1. WINSTEAD RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT SNS – Southern National Speedway

    April 29, 2008 by Winstead

    The 2008 season for the Rolling Thunder Modifieds continues to get bigger and more exciting at every turn, this weekend defending series champion AJ Winstead picked up his first pole and first victory of the season making for three different winners in three races.
    Winstead driving the SunTrust Mortgage and Commonwealth Environmental Associates sponsored car didn’t win it easy though, after an incident which resulted in the #34 of Ted Montague and the #99 of Winstead colliding in-between turns 1 and 2, Winstead was forced to restart at the rear of the field by the RTM officials after the incident. A returning Allen Marshall appeared to show no racing rust as he took his yellow #17 to the lead for 52 of the 75 laps of the race. Newcomer Hunter Slayton also managed to turn heads as he looked to be a contender until running out of fuel. There were a few scary moments, including a red flag period for a three-car pileup involving #7 Tony Ingram II, #72 Robert Conner, and #14 Ronnie Davis. Ingram had gotten loose coming out of turn 4 and was t-boned by the #72 and #14 cars, leaving the blue machine of Davis with a severely damaged front. All drivers were okay. By this time Winstead had worked his way back into the top five. He continued his march to the front with the #21 Strutmasters sponsored car of Aubrey Thurston in tow. The two worked their way past the leader Allen Marshall, who eventually finished third.
    The next scheduled event for the RTM series is in two weeks as they travel to Radford, VA to Motor Mile Speedway on May 10th.
    Official Results:
    1) AJ Winstead
    2) Aubrey Thurston
    3) Allen Marshall
    4) Gary Wheaton
    5) Marlin Gunter
    6) Darrell Bryson
    7) Tony Ingram 8) Chris Hoylman
    9) Doug Pasch
    10) Larry Penny
    11) Warren Lipford Jr.
    12) Hunter Slayton
    13) Robert Conner
    14) Ronnie Davis
    15) Andy Kemp
    16) Tony Ingram II
    17) David Kendall
    18) Ted Montague
    19) Billy Morris

    Sunoco Pole Award — AJ Winstead — 15.331 Seconds

    Category: Races, Southern National SpeedwayComments (0)

  2. SCARBOUGH WINS, WINSTEAD 2ND – East Carolina Motor Speedway

    April 21, 2008 by Winstead

    What a difference a race makes. After a caution-filled, season opener at Hickory, The Rolling Thunder Modifieds presented by Red Man Moist Snuff returned to racing this past weekend at East Carolina Motor Speedway where Joe Scarbrough made his official debut racing with the Rolling Thunder Modifieds and did it in a big way by taking the checkered flag in what many tour regulars have been calling the best RTM race in years.
    As the green flag waved the field was lead to the line by #72 Robert Conner who made it onto the pole by inversion as well as eventual winner #30 Joe Scarbrough on the outside pole. Within a laps time, Ronnie Davis, who started 3rd took advantage of Conner getting loose and running high and passed him coming out of turn 1. Doug Paasch and AJ Winstead in the SunTrust Mortgage Commonwealth Environmental Associates sponsored car followed suit and began a three-car fight for the lead.
    As the race got going, Paasch made a valiant attempt to take the lead away from Davis several times, getting his orange #2 machine right on Davis’ bumper several times. Fate would have it for Davis however, when his engine suddenly blew resulting in his car slowing down drastically and having Paasch run into the back of the #14 car resulting in the first caution of the event. Paasch inherited the lead and Davis inherited a disappointing 16th place finish.
    On the race restart, Paasch held onto the lead, but was being hunted down by the charging cars of Winstead, Scarbrough, and Chris Hoylman. After several laps, the three cars managed to pass the #2 with Winstead leading for the first time this season. Winstead lead for the next 25 laps, while all things remained constant until the closing laps of the race when Scarbrough, who had managed to stay within striking distance of Winstead for several laps, finally managed an inside pass on the #99 car as they went into turns 3 and 4. Scarbrough completed the pass just in time for the second caution flag of the night to come out on lap 70 on the account of Gary Wheaton’s #06 machine rolling to a stop on the entrance to the backstretch. Wheaton had been battling an unusual occurrence for several laps as in a strange event; his air filter had flown off his engine and was lodged around his roof panel.
    After the push trucks removed Wheaton’s car from the track surface, the green flag waved for a 5-lap shootout for the finish. Scarbrough managed to get a great start and left Winstead, Hoylman, and Brooks vying for the rest of the podium positions. Five laps later, the yellow and blue #30 car grabbed the checkered flag with Winstead right on his back bumper.
    The tour will return to East Carolina Motor Speedway in the fall with a race on August 9th.

