Texas Speedzone - Roper Rolls in USRA Trucks Magnum Trailers 50 Presented by TexasSpeedZone.Com

Roper Rolls on in USRA Trucks Magnum Trailers 50 Presented by TexasSpeedZone.Com

by JM Hallas

San Antonio, TX (June 4, 2006) - USRA Truck qualifying saw a new face find his way to the top of the charts, when Jim Albert driving the Lifestyle Furniture, Seitz Garage, Mustang Mendez Paint & Body, Hitachi, National Satellite, Petroff Towing, Prescott Products, Laser Signs, ARTS Chassis powered by a recently purchased crate motor, set his first ever fast time.
“I was concerned about the wall on last lap,” said the elated Albert. “I like running the crate motor. It’s got power everywhere I need it. We worked and worked and worked since Wednesday. We got a lot of practice here and it paid off. I’m going to adjust a little for the race and hopefully the truck will be as fast at the end(of the race.)”

Albert would draw a four, with Jody Buzbee and Bryan Meredith getting the front row starting spots. Meredith got the jump into turn 1 as green flew when Buzbee was slow to get going and stacked up the inside row. Steve Green and Craig Roper ran side by side on lap 1 for fourth as the field sorted itself out. Meredith, with Buzbee now on his bumper, began to put a small gap on the second pack of Albert, Green and Roper.

Roper began to challenge Green again for position on lap 5, taking looks inside. Current points leader, Shawn Paul Lehman caught the second group on lap 8 as Meredith started to inch away from the March race winner, Buzbee. Albert got a little breathing room in the second pack when lap traffic split them up on lap 12. Roper was still trying to find a way around Green and was able to get along side on lap 14, finally taking the spot.

Roper then ran down Albert on lap 18 and was ducking low in turns 1-2 looking for third. Up front Buzbee had caught Meredith for the lead as the fight for third continued until lap 21 when Roper got past Albert in turns 3-4. Albert tried to cross over and retake the spot but was unable. The red flag came out on lap 23 when Bud Carroll slammed the wall hard and had a flash fire erupt. The flames quickly went out as Carroll climbed from his ride, uninjured.

On the restart Green used the high side to get by Albert for fourth, with Lehman following for fifth. Albert and Rusty Mirth then ran door to door for sixth. As the race came to the crossed flags it was still the former series champion Meredith holding off Buzbee, Roper and Green with Lehman rounding out the top five. Buzbee got a little loose coming out of turn 4 on lap 28 giving Roper a run and the duo side by side. After a lap and half battle, Roper finally secured the second spot.

Meredith had an eight truck length lead over Roper on lap 30 as the top eight separated out. Roper then methodically worked his way up to Meredith inch by inch, lap after lap until he caught the leader on lap 35. Wasting little time, Roper then put the heat on taking peeks low on laps 36 and 37. Green took over third from Buzbee on lap 37.

Roper got a good run and ducked inside Meredith down the back stretch. The pair were door to door through turns 3-4 and down the front stretch on lap 39. Roper would be first back to the line to get the point on lap 40 as Green moved in on Meredith for second. Roper then began to put distance on the pack running second, while Albert, Mirth and dirt modified hot shoe, Chad Wheeler battling for sixth.

Roper had just built a comfortable margin when yellow waved on lap 47 for Brent Bell who rolled to stop on the front straight with a flat tire. On the restart Meredith tried to retake the lead from Roper with Green jumping into the mix. It was three wide going into turn 1, with Roper holding on to the top spot. Mirth and Wheeler were able to get by Albert for sixth and seventh. In the final laps Roper in the McGinnis Welding Supply, Bradfords Transmissions, Brians Tire, crate motored ARTS Chassis, was able to sneak away to a .8 second margin as the checkers flew.
“ I don’t know how we did it,” replied Roper. “We had a good handling truck. I wanted to let the field sort out and see what I had then get them one by one. There’s a bunch of good drivers in this series and no one is going to give you an inch. We’re just going to keep going and hope this momentum keeps up. This is nice.”

USRA Truck Series results
Pos/Car#/Driver/Start
1 40 Craig Roper (6)
2 54 Steve Green (3)
3 30 Bryan Meredith (2)
4 1 Jody Buzbee (1)
5 28 Shawn Paul Lehman (5)
6 07 Rusty Mirth (9)
7 88 Chad Wheeler (10)
8 31 Jim Albert (4)**
9 38 Cameron Moore jr. (12)
10 32 Neal Rogers (14)
11 42 Jason Marshall (7)
12 72 Brent Bell (11)
13 18 Bud Carroll (8)
14 64 Terry McCoul (13)