Matt Linder, from Hoschton, GA, 6th in USCS points
Gray claims Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Championship
Atlanta, GA - Eight-time Parts Plus United Sprint Car Series National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee added another championship to his resume by claiming the 2009 Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series Championship. Gray bested 2009 National Rookie of the Year, eighteen year-old Justin Carver from Drummonds, Tennessee by only 71 points to clinch the title. The Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional winged sprint car series competes primarily in Georgia, East Tennessee and North and South Carolina.
Gray, who is the 2009 Parts Plus USCS National Champion, had seven feature wins in the Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder regional series. Those came on back-to-back nights at Carolina Speedway and Harris Speedway on April 24th and 25th and at Penton Raceway on June 19th. He then won back-to-back at Carolina Speedway and Travelers Rest Speedway on June 26th and 27th to run his total to five before July 1st. The veteran sprint car driver won again at Carolina Speedway on October 2nd and followed with another win during the Southern Thunder season finale on October 3rd at the paved Hickory Motor Speedway.
In addition to his seven victories, Gray finished in the runner-up spot four times too. He finished a total of eleven times in the top five after starting all thirteen races. He only finished out of the top ten twice. Both of those times he did not finish the main event due to a broken U-Joint. He finished with 1777 total Championship points.
Justin Carver from Drummonds, Tennessee who was in his first full year of competition in winged sprint cars, showed tremendous talent. Carver had some outstanding finishes at tracks he had never seen before the 2009 season. The talented and determined rookie had an impressive eight top-five finishes. He also finished eleven times in the top ten positions in Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour main events. Carver finished in the runner-up spot in the regional standings with 1706 Championship points. Carver actually grabbed a career-first winged sprint car win in USCS competition in the Parts Plus Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Alabama on August 7th .
The 2008 USCS National Rookie of the Year, Anthony Nicholson from Bartlett, Tennessee finished in the third position just 42 points behind Carver with 1664 Championship points. Nicholson had some outstanding 2009 performances as well, including a Parts Plus USCS feature win in the other USCS regional series (Mid-South Thunder Tour) during the Parts Plus USCS Speed Week 2009 at North Alabama Speedway. Nicholson placed in the top five positions eight times with the highest finishes being a runner-up finish on the paved 4/10 mile Florence Motor Speedway oval on April 18th. He also had another on September 5th at the Georgia red dirt 4/10 mile Lavonia Speedway. He finished in the top ten a total of ten times during Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour events.
Rutherfordton, North Carolina veteran sprint car driver, Brad Wickham finished in the fourth position in the final 2009 Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour standings with 1567 points. Wickham fielded at two-car race team most of the 2009 season. Wickham finished the 2008 series final standings ranked seventh. He improved his standing for the 2009 season via eight top ten finishes.
The 2008 United Sprint Car Series Southern Thunder Tour Rookie of the Year, Jake McLain from Indian Trail, North Carolina, finished just one single point behind Brad Wickham in the fifth position in the Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour final standings with 1566 points. McLain, who had to sit out one race at Harris Speedway waiting on an engine repair, had seven top-ten finishes in the division including a season best fifth place finish at Carolina Speedway on June 26th.
A pair of veteran Parts Plus USCS regulars, David Thorman from Greenville, South Carolina and Matt Linder from Hoschton, Georgia finished tied for sixth place in the Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder regional series standings with 1490 points each. Another open wheel veteran Brian Thomas from Pendergrass, Georgia finished eighth in the final Southern Thunder point standings with 1437 points. A past series Champion, Johnny Bridges from Cherryville, North Carolina ran a limited schedule of ten events, but, still managed four top-five and six top-ten finishes including a feature win at Harris Speedway on July 25th. Bridges collected 1349 Championship points to finish in ninth place. Rookie driver, Brandon Rekow from Mooresville, North Carolina rounded out the top ten drivers in the final Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour point standings with 1204 points.
As announced at the 2008 USCS Southern Thunder Tour banquet and pre-season 2009 meeting in January. The 2009 Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Championship points were awarded /tabulated so that a driver could mathematically be able to win the Championship by racing only the ten dirt races on the schedule. As a bonus for the drivers who also raced the paved track portion, they were allowed to substitute a better finish at a pavement race for a dirt race where they collected less points. Therefore the Championship points earned actually included their best ten finishes (dirt or pavement) from the thirteen Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder events held in 2009.
Justin Carver tallied the most points of any rookie driver in the National, Mid-South Thunder, Southern Thunder and Asphalt Thunder Tour series and will be crowned with title of Parts Plus USCS National Rookie of the Year at the series banquet in January. For his outstanding performances, rookie driver Brandon Rekow will be honored as the Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series Rookie of the Year.
