples from the July 13th event at 311 Motor Speedway have been cleared and were found to be conforming to benchmarks provided to the lab. Kennie Compton, Jr. captured the checkers at 311, picking up his fourth career Carolina Clash victory, first since October 2011. Compton was the series runner-up in the 2011 campaign.
 
Dennis Franklin continues to lead the regular season point standings, but the top five has a new look after the 311 event. Johnny Pursley moved into the second spot after Ricky Weeks retired early in the 311 event. Dustin Mitchell finished a season-best second place in the #51 car, Ross Bailes was third, Tim Allen finished fourth and Justin Labonte raced his way into the top five from the 20th place starting position. Both he and Bailes (#B4) were able to utilize the track's high groove and maneuver past cars under green flag conditions. Bailes advanced eight spots also.
 
The Carolina Clash series is pleased to announce that the tour will be returning to Friendship Speedway in Elkin, NC during the 2013 season, marking the first race at the track since August 20, 2011. Then, Luke Roffers captured the checkered-flag in what was the first race of the championship series in the 2011 season in a race that featured 31 entrants. Barring any rain disruptions in the remainder of the schedule, the Friendship race will be the third race on the scheduled JE Pistons and Roush Yates Performance Products Championship series.
 
The Friendship event replaces the October 19 event that was originally scheduled at the beginning of the season for Carolina Speedway. This will allow Fayetteville Motor Speedway to move the series finale to October 19th, instead of the October 26th date. Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC made plans to host the "King of the Carolinas" event on the weekend of October 26th and the series wanted to vacate that weekend to provide support for that event.
 
The season has been a success, but not without certain bumps in the road along the way. Regretfully, Gordon Park Speedway closed prior to the month of May this season and the series lost three events there. However, two of these races will be made up, one being at Friendship. Also, one of the Cherokee dates was rained out in July. This racing season for everyone locally has been among the most unusually wet seasons in history, as many tracks have been forced to cancel races and series events due to the weather.
 
Mark Huey went on to say, "We are very thankful for the chance to bring super late model racing locally and definitely appreciate all of our tracks for hosting Clash events. This group of racers and teams, along with our series staff and our awesome tracks, are among the best at what they do. I want to thank everyone for making 2013 a success to this point and look forward to our second half of the season."
 
October 5th will remain as a potential "rain date" on the schedule and the event for October 12th will be announced as soon as the series promotions team confirms a potential event date with a track. There have been discussions and they will be ongoing until the decision is final.

Larry Lee commented, "We are very excited with Carolina Clash to work along with the new promoters at Friendship. After talking with them on the phone several times and seeing all of the great feedback on social media from Friendship, this was the perfect fit. Jason Walls, Michael Brown and the Tesh family are much respected racing people in the piedmont area and will continue to find success there. Also, Randy Joyce is among the most popular personalities in dirt track racing in the southeast and has always been a supporter of our events. Thanks to everyone for helping make this possible."
 
The Carolina Clash has been to Friendship Speedway twelve (12) times over the history of the series. Ricky Weeks has three wins there, Jeff Smith, Ray Tucker, Tim Allen, and Luke Roffers also have wins at Friendship among active drivers.

2013 Rookie of the Year Battle
Two independent race teams declared at the first of the season their intent to run the entire schedule for the Carolina Clash in a quest to capture the Rookie of the Year title. Louisburg, NC driver Damon Kotke currently leads the standings by 34 points over Statesville, NC driver Kyle Pierce.
 
Final Three Races of the Regular Season
Dennis Franklin (3), Jonathan Davenport(2) , Johnny Pursley, Ross Bailes, Tim Allen and Kennie Compton, Jr. have each scored wins in 2013. Drivers who are eligible for the championship series will receive bonus points for each win they accrue in the regular season. Also, the top five in regular season points will receive bonus points at the start of the chase. Thus, these final three regular season events are very important for the top five point racers.  Only 39 points separate the point leader, Franklin, from the fifth in points, Ross Bailes.
August 3 - Cherokee Speedway - Stick Elliot Memorial Race
August 13 (Tuesday) - Carolina Speedway; 41th annual Gaston Shrine Club Shrine 100
August 17 - Fayetteville Motor Speedway -Regular Season Finale