USMTS Southern Series July driver recaps brought to you by Childhelp USA (1-800-4-A-CHILD), Western Flyer Trucking and Larry Shaw Race Cars.

Four events in four nights with each one paying $3,000 to the winner made possible by title sponsors Larry Shaw Race Cars (www.larryshaw.com), Mark Martin Ford (visit the Mark Martin NASCAR Museum co-located with Mark Martin Ford in beautiful Batesville, Arkansas soon!) and Bad Boy Mowers (visit www.badboymowers.com and soon you'll be Mowin' with Attitude!). Other race sponsors included Commercial Bank of Monticello, Ark.; Specialty Contractors of Robeline, La.; and Marshall Mobile Homes in Marshall, Texas. Biggest count was Friday night at Monticello Speedway in Southeast Arkansas with 73 cars on hand and the smallest was an excellent 54 on Sunday night at Boothill Speedway near Shreveport, La. Fast Trax Speedway in Chatham, La., drew 62 cars on Saturday and Batesville Motor Speedway also had a handsome 58 for Mooney's Thursday night show.

The Okies Shined Bright!

Randy Timms, Wheatland, Okla. -- No doubt Mr. Timms had a huge weekend and it shows in the current points. He drove his fast Larry Shaw Chassis by Taylor Motorsports to his first USMTS win ever at Fast Trax and had 3 top fives in the four races and it should have been 4 top fives! A flat on the final lap at Batesville sent him back to his 2nd straight 11th place finish there. After that, 5th on Friday, then the win at FTS and quite a night at Boothill. 8th to 2nd in his B main and then 15th to 5th in the A but a spin after contact with another car sent him to the rear from which he rallied back for a third place finish. The USMTS Spec Motor package (similar to what SUPR does in Late Models) which allows 3 more inches of spoilers to cars who run the spec, was a hot set-up for Timms. He climbed from third in the USMTS Southern Series points at -167 up to 2nd, 101 points behind Kelly Shryock.

Jason Hughes, Colcord, Okla. -- The last time we saw Jason and his Hughes Chassis in the Shreveport area was the only time we've been able to get the Modified Madness in at Ark-La-Tex Speedway back in 2005. He finished third behind BJ Robinson and Kyle Pleasant in that race but Sunday at Boothill, he was in victory lane for his first Southern Series win. You could tell he was due as he ran 2nd and 3rd the two previous nights and qualified top 8 at Batesville to make that A too. Hughes also gained three spots in the standings, is one point behind Greg Skaggs for third and 58 points closer to Shryock.

Greg Skaggs, Bixby, Okla. -- Skaggs scored his 2nd Southern Series win of the year with his Skyrocket Chassis (that's the Shryock brand of chassis) at Monticello over the 73-car field. His other win came at Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas in April. Greg was also runner-up at Boothill and 15th at Fast Trax. His achilles heel? Batesville. 2 DNQs there. Missed by one spot in his B on Thursday. Still, after Sunday's finish, he moved up 2 spots in the standings and gained 5 points on Shryock.

Tommy Weder Jr., Woodward, Okla. -- This Jason Hughes teammate started out the weekend like gangbusters with another excellent Batesville run that ended in third. In May, Weder was fourth there and seems to have really taken to the big 3/8. A top ten on Friday, a top 5 on Saturday but his 22nd on Sunday caused him to lose a spot and 16 points in the standings. Qualifying was real strong by the #02 team though as he never had to run a B main all weekend and made the top 8, 3 of the 4 times! Weder is also 5th in the National Standings.

There were two other Okies that made up the same six that were at every race and they were both from Coweta. Brandon Morton is 11th in points, is in the Hunt and made the first two As at Batesville and Monticello, missed FTS by 2 spots in the B and had to use a provisional at Boothill. His best finish was 12th at Batesville in his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis. Lady racer Dena Wilson used a provsional to make the A at Batesville and finished 14th but used a heat race win with her Hughes Chassis to make the A without a B at Monticello and ended up 15th. Missed the other 2 As and she's 13th in SS points and eligible for the Hunt due to perfect attendance in the 12 SS races.

