towns county herald’s sporting news
TRANSCRIPT
Towns County Herald’s Sporting News
Local RacingAction
by Carl Vanzura
From EAMS web site: Blairsville's Jonathan Davenport wonthe Alabama State Championship.
NASCAR 2009 By Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter
Racing got a boost this week end with some goodweather. A few tracks in our area still have a few racingdate still on their schedule and Boyds Speedway in Ringoldsaw Randy Weaver edge out Ray Cook by about a half carlength to take the $3000 SRRS sanctioned event Friday night.Action moved over to Cleveland Speedway for the runningof three 20 lap Super Late Model feature. Skip Arp won thefirst and third features while Billy Mayo took the second.
Blairsville’s Jonathan Davenport won the $7000 Ala-bama State Championship after setting a new day time trackrecord on a very wet track after days of rain. He then wentto the K C Classic in Ohio and had a respectable eighthplace finis among the 60 cars entered. Davenport is nowdriving for Barry Wright, a famed chassis builder from SouthCarolina.
This week sees some action packed racing comingwithin a two hour driving time when on Thursday the RayCook Tarheel 50 this year will move to Cleveland Speed-way. On Saturday, the Lucas Oil Series will race at DixieSpeedway and on Sunday the Lucas Oil Series will moveover to Rome Speedway. Racing will return to ToccoaSpeedway Saturday night with Super Late Models headlin-ing the show. Go karts will be racing for points Friday nightat Tri-County Race Track. Demolition Derby cars will bein action Sunday October 11th at Tri-County.
SMOKE HOLDS ON FORKANSAS WIN
KANSAS CITY, Kan.--Tony Stewart held off latechallenges from Jeff Gordonand Greg Biffle to win Sunday’sCup race at Kansas Speedway,his fourth win of the season.
Stewart took the lead onlap 236 of the 267-lap race af-ter a two-tire pit stop. Severalother teams took on four tires,but by taking on only two right-side tires Stewart was able toassume the lead once green flagracing resumed.
“This one’s for us,” saidStewart. “Jeff was getting big-ger and bigger in my rearviewmirror there at the end. Thething was not to drive the tiresoff it, in case you needed themfor a green/white/checkeredrestart.”
Jeff Gordon started ninth,was not able to run up frontearly in the race, but came onstrong after the midway point,to challenge Stewart for thelead in the closing laps.
“We never got it fixedcompletely, but it was a greatday,” said Gordon. “We camea long way, because we wereway off at the beginning of thisthing.”
Jimmie Johnson had a
fast car and was running withthe leaders until the last cau-tion, but dropped from fourthto ninth by the end of the race.
“We had such a goodcar,” said Johnson. “Wethought four tires were the wayto go on that pit stop, but some-thing happened. We were so fastand then the car was so toughto drive. I’m not sure what hap-pened.”
Greg Biffle, JuanMontoya, Denny Hamlin,Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin,David Reutimann, JimmieJohnson, and Carl Edwardswere the remaining top-10 fin-ishers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasblack flagged by officials for aloose lug nut on a tire. He failedto pit after being given theblack flag by NASCAR offi-cials, until he was finally toldthat unless he pitted on the nextlap, NASCAR would stop scor-ing his car.
“We had a fast car, butwe left the lug nut off on onepit stop and lost a lap,”Earnhardt said. “We pitted, acaution came out and we lostanother lap. We probably hada top-10 car, but just got down.”
He finished 36th.2009 Chase contenders
after 3 of 10 races: 1. Martin-5551, 2. Johnson-5533, 3.Montoya-5500, 4. Stewart-5484, 5. Kurt Busch-5460, 6.Hamlin-5452, 7. J. Gordon-5448, 8. Biffle-5437, 9.Newman-5387, 10. Edwards-5386, 11. Kahne-5361, 12.Vickers-5301
Matt Kenseth, the 2002NASCAR champion, who failedto make this year’s Chase hadan engine go sour in his No. 17Roush-Fenway Ford and wasnot able to finish the race. Hedropped to 14th in points.LOGANO BEATS BUSCHAGAIN IN NATIONWIDE RACE
Kyle Busch set a seriesmark for most laps led in a sea-son, but it was Joey Logano whotook the lead from his team-mate with three laps to win theNationwide race at Kansas.
