1. WINSTEAD 2nd AT DILLON SC – Dillon Motor Speedway

    April 30, 2007 by Winstead

    The Rolling Thunder Modifieds haven’t seen the familiar red #4 car of 4-time series champion Thomas Stinson since the season opener at Orange County Speedway nearly two months ago. That all changed last night as Stinson made a triumphant return to the RTM series in high fashion and picking up where he left off by picking up his first victory of the 2007 season.

    Thirteen teams showed up to race at this weekend and put on quite possibly the best and wildest race of the season so far. Drama began early as both Larry Penny and Michael Johnson had issues in practice, both crashing into the near-identical place in practice and both causing damage to the right fronts of their cars. But thanks to the rest of the RTM teams, which came together, gathered up spare parts and allowed both cars to be repaired in time to compete in the actual race later in the day.

    Race time came and the action started early. On lap 7 current points leader and at the time race leader, John Thorpe got loose in turn 2 and was hit by Robert Conner’s machine. Chaos insued as the collision caused a bottleneck collecting ten other cars in the process. The race was stopped for about half an hour as teams returned to the pit areas to fixed their damaged machines and change out tires. When it was all said and done all but the badly-damaged car of John Thorpe managed to get back out to racing.

    After the melee, the mod put on a great showing. AJ Winstead coming off a win from the last race at Coastal Plains tried to keep the momentum going by getting into the lead. Not to be outdone, reigning series champ Thomas Stinson began to challenge Winstead for the lead eventually resulting in excellent side-by-side battles between the two driver. Finally Stinson was able to pass Winstead and was able to keep him there and claimed his first victory of the season in front of the cheering packed house.

    Thorpe’s crash allows the consistant Doug Paasch to advance to the top of the point standings with AJ Winstead following in behind him.

    The tour will now head up to Franklin County Speedway in two weeks for it’s first race in the Commonwealth of Virginia Saturday, May 12.

    Again, all of the officials would like to thank all of the RTM teams for coming to the aid of your fellow competitors when they needed help. We are a racing family and it is great to see you all take care of each other.

    Race Results:

    1. #4 Thomas Stinson
    2. #99 AJ Winstead
    3. #2 Doug Paasch
    4. #91 Dean Slappey
    5. #10 David Winslow
    6. #22 Rodney Brooks
    7. #38 Michael Johnson
    8. #12 Tim Maxey
    9. #04 Larry Penny
    10. #11 Irvin Bell
    11. #72 Robert Conner
    12. #63 John Thorpe
    13. #71 Steve Denning

    Category: Dillon Motor Speedway, RacesComments (0)

  2. THIRD TIME’S A CHARM FOR WINSTEAD – Coastal Plains Raceway

    April 8, 2007 by Winstead

    4/8:
    Surely a sense of vindication was felt in the frigid air Saturday night for Winstead Racing. After being plagued with mechanical issues the past two weeks, the #99 team managed to shake the monkey off of their back and earned first victory of the 2007 season. Winstead’s win was well deserved, as the car was strong all day long and lead several laps of the race.

    Apparently the monkey that was thrown off of the #99 landed in the pits of the current points leader John Thorpe. Thorpe, who has managed to win the pole of all of the races so far this season, fell victim to a broken transmission leaving him to finish dead last. Thorpe’s misfortunes benefited greatly the #2 machine of Doug Paasch however. Doug finished a strong second in the race resulting in putting him within striking distance of the points lead. A mere 10 points separates Paasch from Thorpe.

    Other notables was the comeback of Dean Slappey, who finished 3rd in the race, coming back from a crash last week at Southern National which left the rear end of the #91 car smashed in. Robert Conner also earned another top 5 finish, which has given him a comfortable 3rd place in the point standings.

    Results (Top 5)
    :
    1. #99 A.J. Winstead
    2. #2 Doug Paasch
    3. #91 Dean Slappey
    4. #72 Robert Conner
    5. #38 Michael Johnson

    **courtesy of The Rolling Thunder Modified tour website**

    Category: Coastal Plains Raceway, RacesComments (0)

  3. Ready to Rumble 340 – Southern National Speedway

    April 2, 2007 by Winstead

    A field of 16 cars took to the high-banked 4/10th mile track and events began to unfold almost immediately. A.J. Winstead lead the first 13 laps until the caution flag flew as #91 Dean Slappey was bumped from behind by #20 Billy Morris and sent into the wall…ending Slappey’s day as well as officials parking Morris’ car due to over-aggressive driving.

    On the restart Winstead got the jump on Thorpe, but A.J.’s motor immediately went sour causing the #99 SunTrust Mortgage car to retire for the rest of the evening. With two of the top contending cars out of the race, familiar faces John Thorpe and Doug Paasch seemed to run unchallenged for the rest of the night. After another restart due to a spin by the #43 car, Thorpe managed to get a huge lead and ran unopposed for the remaining duration of the race. Paasch managed to get one last hard run against him in the closing laps but was unable to hold it allowing Thorpe to pull away by several car lengths and took the checkered flag for the first time this year.

    The real battle was for 3rd-6th. Robert Conner was able to hold off teammate Tim Maxey’s #12 car which was on Conner’s tail the majority of the night while Steve Denning and Marlin Gunter, both were making their first start in ’07, followed closely behind finishing 5th and 6th respectively.

    John Thorpe leaves SNRP with the trophy and the points lead, Doug Paasch sits in 2nd 35 points behind, and Robert Conner is listed 3rd 65 points out.

    Results:
    1. #63 John Thorpe
    2. #2 Doug Paasch
    3. #72 Robert Conner
    4. #12 Tim Maxey
    5. #71 Steve Denning
    6. #9 Marlin Gunter
    7. #42 Chris Hoylman
    8. #43 Robert Lipford Jr.
    9. #38 Michael Scott Johnson
    10. #04 Larry Penny
    11. #11 Irvin Bell
    12. #99 AJ Winstead (Engine)
    13. #91 Dean Slappey (Crash)
    14. #06 Gary Wheaton (Clutch)
    DQ. #20 Billy Morris (Parked, Over-aggressive Driving)
    DNS. #10 David Winslow (Engine Problems)

    Category: Races, Southern National SpeedwayComments (0)