The six Okies were 6 for 6 in the A once, 5/6 twice and 4/6 once.

The Yankees!

Kelly Shryock, Kertile, Iowa -- The Southern Series and National point leader (also leads every region!) had two late flats at Batesville and Boothill that cost him a top 3 and a top 5 finish but his other finishes of 2nd and 4th still leaves him well in command of the points. That fourth came after Shryock had to use his first provisional of 07 due to motor issues and he started 23rd! Why his he an 8-time champion? One reason is his team changed motors in 15 minutes at Monticello inbetween the B and the A main. Interesting that Kelly won half the SS races coming in (4 of  but was shut-out of vicory lane in these four. While he was a top 3 contender at all of them, he was not the best car at any of them this time. Although at the May USMTS race at Batesville and last year's May Madness there, Shryock may have had the best Batesville car ever not to have won either race.

Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn. -- Krohn was only around for the first two shows of the weekend but he was a threat to win both of them. Krohn's Skyrocket was the only car who challenged Peyton Taylor's fast Larry Shaw-by-Taylor at Batesville but he was also one of eight drivers to have a flat in the final 5 laps there and fell from contention. At Monticello though, he came from tenth to finish 3rd before heading back north for other commitments.

Willie Kraft, Lakefield, Minn. -- The legendary racer and builder of the Kraft Kar chassis (which we are seeing more and more of by the way!) ran all four events and teamed up with one his younger and more successful drivers recently, Michael Robertson in the Wingfield Kraft Kar. Willie made 3 of the 4 features (only missed at Monticello) and had a best finish of 4th at Boothill after going to the back on lap 2 after a flat!

Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa -- The Shryock-Skyrocket protege and the first Coca-Cola Young Guns winner from Georgia, former USMTS Rookie-of-the-Year and the man who came the closest to ever beating Shryock for the USMTS title in last year's hunt, had an OK week down south. He made all 4 features without using a provisional and scored 2 top tens. He did lose a spot in the standings though and lost some 17 points to Shryock.

Canadian-born, Rochester, Minnesota resident Steve Arpin was at Batesville where he missed the A by two spots in his only USMTS appearance of the weekend. He finished 3rd in the May USMTS A main at Batesville with his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis.

Let's Hear it for the Arkies!

Peyton Taylor, Batesville, Ark. -- The $8000 MAMC winner from March led all the way in his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars Chassis by Taylor Motorsports and had to fend off Krohn to do it. Monticello was about the opposite for Peyton this trip though and he had no luck. That was his last USMTS start of the weekend.

Jeff Taylor, Cave City, Ark. -- Back to back sevenths for the boss at Taylor Motorsports in his fast Larry Shaw-by-Taylor at Batesville (after starting 18th!) and Monticello. He was trying to make the A at Fast Trax too in his last race of the weekend when a Kraft-Timothy Culp get together resulted in Taylor collecting Culp's wrecked car and taking Jeff out of a shot at a transfer spot.

Steve Holzkamper, Gentry, Ark. -- TRE Chassis builder Steve Holzkamper took a big hit in the points (lost 46 points to Shryock and 4 spots) but it could have been worse without that B main win and 6th place finish at Boothill. Only Arkie to make the A at Boothill. He used a provisional at Fast Trax and came from 23rd to 11th there. 16th at Batesville and missed the A by 2 spots in his B at Monticello.

Michael Murphree, Little Rock, Ark. -- "The Kid" put his new ride -- the Salazar-owned Bullistic Chassis #51M from New Mexico in the show at both Batesville and Monticello starting 21st both nights. He scored a ninth at Batesville where he is 2-time track champion and a 12th from the 73-car Monticello field. His luck ran out in his Fast Trax B-main and he did not make the trip to Boothill.

