Fayetteville Motor Speedway
Franklin wins as Ferguson falters at Fayetteville
Dennis Franklin raced to his second straight Clash victory. (butlerracingphotos.com)
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (April 4) — After losing the lead on the sixth lap, Dennis "Rambo" Franklin of Gaffney, S.C., regained the point from series points leader Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C. on the 28th lap and led the remainder of the 40-lap Ed Gibbons Memorial at Fayetteville Motor Speedway. Franklin, who started outside the front row, earned $4,000 for his second straight Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series victory while Ferguson was left with the Tough Luck Award after a broken shock knocked him out on lap 30. | Slideshow
Five-time series champion Ricky Weeks of Rutherfordton, N.C., finished second followed by Jeff Smith of Dallas, N.C. Ray Tucker of Greensboro, N.C., advanced 20 positions to finish fourth and Tim Allen of Kannapolis, N.C., rounded out the top five in the third series event of the season.
Notes: Franklin's Barry Wright Race Car is sponsored by En Compass Solutions, Cherokee Landscaping and Ohlins Shocks. ... He has 16 career Carolina Clash victories, third all-time behind Ricky Weeks (28) and Jeff Smith (17). ... Franklin was coming off a second-place finish the previous night in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. .... The Ed Gibbons Memorial honored the late 2001 series champion, who died in a non-racing accident two months earlier. Gibbons's No. 07 was put in the No. 1 position on the scoreboard throughout the night. His older son drove his father's No. 07 a few pace laps and his younger son waved the green flag. ... Gibbons won his last race at Fayetteville, a $9,000 Carolina Clash win on Oct. 4, 2008. ... Drivers failing to make the feature lineup: Michael Mason, Roger Lucas, Luke Roffers, Dustin Mitchell, Anthony Sanders, Dean Bowen, Travis Hair, David Taylor, Lance West, Carl Powell and Billy Thompson. ... Next up for Carolina Clash competitors is a $4,000-to-win event at Hartwell (Ga.) Speedway on April 25. Benji Cole won last year's event at Hartwell, the first-ever visit by the series.
Ed Gibbons Memorial: (1) Dennis Franklin, (2) Ricky Weeks, (3) Jeff Smith, (4) Ray Tucker, (5) Tim Allen, (6) Dan Breuer, (7) Frankie Beard, (8) Doug Sanders, (9) Craig Shuffield, (10) Johnny Pursley, (11) Keith Freeman, (12) Scott Shirey, (13) Dale Hammond, (14) Chris Blackwell, (15) G.R. Smith, (16) Scott Neighbors, (17) Chris Ferguson, (18) Justin Labonte, (19) D.J. Tyndall, (20) Randle Chupp, (21) Chris Meadows, (22) Richie Corley, (23) Shawn Beasley, (24) Neil Welch. Fast qualifier (among 35 cars): Labonte, 17.384 seconds. Consolation race winners: Neighbors, Blackwell, Beasley.
