Opening Day Race

March 24th, 2001

Call it anything you want, but it was COLD. We had conflicting weather all week long and for it to be in the lower 70's on Thursday, the middle 30's felt miserable on this race night. The cold north wind kept us all bundled up but it was the racing that was hot. The improved track layout, the absence of hay bales on our front straight, and one awesome track surface for a green first of the year race, made form a wild and fantastic night of racing for our 119 entries. 

New management, new facility improvements, new track worker communications, new track rules and new classes made for the ingredients of what we had hoped for, and that was new hope that we can show the racers, and fans alike that we can offer the best in outdoor short track kart racing in the mid-south area. We are just beginning to see the initial improvements and more are to come. 2001 will be the best year yet at ARP!!!

New faces, old veterans, and some new additions to families, made for a very family like atmosphere. THAT is what ARP will continue to be about.

Tony PollardSmiling faces, and sportsmanship made the night very awesome. Here is a picture of Tony Pollard after winning the Junior Sportsman Champ Class Purple Restrictor. Tony has won at Atoka before, but never in the money classes. I don't think there were too many people he didn't show the money or his big grin to.  This was a night full of big grins, cold maybe, but big never the less. 

 

I want to thank all the racers who came from out of town to visit our facility. I hope you will choose to return and I promise, we have not even begun to make things better and give back to the racers who support us. I also want to thank all our racers who braved the cold weather to run this initial 2001 race. The weather will improve, facilities will improve, and I guarantee the racing will improve, even though, we had some fantastic racing this night.

I also want to thank especially our track workers. We had some veteran officials, and some new officials. Without them we could not give the racers a place to race. We have some wonderfully dedicated people working for us this year and I will give them the attention they deserve in weeks to come on our site. I especially want to thank my son, Jason Moss, who without his dedication and never give up attitude concerning the preparation of track surface, we would not have the great surface we do. 

I also want to thank Clayton Allen, the facility owner, for believing in us and letting us show him our ideas, goals, and dedication in making ARP work!

But most of all, I want to thank YOU, the racers, and race fans alike, for without your support, none of this would be happening. 

Welcome to the 2001 Race Season at Atoka Raceway Park!!!!

Danny Davis

(click on picture for full view)

Junior Novice
1 David Davidson

Our First race of the year started out with one of our favorite classes, our Junior Novice class. Veteran David Davidson, who has a win under his belt from last year ran a hard race, to win our first race of the year. We had some new racers this year one of which was Amber Rudd, who made her first appearance on the track last Thursday night at practice. Amber finished a very respectable 4th for her first feature race. Congrats too all our Novice Racers.
2 Brent Rowell
3 ****** ******
4 Amber Rudd
5 Alan Cross
6 Brandon Malone

Junior 1
1 Justin Carver

If my information is right, Justin Carver just started racing this past year at the Thunderdome during the winter. I also understand this was his first outdoor race. Well from the 2nd lap on, this young driver held off a very hard charge from Will Holder, and Cody Burks to take his very first outdoor victory. This race also marked the first race we had using the aqua plate in this class. It made for exciting, fast Junior 1 competition. Watch this class, more excitement is on the way!!!!! 
2 Will Holder
3 Cody Burks
4 Gary Boggan
5 Scott Parker

Junior 2
1 Kevin Swindell

Our Gold plate class was taken by Kevin Swindell. Kevin is a veteran racer at ARP and it is great to see him back at the track. Blake Samples is a very familiar face and we are also glad to see him and Brian at Atoka. Andy, Samantha, and Robby topped out the top 5 and they gave us a very exciting race.
2 Blake Samples
3 Andy McElhannon
4 Samantha Gargus
5 Robby Walters

Junior 3
1 Justin Webb

Second place finisher Jeff McWilliams could not catch our Junior 3 winner Justin Webb as he made it a great victory. His sister Lacey, finished 3rd, and the Webb household has more trophies and victories after this nights racing. The old guy in the group, Brandon High, finished 4th, and welcomed newcomer Austin Matthews, finished 5th. A personal note here; this was one of the better Junior 3 races I have seen in a long time. 
2 Jeff McWilliams
3 Lacey Webb
4 Brandon High
5 Austin Matthews

Junior Sportsman Champ [Purple]
1 Tony Pollard

We decided to break down our Junior Sportsman Champs into two divisions. The purple restrictor race was captured by Tony Pollard, but this race was full of excitement as the little guys proved that racing begins at a very young age. Troy Dow was holding second spot when as he put it to his dad, "I just ran out of room" and was involved in a spin out. Watching these smaller champs run is very encouraging to the sport. 
2 Dylan Crawford
3 Garrett Carroll
4 Troy Dow
5 Dillon Blankenship
6  