Patrick Linn, Little Rock, Ark. -- Linn missed the A at Batesville by two spots but made top eight with his Skyrocket Chassis at Monticello, drew the pole and finished ninth. No luck at FTS or Boothill though as he DNFed in the Bs at both.

Johnny Bone Jr., Pea Ridge, Ark. -- Bone was 2 for 2 on making A mains on this weekend in his TRE-by-Baby-Bone chassis but didn't go to either Louisiana show. His best finish was 13th at Batesville but was a DNF at Monticello after winning his B main.

The Arkies defended their home turf pretty well at Batesville taking the win along with 7 of the top 10 spots. 6 of them were in fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis: Winner P. Taylor, Brandon Smith (4th) and Jared Landers (8th) in the two Bad Boy Mower Shaw Chassis entries, Kevin Salter (5th), J. Taylor (7th) and Jason Wilkey, (10th). Landers was the May USMTS winner at Batesville and won his B on Thursday to start 15th. He also was in a transfer spot (2nd) after coming from deep in his B main on Friday when the drive shaft came out of the car on the white flag lap. Jared didn't make the trip to Louisiana. Arkies led the entry list at Batesville naturally but it was close! 19 of the 58 cars there were from Arkansas while 17 were from Texas! 10 of the 19 Arkies made that A but only 2 of the 17 Texans made the Batesville A. Arkadelphia's Keith Craft drove from 12th to 4th in his B main and missed the A by one spot in his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis at Batesville. It was his only USMTS appearance of the weekend.

At Monticello, Arkansas had 16 entries at the track near the south border with Louisiana having 22 entries, and Texas, 20 entries. This time Texas put 7 cars in the A main, Arkansas, 4 and Louisiana, 3. Jeremy Kester of Mapleville missed the A by one spot at Monticello. Only 6 Arkansas entries made the trip to Chatham and only 3 were at Boothill with Odie Green joining Holtzkamper and Linn. Green missed the A by two spots. At Fast Trax, Courtney Tanner of Eldorado joined Holzkamper as the only 2 Arkies in that feature and he did it on passing points from his heat and did not have to run a B main. He was the second DNF in the A main but still a good effort to make the show from a 62-car field!

Ashdown, Arkansas's David Mitchell had not missed a Southern Series race coming into the 4-race weekend and was 10th in points. Motor trouble plagued them at both Batesville and Monticello and they were unable to make the Louisiana shows. Mitchell is a former Boothill Speedway Modified track champion.

Louisiana's Best Showing Came at Fast Trax

Jamie Burford, Keatchie, La. -- Jamie brought his TVT 24/7 Lubricants TRE-by-Baby-Bone into the week at 9th in the standings and was 9th after Sunday's finish. Although he lost 62 points to Shryock, he still made the Hunt. The weekend didn't start out good as they blew a motor at Batesville in the B and missed the A main but he won a B at Monticello and made the other three shows without using a provisional. He had a pair of 13ths in Louisiana.

Michael Robertson, Minden, La. -- Michael was the only Louisiana entry to make Batesville and he did it without having to run a B. Of course he started front row with a big Friday night win in his Wingfield Kraft Kar Chassis #05 at the Batesville Madness last year. On this past Friday night, Michael used a provisional to make the Monticello A and he missed the A at Fast Trax. At Boothill, Robertson was back on his qualifying game and made top 8. Unfortunately, he was 0 for 3 on finishing the A mains he made. Robertson did score a top five at the USMTS show in Willis, Texas back in April.

Larry Clevenger, Greenwood, La. -- Larry struggled with his Harris Chassis at Monticello and FTS, primarily with motor trouble but the Marshall Mobile Homes #L1 put it together at his home track of Boothill Speedway on Sunday. He qualified 19th, finished 5th and earned the hardcharger award for the night. Clevenger did not make the trip to Batesville.

With the success Robertson, Chris Henigan and some others have had with the Kraft Kar chassis, two more Louisiana entries had Kraft Kars this weekend.