    Official Results
    1 #30 — Joe Scarborough
    2 #99 — AJ Winstead
    3 #42 — Chris Hoylman
    4 #22F — Rodney Brooks
    5 #2 — Doug Paach
    6 #72 — Robert Conner
    7 #43 — Warren Lipford
    8 #66 — Marlin Gunter
    9 #21 — Aubrey Thurston
    10 #19 — Johnny Davis
    11 #34 — Ted Montague
    12 #7 — Tony Ingram II
    13 #9 — Tony Ingram
    14 #06 — Gary Wheaton – Mechanical
    15 #2x – Larry Penny – Mechanical
    16 #14 — Ronnie Davis – Engine
    17 #27 — Andy Kemp – DNS, Clutch
    Sunoco Pole Winner: Chris Hoylman

    Category: East Carolina Motor Speedway, RacesComments (0)

  3. 2008 SEASON OPENER – Hickory Motor Speedway

    April 4, 2008 by Winstead

    The season opener of the 2008 season found the #99 SunTrust Mortgage and Commonwealth Environmental Associates sponsored car qualifying 2nd. Due to RTM rules the top six were inverted causing A.J. to start 5th.After moving up to 4th and battling for a 3rd place position which some slight damage occurred at the hand of another racer.

    The following is a race recap from the Rolling Thunder Modified website:
    Morris and the #55 car started near the front of the pack due to the starting inversion and within three laps had made his way to the lead of the caution-filled, season opener.
    Morris kept a sizeable lead throughout the race, although 2-time RTM champion Ronnie Davis gave him a scare on more than one occasion, getting his blue and orange #14 to dissolve Morris’ lead and made several attempts to pass him on the inside in later stages of the race.
    Not to be outdone, the #22 of Rodney Brooks, #99 of A.J. Winstead and the #34 of Ted Montague kept the heat on the leaders and stayed within striking distance. Rodney Brooks managed to catch Davis in the last few laps of the race and managed to pass him with only a few laps to go, eventually finishing the race in 2nd.
    That was at the front of the pack, what happened further in the field was a different story.
    Cautions happened quickly when Robert Conner and Johnny Davis collected each other in turn 1 on the third lap. Marlin Gunter, who had nowhere to go, also became collected in the incident. Caution ensued again, ten laps later when Wisconsin native Damian Jenks got had his engine go sour on orange #80 car locking up the wheels and sending him sideways coming into turn 4. Johnny Davis, already banged up from the first caution, had nowhere to go and was again collected into the incident, ending his day with a damaged race car and a 17th place finish. Scary moments as after the collision, the #80 car was engulfed with smoke, safety officials quickly extinguished any fires and Jenks was able to walk away safely.
    The yellow waved again as on lap 18 as Robert Conner’s bad luck continued to grow, when a piece of his roof panel flew off coming into turn 3 causing a debris caution. When the green flew again the #11 car of Irvin Bell spun in turn 2 when #22 Rodney Brooks got into the back of him, sending his car up the embankment. Bell did not hit anything and was able to continue…until two laps later when going into turn 3 Bell’s car spun again, with an apparent engine issue as a large flame flashed, ending Bell’s day.
    RTM officials showed the red flag on the account of a large amount of fluid was put on the track after Bell’s crash. During this red flag period, the race was shortened to a ten-lap shoot out due to time constraints. That didn’t stop one last incident from occurring as defending RTM series champion AJ Winstead, who had managed to stay in the top 6 all night, had a left front tire go down after an exchange with #22 Rodney Brooks. As AJ tried limping back to pit lane, he had to go around the track one more time when, Robert Conner’s luck seemed to have run out when the back of his car clipped the back end of the spun #99 car sending Conner spinning up the racetrack.
    This led to a green-white-checker finish, with Billy Morris keeping a charging Brooks and Davis at bay to claim his first victory of the 2008 season.
    After the race, the #22 car of Rodney Brooks was found to be too low in post-race inspection, resulting in having his official finishing position demoted to third, and being awarded points for last place finish.
    Next week, the tour returns to familiar turf as they join the NASCAR Whelen Modifieds for The Night of the Modifieds at Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, NC.
    Official Results:
    1. #55 Billy Morris
    2. #14 Ronnie Davis
    3. #22 Rodney Brooks
    4. #34 Ted Montague
    5. #21 Aubrey Thurston
    6. #2 Doug Paasch
    7. #06 Gary Wheaton Jr.
    8. #7 Tony Ingram II
    9. #9 Tony Ingram
    10. #66 Marlin Gunter
    11. #99 AJ Winstead
    12. #2x Larry Penny
    13. #72 Robert Conner
    14. #11 Irvin Bell
    15. #38 Michael Johnson
    16. #80 Damian Jenks
    17. #19 Johnny Davis
    18. #26 Kenny Wilson

    Pole: #22 Rodney Brooks

    Category: Hickory Motor Speedway, RacesComments (0)