Top-10 Nationwide lead-ers after 29 of 35: 1. KyleBusch-4729, 2. Edwards-4484,3. Keselowski-4422, 4. Leffler-3879, 5. Allgaier-3390, 6. S.Wallace-3377, 7. Keller-3249,8. Bliss-3220, 9. Gaughan-3139, 10. McDowell-3024
Weekend Racing: TheSprint Cup and Nationwideteams will be racing at the 1.5-mile Fontana, CaliforniaSpeedway.
Sat., Oct. 10, Nation-wide Series Camping World300, race 30 of 35; Startingtime: 4 pm (EDT); TV:ESPN2.
Sun., Oct. 11, SprintCup Pepsi 500, race 30 of 36;Starting time: 2:30 pm (EDT);TV: ABC.
Racing Trivia Question:Which Cup team does PaulMenard drive for?
Last Week’s Question:What year was the Sprint CupChase started? Answer. It wasintroduced in 2004.
You may contact theRacing Reporter at:[email protected]
Tony Stewart
TCH Editor
CHARLES DUNCAN
On overcast Thursdayafternoon, the Tri-County Jun-ior Golf Association held theirweekly junior golf tournamentat the Butternut Creek GolfCourse in Blairsville, GA.Sponsoring the tournament forthe fifth straight year wasAppalachian CommunityBank. Becky Dyer and DrewPhillips were present repre-senting the bank and greetingthe forty plus players as theyarrived. The Tri-County Jun-ior Golf Association thanksAppalachian Community Bankfor their continued involve-ment in supporting the youthof our area and also thanks
The 2009 Appalachian Community Bank Open
Bill Berg, PGA Golf Pro andManager of Butternut Creek GolfCourse for allowing the juniorplayers to have the course for aThursday afternoon junior tour-nament.
In the girls 13-17 age divi-sion, Morgan Bentley fromUnion County placed first for thesecond straight week shooting a44 and was followed by AmandaThompson from Clay County. Inthe boys 15-17 age division, EliCrumley from White Countypicked up right where he left offthe previous week by blisteringthe course shooting a 37. AlexHood also from White Countycame in second for the second
straight week and ScottTreadway from Union Countypicked up the third place tro-phy.
In the boys 13 & 14 agedivision, Jacob Wallace fromClay County continued hisstreak finishing first with a 40,followed by Colton Stanleyfrom Union County and JoshSprinkles from Clay County.In the boys 11 & 12 age divi-sion, there was a new firstplace winner, DJ Mock fromCherokee County, who shot a47. He was followed by ZachCottrell from Clay County andWill Howard from UnionCounty.
On Wednesday, Sept 30at the Murphy Invitational, theMini Boys finished 8. The topfive runners were
Bradley Rogers 17Eli Sanford 34Aaron Dodson 44Kyle Tyler 46Garrett Bradshaw 53The Mini Girls didn't
score as a team: AnsleyVardeman out recovering fromsurgery to remove parts of acrab claw from her foot andCaitlin Sheffield injured
Taylor Vardeman 5Olivia Silvey 37Alanna Calhoun 51The Varsity Boys placed
5th as a team. The top five forTowns were
Walker Guss 26Ethan Burch 37Rylan Albach 41Dakota Barrett 47Zach Whitehead 50
The Varsity Girls Team3 top 5 runners were
Amy Vardeman 24Melissa Conrad 26Cassie Buck 28Brittany Walls 30Kristin Fuhs 34
Thurs Athens AcademyOct. 01 (raced back to back)
Mini BoysTeam Score 4Bradley Rogers 12Eli Sanford 26Aaron Dodson 27Kyle Tyler 29Garrett Bradshaw 36
Mini GirlsNo team score/Ansley
still in recovery; helped meCoach.