Shane Hebert, Scott, La. -- Shane ran his familiar Hughes Chassis #9 that he has had so much success with in Baton Rouge and south Mississippi UMP shows at the Batesville show and missed the A by 4 spots in his B. The next night, he had a Kraft Kar #4 and came up 3 spots short at Monticello. The next night at Fast Trax though, Shane won his B to make the show and went from 16th to 8th in the A for his best USMTS finish to date. He didn't finish his B at Boothill. He and his brother Danny raced in all 4 USMTS shows.

Joel Couvillion, Alexandria, La. -- Joel debuted his new Kraft Kar at Monticello and didn't do that bad but didn't get to finish his B main. The next night at Fast Trax though, Joel made top 8 and had his best USMTS finish with a 7th! Couvillion did not race at Boothill.

Kyle Pleasant, Robeline, La. -- Pleasant began the weekend at Monticello where he qualified top eight with his Specialty Contractors GRT. Unfortunately, he got turned in turn four and Steve Miller couldn't avoid him and flatted the bumber of the #6X before Miller's #8 flipped upside down and caught fire. Miller escaped with 2nd degree burns on his neck. He was at Boothill spectating in bandages. Pleasant meanwhile went on to Fast Trax and had an uncharcteristic 9th in a B-main. He was having one of his better Boothill runs on Sunday when he got shuffled out of a transfer spot in is B main in some hard racing. The 6X team did have an impact on Saturday's FTS A main though. In a fine show of sportsmanship and comradarie, they loaned Randy Timms the transmission he won with at Fast Trax!

Kevin McCoy, Downsville, La. -- Good guy Kevin McCoy showed up first at Monticello with his fast Larry Shaw chassis #36 and missed the A by just 5 spots in his 20-car B main. Can't seem to find out where he went Saturday night. Not listed at Fast Trax, Champion Park, AMS or Greenville so they may have just been at FTS watching or at the house, don't know, but he showed up at Boothill and snuck into the 22nd and final qualifying spot for the 54-car field. Then he drove a solid race and posted a best USMTS finish of 11th in the A main!

Quitman's Lee Patton & West Monroe's Jody Davidson in fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis and Pineville's Joey LaPrairie in a former Mark Noble Dirt Works all made the FTS A main giving Louisiana 6 A main starters from out of the 62-car field -- 22 of which were from the home state. Timmy Culp -- The Original Young Gun from West Monroe -- had a tough weekend to take and he was running pretty good. Culp made the previous USMTS show at Batesville in May in his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis. On Thursday, Culp missed the A by one spot. That also happened to him in March's MAMC up there. Friday, he never started his B main and Saturday, he got wrecked pretty hard in his B main while looking like he was going to transfer. Culp had won 2 of the previous 3 Modified features at Fast Trax coming in. His bright spot of the weekend was getting into Robbie Davis's Limited Mod and finishing third with it at Boothill on Sunday night. Chris Huckaby was enjoying a new experience as the Monroe driver went to all 4 races including Batesville for the first time. Chris had a third at FTS on July 21st. Recent Sabine feature winner Charlie Morrow of Deville attempted his first USMTS race at FTS and came up 4 spots short in his B main with his TRE-by-Burford. BJ Robinson of Blanchard tried Monticello and Boothill and came up one spot short of a transfer behind McCoy at Boothill. Rusty Harris of Shreveport missed the Boothill by 4 spots in the same B main.

Texans Support Series in Big Numbers!

Sean Jones, Mansfield, Texas -- The Cowtown ace started the weekend off with his 2nd straight 6th place finish at Batesville in his fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis and this time he earned the hard charger award for the effort by coming from 20th starting spot. He was the only TExan to qualify for that race. (Troy Taylor used a provisional) At Monticello, Sean came from 22nd to a top ten finish. With speaker problems in the Fast Trax pits, Jones missed his heat race and never recovered from that but at Boothill, he qualified top eight and DNFed the feature for a 16th place finish.