Junior Sportsman Champ [Aqua]
1 Brandt Barksdale

In the aqua plate class, it was Brandt Barksdale driving to victory. It is really exciting as this class shows what a little extra horsepower can do on our track. Most of these drivers proved their ability in the aqua class at the Thunderdome this past winter.  Congrats to all our Junior Sportsman Champs this year.
2 Cody Burks
3 Zach Hutcherson
4 Jared Neiswander
5 Nathan Holder
6  

Junior Champ
1 Brandon Organ

Our newest class at ARP is an established class, but just not that many competitors. I hope that will soon change as the unrestricted junior champs, is a very awesome, and safe way to race for our juniors. Brandon Organ, took the victory, and though Brandon has raced at Atoka before, he never was able to capture first place, after so many close finishes. Brandon wanted me to mention his main sponsor, Wayne Rhodes and  The Hunting Catalog! Congrats Brandon on your first victory at Atoka! Thanks also go out to Jake Tucker, and Jeffery Keltner for joining this class this year.
2 Jake Tucker
3 Jeffery Keltner
4  
5  

Stock Light
1 Kenny Lovins

Veteran drivers, a great track surface. what can you say but watch out and that's exactly what Stock light proved. Kenny *Joe* Lovins was the declared victor after a tech decision. Congrats to Kenny for his win tonight.  (no picture available at this time)
2 Brian Samples
3 Brad Hogue
4 Jimmy Williams
5 Jeff Howell

Stock Medium
1 Kenny Lovins

Kenny Lovins again took a victory via a tech decision. Kenny's hard charging second place finish proved to be enough to capture the Stock Medium race tonight. The *ole* man of the group, Rusty Stagen took the second place spot. Newcomer to the class, Mitchell Bridges finished 5th. It was good to see all our regulars and some new but familiar faces as well. Thanks guys.  (no picture available at this time)
2 Rusty Stagen
3 Brad Hogue
4 Josh Booker
5 Mitchell Bridges

Stock Heavy
1 Joey Henderson

The battle of the Hendersons?....brothers?..I think not, but this was a race to watch. Strong competition and hard driving, always makes this class exciting to watch. Jeff held the lead for three laps but on lap three, Joey took the lead never to give it up to come away with the victory. This was our largest class of the night with 15 in the feature. 

2 Jeff Henderson
3 Morgan Towery
4 Brian Malone
5 Sammy Billingsley

Stock Super Heavy
1 Barry Burch

It's called from start to finish, Barry Burch led every lap to dominate the Super Heavy class. He was chased by Sammy Billingsley late in the race but Sammy could not catch him. Congrats go out to all the drivers in this class.
2 Sammy Billingsley
3 Robert Walters
4 Sam Rudd
5 Jeff Langston

Over 35
1 William Ivy

Who says you cant dominate? William "sonny" Ivy did just that. He paced the field around the track for a first place finish in the Senior Stock Over 35 class. Will kept off a hard charge from Roger Wilson at the end to claim the victory. Who says the older guys cant race? This race was awesome!!
2 Roger Wilson
3 Jeff Henderson
4 Tim Wilson
5 Richard Keele

Mods-Lims-Opens
1 Josh Booker

The Modified Race was one of the hardest fought races we had, with a lot of contact as usual. Josh Booker prevailed as the winner but this race was full of close racing and hard charging. Watching the Mods on our newly designed track is something to see for sure. 

2 Joey Henderson
3 Brian Malone
4 Joe Baker
5 Carey Moore

Senior Champs
1 Jason Moss

We hoped to have a large senior class this year in the champs and we had 8 for the first race. We hope to have more in future races but this is a good sign that the class is not shrinking in size. 2000 Track Champion, Jason Moss took the first victory of the year. This was Cody Peevyhouse first run at Atoka and took home the 4th spot. Thanks to all the Senior Champs!!
2 Dwayne Ponder
3 Richard Henson
4 Cody Peevyhouse
5 Jerry Williams

Star Champs
1 David Brewer

The Star Champs returned. We had thought they would not be back as we have not seen them in a while but David Brewer topped the field and took the first place spot. Thanks guys for exciting 10hp racing. (no picture available)
2 Bradley Underhill
3 Ronald Ragan
4 Trent Daniel
   

Hard Charger Award
 

Troy Dow

#21

Junior Sportsman Champ

Troy DowThe first Hard Charger Award of 2001 goes to Troy Dow who drives the #21 Junior Sportsman Champ entry in the purple division. Troy has not won a feature yet in this kart but his dedication and determination will soon pay off for a win. He was challenging the top spot when, on the next to the last lap, he ran out of room when he had no where to go trying to avoid an accident. Troy told his dad he just ran out of track. We have a facility of hard chargers, but our first award this year goes to Troy Dow. Congrats Troy from all the staff at ARP.

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