1. WASH OUT – Franklin County Speedway

    June 22, 2008 by Winstead

    Mother Nature held all the cards Saturday night at Franklin County Speedway in Westwern Virginia. After a hot & steamy afternoon, showers rolled over the track during the tracks normal practice time and hung around through race time forcing cancellation of the last night’s events. The make update is tentative for July 26th.

    Category: Franklin County Speedway, RacesComments (0)

  2. WILD NIGHT IN HAMPTON, AT LANGLEY SPEEDWAY – Langley Speedway

    June 2, 2008 by Winstead

    Joe Scarbrough survived two trips to the back of the pack, moved out front when the leaders wrecked with three laps to go and earned an unlikely victory in the 75-lap feature for the Rolling Thunder Modified tour.
    Billy Morris was fastest in afternoon time trials, lapping the .395-mile oval at 85.293 mph. After qualifying, though, series officials shuffled the starting order at the head of the field and Marlin Gunter landed on the pole. A.J. Winstead started on the outside of the front row, while Ronnie Davis and Morris made up Row 2. Shawn Balluzzo and Scarbrough started in Row 3.
    As the race got under way, Winstead beat Gunter to Turn 1 to take the lead on the opening lap. Morris moved up to second on lap 4, powering past to the outside of Gunter on the backstretch.
    The first caution flag flew as lap 4 was coming to a close. As the field flashed past the start/finish line, Balluzzo and Scarbrough made contact, sending Scarbrough into Gunter, who backed hard into the Turn 1 pit gate. While Gunter retired to the pits, Scarbrough and Balluzzo were directed to the rear of the field.
    Back under green, Winstead grabbed a one-length lead over Morris, who quickly closed the gap and began to hound Winstead for the top spot.
    On lap 12, Winstead forced his way past Rob Wells’ slower car in Turn 3 and Wells spun, collecting Morris and third-place Davis in the process. Winstead’s car sustained significant cosmetic damage on the right side, but he maintained the lead as the yellow flag fluttered.
    Back under way, Winstead forged a three-length lead over new second-place runner Doug Paasch. Within four laps, that margin had swelled to almost half a straightaway as Cameron Patrick and Hunter Slayton nipped at Paasch’s heels. Meanwhile, Scarbrough was on the comeback trail, moving into fourth on lap 20.
    On lap 23, Patrick and Scarbrough bypassed Paasch to take over second and third. Caught to the outside, Paasch got freight-trained all the way back to seventh before finding a spot in line. With positions changing hands in his mirror, Winstead enjoyed a half-straightaway lead.
    On lap 42, Patrick slipped at the entrance to Turn 1 and Scarbrough pounced, grabbing the second spot. His stay in the runner-up position was short-lived, however, as he was clipped by a lapped car in Turn 4 on lap 43, prompting the third yellow flag and resulting in another retreat to the end of the restart line.
    As the race resumed, Winstead pulled away from Patrick by a couple car-lengths and held that comfortable advantage until lap 59. With the leader dealing with traffic, Patrick closed in.
    Parked on Winstead’s bumper, Patrick followed in his tire tracks until lap 73 when he shot to the inside off the second corner. Patrick drew even down the backstretch and the lead duo headed into Turns 3 and 4 side by side.
    Exiting Turn 4, Patrick and Winstead locked horns and Patrick’s car vaulted over the nose of Winstead’s machine, bringing out the fourth, and final, caution flag. The rough ride sidelined Patrick for the night and he finished ninth. Winstead lined up sixth for the restart, last among the lead-lap cars.
    The incident dumped the top spot into the lap of Scarbrough, who had scrambled back into third on lap 63, but trailed the two leaders by a straightaway at the time of the caution. Slayton lined up in second for the last restart, followed by Balluzzo, Aubrey Thurston and Paasch.
    Under green for the final time, Scarbrough bolted to a five-length lead, a margin he would maintain to the finish. Behind him, Balluzzo and Thurston ganged up on Slayton, dropping him to fourth.
    At the checkers, Scarbrough was the winner by 1.188 seconds over Balluzzo. Thurston was third, followed by Paasch, who slipped by Slayton on the last lap.
    Doug Paasch is now tied with AJ Winstead for the lead, with Thurston in third place only fifteen points behind the duo.
    Winstead Motorsports would like to their sponsors: SunTrust Mortgage, Commonwealth Environmental Associates especially (Fred Mayes and crew for coming down this weekend) Richmond Music Center, and Stock Car Products.
    Official Results:
    1. #30 Joe Scarbrough
    2. #02 Shawn Balluzzo
    3. #21 Aubrey Thurston
    4. #2 Doug Paasch
    5. #77 Hunter Slayton
    6. #99 AJ Winstead
    7. #06 Gary Wheaton
    8. #27 Andy Kemp
    9. #20 Cameron Patrick
    10. #33 Rob Wells
    11. #2x Larry Penny
    12. #9 Tony Ingram
    13. #7 Tony Ingram II
    14. #55 Billy Morris
    15. #14 Ronnie Davis
    16. #43 Warren Lipford Jr.
    17. #66 Marlin Gunter
    #39 Toby Davis

    Category: Langley Speedway, RacesComments (0)