Chris Henigan, Marshall, Texas -- Chris skipped Batesville and started the week off at Monticello but was never satisfied with the car. He didn't even start his B main. Fast Trax is one of the places that Henigan really shines though. Sure enough, the $2500 Doug Murphrey Memorial winner from May won a B main to start 14th at FTS and rallied for a top 5 finish with his Career Search Kraft Kar Chassis! It was good to see Dougie Murphrey, Jr. out there trying the USMTS show at FTS too. He had the outside working in is B main for a while but a broken shock slowed his progress. Henigan won another B main at Boothill on Sunday and was coming again in that A main but a broken shock mount ended Chris's drive there too.

Dustin Hyde, Texarkana, Texas -- "Tater" had a great night at Monticello. He didn't go to Batesville but qualified his TRE Chassis #K9 in the top eight at Monticello's 73-car race and drew outside pole for the feature and was running in second for much of the race before ending up with a career best USMTS finish of 6th. The next night at Fast Trax, motor trouble in hot laps parked him for the weekend.

Bobby Malchus, Red Oak, Texas -- Malchus who his 12th place in points missed the Batesville A by 3 spots in his B but made the next two A mains in his Edge Chassis and had an 11th at Monticello. He used a provisional to make his third A main of the weekend at Boothill and advanced from 24th to finish 12th. Malchus had a USMTS top five earlier in the year. "Hunt" eligible.

David Horner, Houston, Texas -- David made the long trip north to Batesville and finished ninth in his 15-car B main. The next two nights though, Horner put his Skyrocket Chassis into the show on passing points from the heats and did not even have to run a B-main. He didn't finish the Monticello feature but did finish 17th in the FTS feature. Horner didn't race at Boothill.

John Whittington, Vidor, Texas -- Aside from missing the Batesville feature by three spots with an ill-handling car, John-O had a good week qualifying after that. He made the top eight twice, drew the pole at FTS and qualified for the last 3 shows. Finishes? Not so good as he DNFed all 3. Whittington had a top five and two top tens earlier in the year in USMTS action.

Phil Dixon, Crosby, Texas -- After a slow start at the first two events where they missed the A, this likeable racer got it going at Fast Trax and Boothill. Dixon put his Fast One Chassis in both shows by qualifying 9th in passing points on both nights. He scored a top ten on Saturday night and had a DNF in the A main on Sunday.

You know these Houston area drivers sure are looking forward to Motorama on October 18th - 20th, South Texas Speedway on November 15th - 17th and Houston Raceway Park on November 29th, 30th & DEcember 1st!

Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas -- 17 year old Rodney "The Rocket" had a rough start to his week. First he missed the Batesville A main by just two spots. Slight improvement over the miss-by-six he had at Batesville in his first ever trip to the track in May. At Monticello though, he ended his hot lap session on his roof. Discouraged, the #20 Hughes Chassis team almost called it quits and headed west. They they had not missed any of the first ten SS events. The next night they didn't even finish their B main but they used their second provisional of the year and started 24th. Once in the show, Sanders knew what to do and earned the hard charger award with a ninth place finish in a 40-lap feature that only had 3 cautions. The momentum carried over into Boothill where Sanders qualified on passing points, no B main and his second straight 9th place A main finish. Sanders lost 71 points to Shryock but he held onto 8th in the standings. You know Rodney who lives near Lubbock is looking forward to the next Southern Series event in Clinton, Oklahoma on September 13th - 15th. That's the closest race for them on the Southern Series schedule and they've been doing some traveling this year! Sanders is also "Hunt" eligible.

Troy Taylor, Fort Worth, Texas -- Another Cowtown ace but you have to feel for this guy whenever he takes his Larson Chassis out on the road -- especially at a Southern Series events. It's almost like he's s etiing a record for number of near misses when trying to get into an A main. He did miss by several positions at Batesville but used a provisional to run that A. The next two shows at Monticello and FTS he missed the As by one spot each night -- something he had already done several times this year -- and then he missed by 2 spots at Boothill. That has to turn around sooner or later!

