STARS Racing Series Blue-Gray 100: Report and Results
24 November 1997
Gaffney, SC - Clint Smith, of Griffin, GA, drove his MasterSbuilt/Eatmon/Benson Motorsports Ford Mustang to his first career win on the STARS Racing Series as he captured the win and the $12,000 at Gaffney, SC in the Blue-Gray 100. Smith inherited the lead on lap 27 and held off the continual challenges of Ronnie Johnson to nab the victory. Johnson finished in second with Ricky Weeks third, Mike Gault fourth and Gary Webb Fifth. At the drop of the green flag to begin the race, outside pole sitter Mike Duvall jumped into the early lead, closely followed by Jack Pennington, Scott Bloomquist, Steve Francis and Freddy Smith. Bloomquist worked his way around Pennington on lap 5 to take second while Smith moved into fourth on the 8th lap with a neat move to the inside of Francis. Smith entered the top five on lap 12 as he also passed Francis while Bloomquist was putting the pressure on leader Duvall. On lap 25 Bloomquist was able to work his way around Duvall and take the lead with Pennington, F Smith and C Smith all in line behind the two leaders. The front runners were working lapped traffic on lap 27 when Steve Shaver bobbled in turn three and spun just as the lead pack was approaching. Bloomquist, Duvall, Pennington, and Francis were unable to avoid the spinning Shaver and the ensuing pile-up caused the red flag to be thrown. No one was injured but of the cars involved, only Duvall, Francis and Shaver were able to continue, but would all fail to finish the race. The restart had Clint Smith now on the point with Johnson, Rick Eckert, Weeks and Joe Meadows in the top five spots. Eckert's day would end early as a blown engine took him out after 59 laps while Meadows lasted until lap 93 when a right rear tire blew sending him to the pits. Johnson tried everything he could to find a way around the black Ford of Smith, but was unable to complete the pass, despite having his nose inside Smith on a number of occasions. Smith held on for the win with Johnson crossing the stripe one car length back in second. Steve Lucas crossed the line in fourth place and Ray Tucker crossed in sixth but both cars were light at the scales and relegated to the 24th and 25th place in the final standings. There were 48 cars on hand for the race with Jack Pennington setting a new Track Record in Qualifying of 18.433 seconds. Heat race wins went to Clint Smith, Eckert, Weeks and Jeff Smith while Francis nabbed the ISKY RACING CAMS Fast Dash. In the twin 'B' Mains, Tim Hitt and Gary Webb took the wins. RESULTS BLUE-GRAY 100 Pos Car Driver 1. 1s Clint Smith 2. 5 Ronnie Johnson 3. 1 Ricky Weeks 4. 17g Mike Gault 5. 5g Gary Webb 6. 2 Dennis Franklin 7. 68 Tim Hitt 8. H7 Phil Hall 9. 71R Rod Conley 10. 33 Joe Meadows 11. 01 Jack Pennington 12. 71 Delmas Conley 13. 99 Johnny Johnson 14. 24 Rick Eckert 15. 30 Steve Shaver 16. 1b Dan Brewer 17. 15 Steve Francis 18. F1 Mike Duvall 19. 0 Scott Bloomquist 20. 00 Freddy Smith 21. E1 Mike Balzano 22. U2 Buckshot Miles 23. 70 Jeff Smith 24. 5l Steve Lucas 25. 27 Ray Tucker FNAL TOP TEN STARS POINTS STANDINGS 1. Steve Francis 8580 2. Tim Hitt 7440 3. Rick Eckert 7250 4. Mike Balzano 6930 5. Stev Shaver 6100 6. Rod Conley 6100 7. Bart Hartman 5040 8. Todd Andrews 4340 9. Delmas Conley 4300 10. Barry Bragdon 4010 John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel