For a few laps, Church's memory
failed him
By Tom Gillispie
 |
| TYLER CHURCH (PASS SOUTH PHOTO) |
Tyler Church of Hickory says he
doesn’t remember much about the last few laps of Saturday's PASS South race at
Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, N.C.
“Oddly enough, I don’t remember the
last 20 laps or so,” said Church, who finished second to Preston Peltier,
Church's car owner. “It was hot and I felt sick and almost passed out.
Afterward, they were telling me that I got under Preston a couple of times, but
I don’t remember it.”
Church leads his teammate, Cole Timm
of Mooresville, by 28 points in the series standings; each has one victory this
season.
Church was asked if he’s nervous
leading points this late in the season.
“Not really,” he said. “I’m actually
pretty excited.”
He said he's excited partly because
he has some tracks coming up that have been good to him, including Hickory
Motor Speedway on Sept. 20.
“I hope to finish the season good and
continue and win the championship,” he said. “That would be huge.”
PASS South is off this weekend, so
Church will accompany Peltier to a PASS national race Sunday at Oxford (Me.)
Plains Speedway.
“I’ll just help him with anything I
can do,” he said.
More PASS
Brendon Setzer of Newton finished
fourth in the 16-car field at Southern National and remains seventh in points.
Church says that he and Setzer aren’t
rivals.
“The whole Setzer bunch and I get
along well,” Church said. “Brandon and I have always raced each other hard, but
we’ve raced each other clean. I’d help him anyway I could, and he’d help us.”
Saturday’s HMS results
Kevin Eby picked up his second Street
Stocks win of the season, followed by Larry Mosher, Chase Pollard, Carroll
McKinney and Wayne Edwards.
Josh Berry collected his fifth Late
Model win of the season, with William Byron (Berry's Jr Motorsports teammate)
second. Bret Holmes, Matt Piercy and Ashley Huffman rounded out the top five.
Spencer Boyd got another Super Trucks
victory, with Shelton Clay, Lee Queen, Dakota Slagle and Landon Huffman
rounding out the top five.
Mark Johnson took the Limited Late
Models victory, followed by rookie Trent Barnes, points leader Taylor
Stricklin, Evan Duggins and Travis Byrd.
Chase Pollard of Taylorsville won
another 4-Cylinders race, followed by Eddie Gilbert, Dennis Trivette, Rodney
Trivette and Curtis Pardue.
If you go Saturday…
• A 100-lap Challenge race is set for
Saturday, with Limiteds, Street Stock, Renegades and Classic Sportsman racers
also running.
• Grandstands open at 5,
followed by qualifying. Autographs are at 6, with pre-race at 6:30 and racing
at 7.
• Admission is $11 for most
adults, $9 for teens and seniors, free for kids 12 and under.
Trivia question
Have there been any fathers-sons
champions in HMS's highest division?
HMS schedule
• The Knights of Destruction
(Crash-A-Rama) will return on July 26 at 7:30.
• On Aug. 2, the Late Models,
Limiteds, Street Stocks, trucks and 4-Cylinders will race.
• A 100-lap Challenge race is
set for Aug. 9, with the Limiteds, Street Stocks and Renegades also running.
• On Aug. 16, the Late Models,
Limiteds, Street Stocks, trucks and 4-Cylinders are running.
By the numbers
Hickory's 72-year-old Morgan Shepherd
made the field for Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire, and he finished
278 of 305 laps. It was Shepherd’s second Cup start of the season and the 517th race of a career that started
in 1970, when Shepherd was 28.
Worth noting
• Chase Pollard and Carroll McKinney
finished third and fourth, respectively, Saturday in the Street Stocks race.
Both drivers were division champions last year, Pollard in 4-Cylinders and
McKinney in Renegades.
Pollard won the 4-Cylinders race, and
the Renegades were off.
• The Super Trucks division had
probably its biggest field of the season so far, nine.
• Through June 28, the points leaders
were Matt Elledge (4-Cylinders), Bob Park (Classic Sportsman), Josh Berry (Late
Models), Taylor Stricklin (Limiteds), Dustin Walker (Renegades), Street Stocks
(Kevin Townsend), Whitney Lail and Tal Davidson (tied, Super Trucks).
National and state leaders
• Through July 13, Anthony Anders and
Dillon Bassett, two part-time Late Model racers at HMS, were ranked first and
fifth, respectively, in NASCAR’s national Division I standings. Anders has 19
wins this year (none at HMS), while Bassett has posted three of his seven wins
at HMS.
• Bassett is still leading North
Carolina’s Division I standings, and HMS's Josh Berry is fourth.
• Limited Late Model drivers Taylor
Stricklin and Jeremy Pelfrey are ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively, in Division
II.
• Kevin Townsend (Street Stocks) is
23rd nationally in Division III.
This week
The feature is on Bob Hapeman, a
Classic Sportsman racer at HMS.
Worth quoting
PASS South driver Brandon Setzer, on
playing sports at Newton-Conover High School: “I did play baseball one
year, my sophomore year. I really enjoyed it and had some great friends. But it
got in front of racing, and racing was way more important for me. I played
right field, but I wasn't very good.”
Trivia answer
Tommy Houston was Hickory's track
champion in 1975 and '76, and sons Andy (1994) and Marty (1997) also won track
championships.
Tom Gillispie, the author of Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr., writes auto racing for the Hickory Daily Record. He can be reached at nc3022@yahoo.com.
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