Lancaster Speedway
August 16, 2014
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Franklin goes back to back with Carolina Clash victory at Lancaster Speedway

Carolina Clash PR
LANCASTER, SC (August 16) - Dennis Franklin goes two-for-two in four days with the Carolina Clash as he holds off Casey Roberts charge to capture Lancaster checkered and outlasted Johnny Pursley and Jonathan Davenport to capture the 42nd Annual Shrine 100. He is now the points leader after the two events.

 Franklin took the fastest qualifier time at Lancaster during the preliminaries with a speed of 18.564 seconds around the 60 year old half-mile speedplant in Lancaster County, SC. One of the few remaining half-mile super stretch dirt speedways in the Southeast, Franklin made it known that Lancaster is among his favorite racetracks. In front of a massive audience, the packed house at Lancaster was treated to some terrific speeds and close quarters racing throughout the field, but Rambo was seldom challenged, although Casey Roberts did make it close at times - so close that his qualifying time was 18.569 - off by a mere 0.005 seconds.

"I love coming here! This is one of my favorite tracks (along with Wythe Raceway in Virginia) and seeing this crowd - this packed house means that this track is supported and will be around in the future. This track reminds me of my hometrack - (the old) - Cherokee, when it was a half-mile."

He said the same about the massive capacity crowd at Carolina Speedway three nights earlier. When asked what makes the Lancaster track feel so much like home:

"You can hold it down and go flat out. I mean, I just about took myself outta here a few times tonight. I made some changes on the car that my crew did not want me to make and I nearly cost all of us, but I held on. I think I have the best crew in motorsports. Those guys, along with our sponsors M&W Towing, AES Racing, Nichols Plumbing, they really do make a difference, but the fans are why we do this and it is good to see all of y'all here tonight."

The mover in the points, Rambo returns to the top of the championship standings, where he left off last season as the 2013 champion.

Johnny Pursley takes over second position in points after a stellar run for third place, following a second place finish was recorded at Carolina three nights earlier.

Jonathan Edwards, the leader of the rookie of the year points going into Lancaster, fell out of contention with a broken water pump. He will have a lot of ground to make up going to Cherokee.

The biggest mover in the race was Kevin Wilson (#618) of Stoneboro, NC, who was able to rally from 22nd position and survived an early race melee to finish 8th, earning his second "Hard Charger of the Race" and valuable 2 bonus points for each race (4 total). Wilson, another of the rookie of the year contenders, has now closed the point gap on Anthony Sanders and Jonathan Edwards after two top ten runs, where the other two had problems.

Zack Mitchell was on point to finish in the top five in the race, but problems in the final seven laps thwarted his run.

Ross Bailes returned to Clash racing Wednesday night at Carolina, but fell out of the event early in the family owned #87 team. He came back to Lancaster to finish fourth and pick up a win in the SECA Crate Late Model feature.

Anthony Sanders took one of the wildest and scariest rides of his career at Carolina Speedway on Wednesday night in the Oasis Shrine Temple 42nd Annual Gaston County Shrine 100 Race. Sanders was running in the top 5 at the time and was on track to make a leap in the points for Rookie of the Year. He cut the entrance of turn one a little two short, causing his car to "get airborne" and flip violently into turn two. Sanders was okay, but his car was totally devastated. However, he was able to leave pit road after a quick post race interview with a smile on his face.

"We will be back! I don't know in what, but we will."

And he was certainly correct. He and family member Doug Sanders thrashed furiously Saturday morning to prepare one of the elder Sanders' older late model cars and prepare it for the Lancaster show, which they were able to do. Anthony would go on to finish ninth in the event and take over the points lead for the Rookie of the Year presented by Renegade Race Fuels. Doug Sanders finished

Former champions Luke Roffers (2012) and Ricky Weeks (2004 - 2008) would return to Lancaster for successful top ten runs.

Kevin Wilson and Kennie Compton and Kyle Pierce rounded out the list of championship drivers and each had top ten runs at Lancaster. Kevin Wilson was awarded the Safety-Kleen Hard Charger of the Race at each event, which features 2 bonus points for each award, for a total of four points. This moved him ahead in the championship standings.

Scott Shirey had a respectable 7th place finish at Carolina, but was involved in two on-track incidents causing damage to his Shirey Towing Service #10 car.

Doug Sanders and Jonthan Edwards did not fare so well in each of the two events, falling out of each race with mechanical problems. Sanders entered the pit area early at Lancaster and was in and out of the pits trying to fix his problems.  

The Carolina Clash series would like to thank each of the teams for great car counts at these two events, along with a huge throng of supporters that attend each event. Carolina and Lancaster Speedways were packed to near capacity at each event.

The series next event will be held at Cherokee Speedway on Sunday night, August 31, a part of the Hall of Fame Ceremony for the historic upstate SC track in Gaffney, SC. More information about this event will be coming in the next few days

Carolina Clash Series

A-Main
1 2 Dennis Franklin Gaffney, SC
2 101 Casey Roberts Toccoa, GA
3 09 Johnny Pursley Clover, SC
4 87 Ross Bailes Clover, SC
5 21R Luke Roffers Concord, NC
6 1 Ricky Weeks Rutherfordton, NC
7 618 Kevin Wilson Stoneville, NC
8 10 Kenny Compton Bland, VA
9 421 Anthony Sanders Spartanburg, SC
10 28 Kyle Pierce Statesville, NC
11 22 G R Smith Cornelius, NC
12 57 Zach Mitchell Princeton, NC
13 448 Kenny Rominger Charlotte, NC
14 10 Scott Shirey Swansea, SC
15 1d Brent Dixon Elberton, GA
16 D8 Dustin Mitchell Princeton, NC
17 93 Donald Bradsher Burlington, NC
18 18 Jason Burroughs Blythewood, SC
19 44 Justin Labonte Pine Hill, NC
20 16 Ben Watkins Rock Hill, SC
21 17 Tim Allen Kannapolis, NC
22 16 Ronnie Hoover China Grove, NC
23 32 Jonathan Edwards Clover, SC

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SECA Late Models
1 75 Ross Bailes
2 T1 Timbo Mangum
3 8B Steve Banal
4 16 Brandy Baker
5 14 Chris Fite
6 89P Pat Lindsay
7 7L Josh Langley
8 308 Manley Chaney
9 17 Jason Burroughs

Crate Sportsman
1 1 Trey Tarlton
2 7 Jeffrey Mcguirt
3 S22 Shannon Adams
4 6 Ronnie Mosley
5 7 Brent Hodges
6 67 Bryan Mullis
7 25W Josh Wilkerson
8 78 Hank Taylor
9 2B Dylan Bartlett
10 0 Jamie Thomasson
11 53F Justin Fite
12 2 Mitchell Creech
13 17 Jacob Catoe
14 16K Andrew Baker
15 35 Benji Knight
16 14 Jesse Carson

Super Street
1 17 Robbie Helms
2 19 Travis Mosley
3 16 Brandy Baker
4 75 James Marion
5 74 Elliott Miller
6 22 Cody Baucom
7 10 Steve Hinson
8 16B Andrew Baker
9 35 Chris Fincher
10 K9 Russell Kaye

Xtreme 4
1 12X David Laney
2 B14 Mel Privette
3 80 Christopher Barrett
4 97 Mike Baucom
5 91 David Motes
6 5 Chris Baker
7 4E Cole Easler
8 33 Jake Fitzgerald
9 0 Chris Hinson
10 3 Joseph Laney
11 H1 Harold Duncan
12 88 Floyd Marsh
13 14K Kayla Pettit