SPEEDWEEK ROUND #1: West Memphis, Arkansas – May 24, 2008 -
Lee Sowell from Nesbit, Mississippi won the 3rd Annual Rumble at the River 35-lap O'Reilly USCS Speedweek 2008 opener on Saturday night at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas. It was the young driver’s second career O’Reilly United Sprint Car Series feature win. The hard fought victory came over a tough field of highly ranked drivers from seven states in the first of seven rounds of competition in the 3rd Annual O’Reilly USCS Speedweek. Sowell started on the outside of the front row next to 2002 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver of the Year, Tim Crawley from Benton, Arkansas. Crawley leads the standings in the potent O’Reilly USCS Mid South Thunder regional series. Crawley also had won the Saturday, May 17th weekly event at Riverside Speedway while tuning for this event. Sowell raced past Crawley into the lead in turn one. Sowell led the first five laps before Crawley raced past him in the early lapped traffic in the 25-car main event field. Crawley led the race until lap twelve when Sowell returned the favor and passed him when Crawley encountered trouble in lapped traffic as well. Sowell led the next twenty-laps wiping lap cars off onto Crawley who stayed no more than two car lengths back as they rced through constant lapped traffic the entire time. Crawley got by him on what would have been lap thirty-three just as two-time 2007 USCS feature winner Derek Hagar from Marion, Arkansas made contact with the wall exiting turn four and flipped bringing out the red flag. Sowell led on the last green flag lap and remained on the point for the restart with three laps to go. On the re-start he raced the final distance to victory lane with Crawley in tow in the runner-up spot. Ronny Howard from Southaven, Mississippi who won the Bars Leak’s Third Heat got an O’Reilly USCS career best third place finish after driving a great race and never being out of the top four positions. Zach Chappell from Tallala, Oklahoma grabbed the evenings Huggins Cams Hard-Charger Award after charging his way into fourth place after stating eighteenth. Raymond Stull from Independence who won the Engler Machine and Tool First Heat rounded out the top five finishers. Stull inverted the first eight cars when he drew an eighth in the K&N Pole Draw placing Crawley on the pole and Sowell in the second starting position. Past O’Reilly USCS Champion, Marshall Skinner from West Memphis, Arkansas led the next group with a sixth place finish. The defending and six-time O’Reilly USCS National Champion, Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee finished seventh followed by veteran A.G. Raines from West Memphis, Arkansas in eighth. The 1998 O’Reilly USCS Champion, Eddie Gallagher from Piperton, Tennessee finished ninth and Riverside Speedway regular, Ernie Ainsworth from Memphis, Tennessee rounded out the top ten. Heat races were won by Stull, Skinner, Ronny Howard and Gallagher. Henry Gustavus fromMMarion, Arkansas won the twelve lap B-Main event. Sowell was the Hoosier Tire Young Gun of the race awarded to the top finishing driver under twenty-five years old. Justin Carver was the Rookie of the Race with a twelfth place finish after finishing in second place in his heat race. The Speedweek 2008 competition continues with Round Two on Sunday night at Greenville Speedway ( www.greenvillespeedway.net ) in Greenville , Mississippi. The track is a one-quarter mile Gumbo oval very similar to Riverside International Speedway. Greenville Speedway is located about two and one half hours South of Memphis, Tennessee on the Mississippi River. Several more top drivers are entered for Sunday night’s event including two-time O’Reilly USCS National Champion Kenny Adams from Malabar, Florida and three-time 2007 o’Reilly USCS feature winner Wayne Johnson from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After Sunday night’s event the series continues on to contest Round Three on Monday night at Clayhill Motorsports in Atwood, Tennessee (another of the driver’s favorites). Round Four on Tuesday has the series stopping at Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee. There is no event on Wednesday, May 28th giving the teams a chance to rest and repair. On Thursday night, May 29th action continues with Round Five at Camden Speedway in Camden, Tennessee. Friday night May30th finds the traveling troop at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Alabama for Round Six. Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi hosts the Speedweek 2008 presented by Lucas Oil finale on Saturday night May 31st. For more information on the 3rd Annual O’Reilly USCS Speedweek please visit www.uscsracing.com or call USCS at 404-886-5913.
- Adam Ulrey on Mar 14, 2020
- Article Date: 5/24/2008