Baton Rouge Raceway
Litton captures Louisiana State Championship
By Bryan Wimberley
DirtonDirt.com correspondentBAKER, La. (Oct. 9) — Rob Litton of Alexandria, La., cruised to win his second straight Louisiana State Championship victory Saturday in the fourth annual Floyd Clausen Memorial at Baton Rouge Raceway. Litton beat Kyle Cummings of Sibley, La., by three seconds to collect $2,500 and his fourth O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing victory of the season.
Litton also stretched his series lead by another five points over Cummings to take a 144-point advantage, with two races remaining.
Wendell Wallace of Batesville, Ark., was third, sixth-starting Robbie Starnes of Baytown, Texas, moved up two spots to end up fourth, while SUPR founder Donald Watson of Greenwell Springs, La., rounded out the top five finishers.
A four-car accident on the initial start in turn two would force a second attempt to complete a lap under green. Michael Barfield of Holden, La., would get the worst end of it and have to retire without completing a lap. The field was again slowed for the second time after one lap, led by Litton, when contact between Odie and Kody Barber collected Alex Ashley and Marlon Wild. Barber and Wild were out for the race.
After two more yellows, the race stayed green for 16 laps with Litton leading the way. He began negotiating lapped traffic at the sixth circuit with Cummings, Wallace and Timothy Culp in pursuit. Litton had a one-second advantage over Cummings on lap 10, but Cummings closed to only a few lengths back when the pair entered heavier traffic three laps later.
Culp was running fourth when something broke on his car on lap 13, forcing him to call it quits.
Litton, Cummings and Wallace took off on a three-car breakaway the next five laps before another caution. Cummings tried to move under Litton on the restart, but Litton was able to hold off the challenge.
Litton began to muscle away at the halfway mark of the 50-lapper, and Cummings would feel the heat of Wallace in a battle for second. Cummings held his ground for four laps until a lap-29 caution flew.
On the restart, Cummings made contact with the backstretch wall, hindering any shot of challenging Litton as suspension damage hampered his car. Cummings was able to hold off Wallace the rest of the way while Litton completed his flag-to-flag victory.
Notes: Litton's Rocket Chassis is powered by Wall 2 Wall Performance Engines and sponsored by Larry Grayson & Son Trucking, LMS Truck Center, Litton Motorsports, TWM Racing Products and Stuckey Racing Enterprises. ... Litton notched his 23rd career series victory and he's just three behind Ronnie Poche for fifth on the all-time list. ... The 39-minute feature race ended at 10:14 p.m.; seven cautions slowed the action and 10 cars finished on the lead lap. ... Kyle Cummings piloted the No. 33x owned by Terry Pannell. ... Robbie Stuart of DeRidder, La., rallied from his 14th starting spot to finish seventh. ... Hometown driver Bill Gordon won the Crate Late Model feature at Baton Rouge; Joey Credidio won the division's points title. ... The event drew 180 race cars overall over 10 divisions for the two-day event. ... Wendell Wallace won a Friday night non-points feature for SUPR competitors. ... Next up for SUPR competitors is the Spooky 50 at Jones Motor Speedway in Chatham, LA., on Oct. 30.
Floyd Clausen Memorial: (1) Rob Litton, (2) Kyle Cummings, (3) Wendell Wallace, (4) Robbie Starnes, (5) Donald Watson, (6) David Ashley, (7) Robbie Stuart, (8) Allen Tippen, (9) Kevin Sitton, (10) Alex Ashley, (11) Troy Berdan, (12) Jason Polite, (13) Odie Green, (14) Timothy Culp, (15) Mickey Trosclair, (16) Chris Holley, (17) Bobby Litton, (18) Kody Barber, (19) Marlon Wild, (20) Jeff Chanler, (21) Michael Barfield. Scratched: William Fletcher, Mike Orlando. Fast qualifier (among 23 cars): Wallace, 14.242 seconds. Heat race winners: Cummings, Wallace, Litton.
Oct. 8 tuneup: (1) Wendell Wallace, (2) Donald Watson, (3) Rob Litton, (4) Allen Tippen, (5) Jeff Chanler, (6) Kevin Sitton, (7) Robbie Stuart, (8) David Ashley, (9) Alex Ashley, (10) Marlon Wild, (11) Timothy Culp, (12) Jason Polite, (13) Odie Green, (14) Robbie Starnes, (15) Michael Barfield, (16) Chris Holley, (17) Kody Barber, (18) Kyle Cummings, (19) Mickey Trosclair, (20) Mike Orlando.
