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Brazier Smokin' at Huntsville, Takes All Star Win

HUNTSVILLE, AL--The Southern All Star Asphalt Series resumed competition Friday night after a month long break. The series moved to the tight ¼-mile Huntsville Speedway, where Johnny Brazier literally smoked the field.

Large fields have been the norm this year at Southern All Star events, and Huntsville was no exception as 23 Late Models were on hand for the WDRM 102.1 FM, WAFF-48, Skill Lube 200, one shy of a full field at Huntsville. Dan Beddingfield was the Garrison Racing Equipment Fast Qualifier, and rolled a two, switching front row spots with Brazier.

At the drop of the green flag, though, it was Beddingfield taking the lead on the first lap. After 20 quick laps, Beddingfield was leading Brazier, 2000 Huntsville Speedway Champ Brad Lemley, Ronnie Sanders, and John Wilkinson III. Four laps later, six cars wadded up in turn three,bringing out the red flag. Involved in the accident were Ricky Turner, J.R. Norris, Gary Helton, Ken McFarland, Terry Mason, and Mike Langston. Norris, Helton, and Mason were done for the night, while the others made repairs and returned to action. Wilkinson experienced overheating problems during the red flag, which ended his night. Brazier's car had begun to smoke, so the Lick Skillet, AL driver took the opportunity to have his crew check on the problem. The culprit was transmission fluid blowing out onto the headers. No fluid was dropping to the track surface, so two new rights were bolted on and Brazier rejoined the fray at the back of the field. When racing resumed, Beddingfield was still in control and built a half straight- away lead during a long green period. The caution flew again on lap 98, bringing most of the leaders to the pits. Beddingfield and Tim Fryar decided to stay out a while longer. Brazier moved into third with the pit stops. Fryar made several attempts to take the lead from Beddingfield, but it took a caution and subsequent pit stop by Beddingfield for Fryar to take the point. Brazier was ready to take his Thunderbird to the front, however, and took the lead on lap 135, getting inside of Fryar in turn two. With Brazier holding the lead, Turner positioned his Thunderbird into second place and set out after Brazier.

From lap 190 to lap 199, lapped traffic kept Turner from getting a good run on Brazier. The duo cleared the traffic on the final lap, giving Turner one last shot at the win. As the two entered turn three, Turner closed to Brazier's bumper. He dove to the inside 3 coming out of four, but Brazier's rear bumper was as close as Turner could get. Jason Hogan finished third in his first trip to the track. Beddingfield came back to fourth, with Jeremy Rice fifth, his best All Star finish. Six through tenth went to McFarland, Tony Walls, Fryar, and local drivers Marc Burleson, and Brian Bentley.

"It didn't go as planned, having to pit early" Brazier commented after the race. "We had transmission fluid blowing up on the headers, but it was burning it right off. I new we would be alright on tires because we waited until lap 187 to pit last year when we ran 250 (laps) here. Once I saw I wasn't in danger of being lapped, I could back off and save the tires." The series moves to Peach State Speedway this Saturday for a 125-lap event. For more information, contact the series at (256) 539-4484 or visit the series web site at www.southern-allstars.com/ .

OFFICIAL RESULTS SAS ASPHALT RACING SERIES HUNTSVILLE SPEEDWAY:1. Johnny Brazier; 2. Ricky Turner; 3.Jason Hogan; 4. Dan Beddingfield; 5. Jeremy Rice; 6. Ken McFarland; 7. Tony Walls; 8. Tim Fryar; 9. Marc Burleson; 10. Brian Bentley; 11. Sidney Minton; 12. Roger Scott; 13. Johnny Wall; 14. Robbie Brown; 15. John Henegar Jr.; 16. Ronnie Sanders; 17. David Hole; 18. Brad Lemley; 19. Mike Langston; 20. John Wilkinson III; 21. Terry Mason; 22. Gary Helton; 23. J.R. Norris; DNS:J R Dudley SAS ASPHALT RACING SERIES POINT STANDINGS:1.Ricky Turner 282; 2.Ken McFarland 274; 3.Jeremy Rice 252; 4.John Wilkinson III 250; 5.David Hole 232; 6.J R Norris 226; 7.Ronnie Sanders 226; 8.Jason Hogan 202; 9.Johnny Wall 194; 10.Tim Fryar 152; 11.Johnny Brazier 144; 12.Sidney Minton 142; 13.Dusty Williams 136; 14.Gary Helton 136; 15.Dan Beddingfield 134; 16.Mike Langston 132; 17.Darrell Brown 130; 18.Robbie Brown 130; 19.Jimmy Garmon 118; 20.Gary Jones 114.