No doubt they would haveWON !!!
Caitlin Sheffield 6Olivia Silvey 11Alanna Calhoun 25
Varsity BoysTeam Score 8Walker Guss 25Rylan Albach 40Dakota Barrett 43Ethan Burch 52Zach Whitehead 67
Varsity GirlsTeam Score Tied for 3 lost
Taylor Vardeman takes first place! Submitted photo
Towns County Cross Country runs in Murphyin the 6th runner position for4th place
Amy Vardeman 16Melissa Conrad 19Cassie Buck 21Brittany Walls 25Kristin Fuhs 36
Towns County HeraldLocal sports and racing covered by
Lowell NicholsonCharles Duncan
Jim & Lisa Bryant
and Carl VanzuraJerry Kendall
Towns County Indians’Head Coach Kyle Langford isa firm believer that his troopsare still hungry. He remembersthe adage: “It’s not the size ofthe dog in the fight; it’s the sizeof the fight in the dog.”
His Indians lost a toughone in Gwinnett County on Fri-day night to Hebron ChristianAcademy 38-13.
“These guys haven’tquit,” Langford said. “If any-thing, they’re still scratchingand clawing and they still be-lieve in themselves. We’vemade some mistakes, but makeno mistake, the effort has beenthere.”
Langford points out thatjunior Billy Meier, recoveringfrom a knee injury, was morethan anxious to take the fieldin the secondary against theLions of Hebron.
“What do you do?Langford asked. “He’s achingto play, the doctor has cleared
him. You let him suit up andgive it has all. That’s what isspecial about these kids; theygive you every ounce of energythat they’ve got.”
Turnovers haunted theIndians all night long.
“You’re not going tobeat anybody if you turn the ballover eight times,” Langfordsaid.
Coach Langford praisedAlan Turpin, who finished thenight with six catches.
“It was a real big nightfor him,” Langford said.
He rated sophomoreNoah Calhoun’s night as a posi-tive night for the Indians.
“He did a great job run-ning the football,” Langfordsaid. “He had five carries, 40yards. We’ve got to figure away to put the ball in his handsmore often.”
Langford was especiallypleased with the play of fresh-man linebacker Joseph Foster.
“He had a big night de-fensively,” Langford said.
“And John Henry Hobbswas in man coverage all nightand he stepped up and played
well,” Langford said. “He dida really good job all nightlong.”
Running back Matt Benireinjured his ankle, Langfordsaid.
“That and he has hadsome issues with wisdomteeth,” Coach Langford said.“I told him that this would bea good week to heal up and gethis wisdom teeth remedied.”
The Indians had a greatweek of practice Langford saidand their spirits remain high.
“We have to take theremainder of the season onegame at a time,” he said.“We’ve got the forfeit fromAsheville School this week.We’ll take that opportunity toget healthy.
“We’ll start preparingfor Georgia Military this weekand we’ll let the guys off a littleearly to rest up.”
Langford blames himselffor the loss against Hebron.
“I got impatient, I gotgreedy,” he said. “There weresome situations where weshould have run the ball and Igot greedy. I thought we could
Football team loses one (and wins one)put the nail in them early andit backfired.
“Had I called a little bitbetter game, we’d have had achance to win that one,” hesaid. “We’ve done some goodthings this season; we justhaven’t done enough of themto make a difference in thewin column.
“There are a lot of guyswho haven’t played footballbefore that are really startingto understand what’s goingon,” he said. “I’m pleased withthat and the coaching job thatmy assistants have done. Thesekids are young and they’ve re-ally grown up this season.”
Photos by Lowell Nicholson
October 8 2009 sports.p65 10/5/2009, 5:03 PM2