Bristol Motor Speedway
Weeks repeats at Harris for fifth victory of 2007
From series reports
HARRIS, N.C. (Sept. 1) — Getting his second consecutive victory at a track where he cut his racing teeth, series points leader Ricky Weeks of Rutherfordton, N.C., earned $4,000 for a Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series victory at Harris Speedway. Weeks outran Jack Pennington and Dennis Franklin for the Labor Day weekend victory.
Weeks, who lives just 3 miles from the track, shot into the lead over Pennington as the green flag waved on the 40-lap feature. Jonathan Davenport quickly jumped from his third starting spot to move around Pennington for second as they raced into turn three. But a first-lap caution appeared when Randle Chupp got crossed up in turn two, collecting Furman Parton and Travis Pennington.
As the field went back green, Franklin began to challenge Pennington for third. Franklin, one of the region's hottest drivers, made the move around the Hall of Famer on lap six and quickly set his sights on Davenport. Franklin tracked down the youngster just two laps later and made a sweeping pass off turn four as he took the runner-up spot. Pennington dropped Davenport to fourth on the 10th lap.
Up front, Franklin quickly cut Weeks' large lead down and began to peek under the three-time and defending series champion as Jeff Smith began to turn the heat up on Davenport for fifth.
With the capacity crowd keeping watch, Franklin was dogging Weeks for the race lead as he looked high and low for a way around.
Soon enough, Pennington tracked the leaders down and made it a three-car battle. As the laps wore down so did Franklin's patience as he began to gingerly lean on Weeks left rear quarter panel exiting turn four. That eventually cost Franklin as he got crossed up on lap 34 and Pennington regained the second spot. From that point on, Weeks was able to slip away for his fifth victory of the season.
Harris Speedway: (1) Ricky Weeks, (2) Jack Pennington, (3) Dennis Franklin, (4) Jonathan Davenport, (5) Jeff Smith, (6) Deano Long, (7) Benji Cole, (8) Brent Robinson, (9) Furman Parton, (10) Jay Sessoms, (11) Scott Neighbors, (12) Scott Shirey, (13) Randle Chupp, (14) Mike Duvall, (15) Travis Pennington, (16) Steve Hendren.
