Southern Burris Championships enjoys perfect weather

JEFFERSON, GA - The third race of the Southern Burris Championships was held at the Peachstate Karting Komplex in Jefferson, GA on June 2, 2001. Friday, June 1, 2001 saw nothing but rain and there was the treat of canceling the race. Saturday morning came and the sun rose high in the sky and a prefect day for racing was upon us. Racing got underway at about 8:30pm with the Super Heavys where pole-sitter Randy Hill lead all twenty laps over second place finisher Marlin Gunter and third place finisher Donny.

The Senior Champ Karts ran next with first-time champ kart driver Sabrina Wolford taking the win from the pole. In second it was Aaron Ridley followed closely by Tom Loner. In Stock Heavy, Whit Locker passed pole-sitter Randy Hill on the second lap and never looked back as he went on to win while second was taken by Randy Hill with David Loner coming in third.

One of the most competitive and exciting races of the day was the Junior Champ class race. The twenty-lap race saw the lead change six times between Taylor Satterfield and Matt Carter. Pole-sitter Matt Carter lead the first lap only to see Taylor dive under him on lap two. On lap six Matt made a daring pass on the outside and made it stick. On lap ten, Taylor had set Matt up for a pass on the bottom only to see Matt return the favor on lap twelve. Matt held the lead for the next five laps with Taylor trying everything possible to re-pass him. On lap eighteen, Taylor dove under Matt in turn one and raced to the finish side-by-side, with Taylor winning by a couple of feet. Matt was second with Brittany Blackston watching the show ahead came in third.

Gold Plate was next with Chris Cochran sitting on the pole, Colby Kilgore passed Chris in the first lap and took off for win. Chris Cochran finished second and Matt Carter came in third.

In the Limited contest, Marty Schlafer was on the pole with a 16.501 lap time. It was the fast time of the day. From the start of the race it looked like it would be Marty's show until lap ten when something broke and David Fogleman inherited the lead. Fogleman went on to win with Dean Scoggins coming in second.

In Senior Stock we saw first-time series' driver Tony Westmoreland take the win from points leader Randall Hill. Purple Plate had another first-time series' driver, young Brent Boling, take the win from points leader Jordan Grizzle with Andrew Potts locking in the third place spot. Later, Aaron Ridley passed the pole-sitter Whit Locker on lap one and went on to win Stock Medium. Whit Locker was second and Kacie Gudel took third.

Junior Stock had two new drivers take both first and second places. Matt Carter qualified on the pole but found it hard to hold the spot as Chris Cockran and Taylor Satterfield both passed him on lap one. On lap two both Taylor and Matt re-passed Cockran as the race progressed with the three of them nose-to-tail with Colby Kilgore gaining. Then on lap eleven Chris Cockran made a pass on Matt Carter. It appeared as Matt's tires had gone away as Colby Kigore got by on the final lap. The top three were Taylor Satterfield, Chris Cockran and Colby Kilgore respectively.

There was a lot of misfortune in the Amateur class race. On lap four, three karts got tangled up over in turn four. Dawn Gunter, the current points leader, and Jason Reynold were forced to retire their karts after this melee. Robert Hart, who was also involved, continued racing and limped his kart painfully around the track. On lap fourteen Christopher Guinn, after leading the whole race, broke and gave the lead over to Bobby Preavette who won the race. Robert Hart limped his way into second.

Blue Plate class drivers of ages 10 - 12 put on a great show with pole-sitter Jacab Grizzle. Grizzle put his kart up front and held off the challenge of Dakota Harris and Chase Walden until he slipped up just a little and they both got under him. Jacob fought back and re-passed Chase on lap fifteen. Dakota Harris won over Jacob Grizzle and Chase Walden came away with third. Later that evening during an engine inspection it would be found that there was a carbon build up on the piston of Chase's engine making it illegal and moved Kevin Caldwell to third place.

The final race of the night was the Stock Lite feature. Aaron Ridley, the pole-sitter took command of the race from the start and fought off the challenges of Whit Locker and Kaci Gudel. Aaron Ridley won with Whit Locker finishing second, and Kacie Gudel coming home in third.

The next race is scheduled at North Georgia Mini Speedway on July 14th with thegates opening at 12 Noon, Practice 5pm - Qualifying 7pm - Racing to follow. This is a best five of six race series.

Results:
Limited: 1.) Dean Scoggins, 2.) Marty Schlafer, 3.) David Fogleman, 4.) Mark Silvers

Gold Plate: 1.) Jon Gudel, 2.) Colby Kilgore, 3.) Matt Carter, 4.) Nick Wooten, 5.) Chris Cochran, 6.) Tim Frazier, 7.) Joey Perry

Jr Unrestricted: 1.) Colby Kilgore, 2.) Jon Gudel, 3.) Steve Shook, 4.) Matt Carter, 5.) Taylor Satterfield, 6.) Chris Cochran, 7.) Adam Green

Blue Plate: 1.) Joseph Bunch, 2.) Dakota Harris, 3.) Kevin Caldwell, 4.) Jacob Grizzle, 5.) Chase Walden, 6.) Randy Belvins, 7.) Corey Wright, 8.) Adam Apple, 9.) Steve McDonald

Purple Plate: 1.) Jordan Grizzle, 2.) Brent Boling, 3.) Andrew Potts, 4.) Mike Greenfield, 5.) Cody Greenfield

Super Heavy: 1.) Marlin Gunter, 2.) Randy Hill, 3.) Danny Stanley, 4.) Jody Phillips, 5.) Larry Tankersley, 6.) Rickey Phillips, 7.) Darrell Bunch

Stock Medium: 1.) Chip Brindle, 2.) Aaron Ridley, 3.) Whit Locker, 4.) Mark Silvers, 5.) Josh Parker, 6.) Kacie Gudel, 7.) Kenny Buff, 8.) George Whitfield, 9.) Pete Bunn, 10.) Zack Hamilton, 11.) Chris Radica, 12.) Charles Bunn, 13.) Chad McNutt

Stock Heavy: 1.) Whit Locker, 2.) Mark Silvers, 3.) Randy Hill, 4.) David Loner, 5.) Kenny Buff, 6.) Mike Tarkington, 7.) Phillip Bell, 8.) Justin Davis, 9.) Josh Parker

Senior Stock: 1.) Randall Hill, 2.) Lamont Young, 3.) Tony Westmoreland, 4.) Mike Tarkington

Stock Lite: 1.) Aaron Ridley, 2.) Mitchell Stanley, 3.) Chip Brindle, 4.) Taylor Weaver, 5.) James Collins, 6.) Whit Locker, 7.) Tommy Green, 8.) Kacie Gudel, 9.) Dale Malin, 10.) Josh Graham, 11.) Josh Parker

Champ Sr: 1.) Sabrina Wollford, 2.) Aaron Ridley, 3.) Tom Loner, 4.) Brett Griffin, 5.) Brian Carlisi

Champ Jr: 1.) Matt Carter, 2.) Taylor Satterfield, 3.) Brittany Blackston

Amatuer: 1.) Bobby Preavette, 2.) Dawn Gunter, 3.) Chris Guinn, 4.) Jason Reynolds, 5.) Robert Hart, 6.) Michael Gilley