(4/12/03)Brownstown Results and Notes...

JOHN GILL rolled to the lead just before the crossed sticks to pick up his first win of 2003.

FINISH:
1 John Gill
2 Dennis Erb, Jr.
3 Jim Curry
4 Steve Hillard
5 James Huff
6 Frankie Coomer
7 Brad Barrow
8 Steve Barnett
9 Mike Jewell
10 Bradley Sturgeon
11 Tim Tungate
12 Mark Barber

DENNIS ERB and pole sitter STEVE HILLARD lead the field into turn one at the start of the main event going door to door through one and two, down the back chute and off three and four before Erb nipped Hillard at the line. As Erb inched ahead, Gill began to pressure Hillard for second while fast qualifier FRANKIE COOMER raced with impressive heat winner BRADLEY STURGEON for sixth.

With Erb 5 car lengths ahead of the field, Gill poked a nose under Hillard down the back straightaway before darting to second on the hub of turn three. Meanwhile, 16th starting MIKE JEWELL rolled to 11th.

As Erb cruised a half straightaway ahead of Gill, heat winner JIM CURRY began to work on Hillard for third. While the Erb began to deal with lapped traffic, Curry pulled under Hillard off four and took third, as Gill began to close the gap on the leader.

With Erb in his sights, the Modern Day Cowboy took a peek off two then rode his imaginary horse alongside the leader down the back straightaway. When the duo entered three, Gill pulled ahead to take the lead just before the halfway mark. Meanwhile, Jewell and fellow consi transferee STEVE BARNETT had entered the top ten while further up front, JAMES HUFF solidly held down 5th.

Jewell continued to make his way toward the front battling with youngsters Sturgeon and BRAD BARROW. Jewell's impressive ride faltered a little however when the "Scottsburg Express" nearly derailed off two allowing Barnett to scoot by for 8th. As Barnett went on to challenge Barrow for 6th, Jewell gathered things up only to drop to 9th.

Back up front, it was all Gill as the cowboy steered Terry Eaglin's spacecraft on all points of the black ice while pulling out to nearly a straightaway over Erb and Curry.

OTHER ODDS AND ENDS...

MIKE JEWELL and CJ RAYBURN were amidst controversy early on during heat race action. In an event plagued by cautions and an expired time limit, the tower deemed it necessary to call the event at the half way point. On the track, Rayburn lead as Jewell pursued on the hub. Coming to the white flag, the two made contact as Jewell got by for the lead. On the final trip, the pair again got together this time resulting in a spun Jewell. Jewell pleaded his case over the incident as the officials came to a decision. As Jewell was already scored last due to the spin, Rayburn was DQ'ed handing the win to feature runner up Erb.

In their respective consis, both made more than their share of noise. Jewell parked his MasterSbilt on the rim of the first last chance affair and proceeded to mow down the field while Rayburn picked off cars in the second consi grabbing the final transfer spot.

STEVE BARNETT docked last week's pole winning GRT and rolled out in a Rayburn for Saturday's action. After a less than stellar heat, the "Franklin Flyer" pointed Bud's creation in the right direction and made the big circles to finish second to Jewell in the consi and then march to 8th in the caution free main event.

TIM TUNGATE made his 2003 debut in Duke Mounce's Rocket making the main event in his heat to start the feature 13th before finishing the feature 11th.

In a very classy move prior to the start of racing, the track honored the men and women of the Unites States military with a tribute to veterans MIKE RUBLE, WILLIE SALLEE and CJ ALLEN.

A tip of the hat to the Brownstown staff for keeping things rolling and moving the show very efficiently. The warmer temperatures also helped make one particular little guy's first race a memorable one. A post race chat with the cowboy didn't hurt matters either.

It's off to Scottsburg Sunday for the NALMS season opener. Hopefully the swiftness from B'town will flow south and the shuffled staffed team can have the PAL-U-Kon on the road by 9 pm. Until the, we'll be trying to decypher the fireman on a cell phone and the CEO's message on the answering machine, and rollin' em around!