Nicholas Littlejohn is back in the Henderson #76 and he put that fast Larry Shaw Race Cars chassis into the A main top eight at Fast Trax. He finished 16th. Littlejohn missed the Boothill feature by one spot and didn't have any luck at Monticello and missed Batesville by several spots. Nathan Sugg took over the Brandon Melton #7M. Brandon had not missed a SS race all year and qualified for the last Batesville USMTS show. They missed the show by a bunch at Batesville this time and same at Boothill but they missed the A by just two spots at Monticello & Fast Trax.

Tim Clonch of Quinlan, Texas made the two A mains that he attempted on the weekend with his new Bill Brown backed green #18 Skyrocket Chassis at Fast Trax and Boothill. He and Clyde Dunn, Jr. did not arrive for the USMTS shows until Saturday. Dunn missed both A mains.

Longview's Jason Ingalls put on a show at his home track of Boothill. The third generation SUPR Late Model star qualified a fast, 3-link, Larry Shaw Race Cars #34 chassis owned by Robbie Duncan -- the same one Jason finished 5th with at TMS in that 200-car field -- in the 17th position. He charged through the field and was battling for fifth with Timms. The pair traded contact and Timms wound up spun for a caution. Both cars were sent to the back though. So, Jason had to mount another charge that ended with a 7th place finish for the justsayyes.tv Shaw Chassis. Visit www.justsayyes.tv when you can. It's a website dedicated to Jason's late friend and his car owner's son, Dustin Duncan. Be sure and attend the second annual Dustin Duncan Memorial Race at Texas DIRT Motorplex on Sunday, September 2nd. Jason's twin brother Justin Ingalls missed the Boothill by 3 spots in the Grigsby #69. Kyle Taylor pf Longview was also competing at the Boothill in show in 77 year-old "Papa" Ray Ingalls's #LAZY8 Smiley's car. Ray has run several races this year in the car but turned the seat over to Taylor for the USMTS show. Kyle finished 12th in his B main. Wes Armstrong of Marshall made the A main at Boothill and finished 15th. It was his only USMTS race of the weekend.

Texans averaged nearly 21 entries per race and none of the events were on Texas soil although Boothill is just 3 miles from the Texas state line. The peak was 23 cars at both Fast Trax and Boothill and the low was the 17 at Batesville.

Missouri-Kansas

The powerful GRT combination of Springfield, Missouri drivers Terry Phillips and Arizona transplant Jeremy Payne were on hand for Batesville and Montiello only. Phillips actually drew the pole at Batesville and for the third time this year had a problem that elimintaed his #75 before the race even started. This time, he broke a pull bar on the parade laps! Then at Monticello, Phillips was winning his B main when he suddenly lost power on the final lap and wound up fourth -- one spot shy of transferring to the A. Meanwhile, Payne drove his #74 GRT to the runner-up finish at Batesville but could only advance from 7th to 5th in his B main. The pair did not run either of the Louisiana shows.

Scott Green of Derby, Kansas is now tenth in SS points and Hunt eligible after making all but the Batesville A main on the weekend. The Hughes Chassis driver had finishes of 10th, 12th and 14th.

The Hunt for the USMTS National Championship starts in Kansas on August 9th and races through southwest Missouri on the 10th, 11th and 12th before swinging up to Iowa and Minnesota and ending the first half in Iowa on the 17th. After 13 days off, the second half of The Hunt starts again in Iowa then ends with 7 races in Minnesota through Labor Day weekend and the 9th annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Speedway on September 6th, 7th and 8th with a possible $12,000 to win weekend and a USMTS National Champion to be crowned.

The Southern Series will then start back up a week after that on September 13th through 15th at Clinton Motorsports Park in western Oklahoma. Cya then!