Cleveland Speedway
Arp's tripleheader sweep pays $4,500 at Cleveland
From track and correspondent reports
Arp tunes up for his big night. (actionshotsetc.com)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (Sept. 20) — Skip Arp hit a triple at Cleveland Speedway. The Georgetown, Tenn., driver swept the three Late Model features at the fifth annual Jimmy Mowery Memorial Triple Crown to earn a total of $4,500 at the third-mile oval.
Arp started on the outside front row in the first 20-lap feature and led every lap to take a victory over Ray Cook of Brasstown, N.C., who shadowed Arp for a second place finish. Riley Hickman of Ooltewah, Tenn., ran in third until lap 17 when he and Johnny Chastain collided on the frontstretch battling for position. That allowed Chastain of Murphy, N.C., and Jake Knowles of Tyrone, Ga., to move into third and fourth. Knowles overtook Chastain on the white-flag lap while Jamie Perry of Ringgold, Ga., rounded out the top five.
A four-car inversion was set for the second feature, putting Chastain on the pole. Knowles took the early lead and was chased by Arp and Chastain for the first 19 laps of the 20-lapper. On the white-flag lap, Arp moved past Knowles amid traffic to take the lead and the win. Knowles settled second with Chastain third, Cook fourth and Perry fifth.
In the third and final feature, the lineup was set by the best combined finishes of the first two events, which put Arp on the pole and Knowles on the outside front row. Arp would led every lap, but it was hardly uncontested as Cook and Knowles gave chase. Late in the race, Cook caught Arp with Knowles right behind. Trailing at the white flag, Arp regained the lead from Cook while Knowles managed to slip past to finish second. Cook, Perry and Randy Burrows of Chattanooga, Tenn., rounded out the top five.
Arp earned $1,000 apiece for the first two victories and $1,500 for the third. Car Smart of Cleveland added a $1,000 bonus for the sweep, giving Arp a total of $4,500.
Notes: Arp's GRT Race Car has a Vic Hill engine and sponsorship from Stanley Best Heating & Coooling, MidOil Racing Fuels and C.A.R. Auto Sales & Collision Repair. ... Rick Hixson continued his domination of Cleveland's Crate division with a victory over John Ownbey. ... Cleveland runs its final points races on Sept. 27. Randy Burrows leads the Super Late Model division while Chris Beavers leads the Crates. ... Several specials remain at Cleveland including the fifth annual Grant Adcox Memorial on Oct. 18 (a $4,000-to-win Late Model event) and the Nov. 14-15 Joe Lee Johnson Memorial weekend, honoring the former track owner. Nov. 14 action features a $2,700-to-win feature with the O'Reilly Southern All Stars running on Nov. 15 with the $5,000-to-win Gobbler Classic, the 20th running of the event.
First feature: (1) Skip Arp, (2) Ray Cook, (3) Jake Knowles, (4) Johnny Chastain, (5) Jamie Perry, (6) Randy Burrows, (7) Johnny Wheeler, (8) Cody Barnett, (9) Bobby Giffin, (10) Jason Welshan, (11) Brian Hickman, (12) Preston Graves, (13) Todd Morrow, (14) James Cline, (15) David Payne, (16) Robert Gant, (17) Mike Weeks, (18) Patrick Duggan, (19) Shawn Chastain, (20) Jeff Franklin, (21) Riley Hickman, (22) Brad Coffey, (23) Brett Wyatt, (24) Gabe Wilson.
Second feature: (1) Skip Arp, (2) Jake Knowles, (3) Johnny Chastain, (4) Ray Cook, (5) Jamie Perry, (6) Randy Burrows, (7) Todd Morrow, (8) James Cline, (9) Jason Welshan, (10) Brian Hickman, (11) Patrick Duggan, (12) Bobby Giffin, (13) Robert Gant, (14) Preston Graves, (15) Cody Barnett, (16) Brad Coffey, (17) Jeff Franklin, (18) David Payne, (19) Mike Weeks, (20) Shawn Chastain, (21) Riley Hickman, (22) Johnny Wheeler, (23) Gabe Wilson, (24) Brett Wyatt.
Third feature: (1) Skip Arp, (2) Jake Knowles, (3) Ray Cook, (4) Jamie Perry, (5) Randy Burrows, (6) Jason Welshan, (7) Patrick Duggan, (8) Todd Morrow, (9) James Cline, (10) Robert Gant, (11) Brad Coffey, (12) Shawn Chastain, (13) Jeff Franklin, (14) Preston Graves, (15) Mike Weeks, (16) Johnny Wheeler, (17) Brett Wyatt, (18) Bobby Giffin, (19) David Payne, (20) Craig Burrows, (21) Dewayne Powell, (22) Johnny Chastain, (23) Brian Hickman.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Randy Burrows.