Fifty-seven different drivers competed in the thirteen Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour events held at ten different tracks in five states. Five different drivers won 2009 Parts Plus USCS Mid South Thunder main events. Those drivers included 2009 series Champion Terry Gray with seven wins. The 2009 Parts Plus Asphalt Thunder Tour Champion Blaze Martin from Tampa, Florida and Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas had two wins each. Don Young from Memphis, Tennessee and Johnny Bridges each had one feature win apiece in USCS Southern Thunder Tour competition.
The 13th annual Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour kicked off on Friday, April 17th at Ace Speedway and ended on Saturday, October 3rd at Hickory Motor Speedway. The Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder Tour regional series competes in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and East Tennessee. For complete and archived results from these events please visit the series Official website at www.uscsracing.com . For series info call, 770-460-7223 or 404-886-5913.
The United Sprint Car Series thanks its' 2009 Outlaw Thunder Tour sponsors including: Parts Plus, Bar's Leaks, DSR Fuel Systems, Dynotech, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Racing Products, JE Pistons, Hoosier Race Tire, K&N Filters, Lunati, KSE Racing Products, Pro Shocks, Raceceiver, R.E.Technologies, Rislone, Shoenfeld Headers and Simpson.
Final 2009 Parts Plus USCS Southern Thunder point standings (after 13 events):
Pos. Car# Driver Points
1 10 Terry Gray 1777
2 24 Justin Carver 1706
3 16 Anthony Nicholson 1664
4 6 Brad Wickham 1567
5 67 Jake McLain 1566
6 5 David Thorman 1490
Tie 1X Matt Linder 1490
8 67 Brian Thomas 1447
9 7 Johnny Bridges 1349
10 69 Brandon Rekow 1204
11 6 Brian Carter 1171
12 46 Adam Jackson 1054
13 9 C J Miller 925
14 6X Dennis Lykins 849
15 28 Coby Adams 815
16 33 Joe Larkin 724
17 47 Eric Riggins 663
18 24X Nick Bashford 652
19 4C Tyler Godwin 639
20 92 Matt Kurtz 626
21 36 Tim Perry 620
22 40R Scott Hensley 553
23 26 Marshall Skinner 511
24 75 Don Young 495
25 26S Jon Stinson 479
26 5 Blaze Martin 467
27 4 T W Parkinsons 448
28 80 Morgan Turpen 422
29 4M Michael Miller 400
30 27 David Adkins 398
31 23 Lance Moss 374
32 24 Greg Leonard 358
33 88 Tim Crawley 310
34 73 Kramer Williamson 299
35 4B Bryn Gohn 281
36 88 Rory Janney 266
37 11 Tom Paterson 260
38 63 Josh Weller 254
39 59 Dan Statter 250
Tie OX Clint Weiss 250
41 6N Dain Naida 238
Tie 33 John Karklin 238
43 83 Bob Auld 234
44 6X Mike Suhy 226
45 21B Brandon McLain 214
46 1a Lee Moore 200
47 2 Josh Grimes 126
Tie 79 Dakotah Stephens 126
49 46 Jim Blenkarn 124
Tie 2D Amanda Fergusson 124
51 11S Brian Smith 122
52 2D Doug Day 120
53 20 Tony Stewart 114
54 112 Aubrey Black 112
Tie 45 Chuck Hebing 112
56 39 Drake Moore 100
Tie 5V Nick DeFeo 100
2009 USCS Southern Thunder Tour
Race#/Day/Date Track & Location Surface Winner
1 Friday - April 17th Ace Speedway - Altamahaw, NC Asphalt Blaze Martin
2 Saturday - April 18th Florence Motor Speedway - Florence, SC Asphalt Blaze Martin
3 Friday - April 24th Carolina Speedway - Gastonia, NC Dirt Terry Gray
4 Saturday - April 25th Harris Speedway - Harris, NC Dirt Terry Gray
5 Friday - June 19th Penton Raceway - Penton, AL Dirt Terry Gray
6 Saturday - June 20th East Alabama Motor Speedway - Phenix City, AL Dirt Don Young
7 Friday - June 26th Carolina Speedway - Gastonia, NC Dirt Terry Gray
8 Saturday - June 27th Travelers Rest Speedway - Travelers Rest, SC Dirt Terry Gray
9 Saturday - July 25th Harris Speedway - Harris, NC Dirt Johnny Bridges
10 Friday - Sept.4th Boyd's Speedway - Ringold, GA Dirt Tim Crawley
11 Saturday - Sept.5th Lavonia Speedway - Lavonia, GA Dirt Tim Crawley
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