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GASTONIA, NC (Sept. 14) – Dennis ‘Rambo’ Franklin held off a hard charging Anthony Sanders to claim a thrilling victory in round one of NDRA Dirt Wars presented by Goodyear at Carolina Speedway on Friday night.
Franklin and fast qualifier Gib Gibbons brought the field to the green with Franklin jumping to the point. 2012 Carolina Speedway track champion Matt Stover muscled his way past Gibbons in the opening laps to jump into the runner spot. Stover’s hopes of a victory quickly vanished though as the young racer tagged the turn one wall and spun to a stop, bringing out the first of seven cautions in the 40 lap affair.
As the field went back green, Sanders began to make some noise. The Gaston County native now residing in Spartanburg, SC jumped to the high side of the 4/10 mile oval and began to pick off cars one at a time. With Franklin stretching his lead out the top ten cars were in a dog fight for position.
Veteran racer Jeff Smith, Gibbons, Ross Bailes and others swapped positions around all over the speedway.
A caution on lap 31 for a stopped Jonathan Edwards, who relinquished a top ten spot, bunched the field back up. Sanders went back to work on the high side clearing Gibbons for second and set his sights on Franklin.
Franklin, who is leading the Heintz Performance NDRA Road Show points, was utilizing the bottom of the speedway as Sanders was using the extreme outside. As the field took the white flag Sanders made one last attempt for the $3,000 win. As the lead duo exited turn four for the final time they made contact with both cars briefly losing control. Franklin was able to beat Sanders to the line by a mere car length. Gibbons came home third, Smith fourth and Bailes fifth. Sixth through tenth went to: Jeff Graves, Matt Long, Kenny Ramsey, Brandy Baker and Michael Brown.
NDRA Dirt Wars now moves to Lancaster Speedway for the final round tonight Sept. 15th.
NDRA would like to thank the following for their contribution to 2012; City Chevrolet, Heintz Performance, Goodyear Racing Tires, GM Performance Parts, Stock Car Steel/SRI, Velocita Race Wear, Dirtwrap, R2C Filters, Racing Electronics, FK Rod Ends, LaJoie of Seating, Performance Tee’s, Rock Automotive, HICG Motorsports Insurance, Big A’s Custom Graphics.
Franklin and fast qualifier Gib Gibbons brought the field to the green with Franklin jumping to the point. 2012 Carolina Speedway track champion Matt Stover muscled his way past Gibbons in the opening laps to jump into the runner spot. Stover’s hopes of a victory quickly vanished though as the young racer tagged the turn one wall and spun to a stop, bringing out the first of seven cautions in the 40 lap affair.
As the field went back green, Sanders began to make some noise. The Gaston County native now residing in Spartanburg, SC jumped to the high side of the 4/10 mile oval and began to pick off cars one at a time. With Franklin stretching his lead out the top ten cars were in a dog fight for position.
Veteran racer Jeff Smith, Gibbons, Ross Bailes and others swapped positions around all over the speedway.
A caution on lap 31 for a stopped Jonathan Edwards, who relinquished a top ten spot, bunched the field back up. Sanders went back to work on the high side clearing Gibbons for second and set his sights on Franklin.
Franklin, who is leading the Heintz Performance NDRA Road Show points, was utilizing the bottom of the speedway as Sanders was using the extreme outside. As the field took the white flag Sanders made one last attempt for the $3,000 win. As the lead duo exited turn four for the final time they made contact with both cars briefly losing control. Franklin was able to beat Sanders to the line by a mere car length. Gibbons came home third, Smith fourth and Bailes fifth. Sixth through tenth went to: Jeff Graves, Matt Long, Kenny Ramsey, Brandy Baker and Michael Brown.
NDRA Dirt Wars now moves to Lancaster Speedway for the final round tonight Sept. 15th.
NDRA would like to thank the following for their contribution to 2012; City Chevrolet, Heintz Performance, Goodyear Racing Tires, GM Performance Parts, Stock Car Steel/SRI, Velocita Race Wear, Dirtwrap, R2C Filters, Racing Electronics, FK Rod Ends, LaJoie of Seating, Performance Tee’s, Rock Automotive, HICG Motorsports Insurance, Big A’s Custom Graphics.