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| Roper, Green Big Winners at USRA Truck Series Event at THR ‘Spectacular’
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| USRA Truck Series
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Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 |
For Immediate Release – October 29, 2006
Contact: Nick Holt, USRA Media Director
cnholt@sbcglobal.net
(210) 690-8564 (office)
(210) 415-1251 (cell)
Roper, Green Big Winners at USRA Truck Series Event at THR ‘Spectacular’
Kyle, TX (October 28, 2006) – United States Racing Association Truck Series driver Craig Roper may have won the battle in winning the 50-lap Truck feature Saturday night at Thunder Hill Raceway’s “10th Annual Stock Car Spectacular,” but Steve Green won the war by placing second and securing the 2007 USRA Truck Series Championship.
“This is my first championship,” the new champion said after the race. “They say the first one’s always the best and I guess they’re right. We’ve raced four years in the truck series and come back from a very bad accident so it feels great.”
Green spent the last part of the 50-lapper right on Roper’s rear bumper at the pair separated themselves from the rest of the 13-truck field on the last green flag run to the finish.
“We had a lot of fun out there racing with Craig (Roper),” Green said. “We raced with him all year and he’s a great competitor. We just couldn’t get up there beside him where we needed to be to get by, or we got under him a little bit but he was able to hold me off. I probably had a faster car than he did, but he raced clean and I raced clean and I just couldn’t get around him.”
In addition to his championship run, Green set fast time in the TexasSpeedZone.Com qualifying with a 16.142-second timing while Roper was second fast at 16.353 seconds.
Roper and Jason Marshall paced the 13-truck field to the green flag, but the first attempt to get the race under way at the three-eighth-mile paved oval was aborted when Rusty Mirth and Shawn Paul Lehman tangled in the pack sending James Lynch into the grass to avoid them on the first lap.
With Mirth and Lehman now at the rear, the restart saw Roper get a big jump on Green as outside pole-sitter Jason Marshall fell back on the high side. Green then took off in pursuit of Roper leaving Bryan Meredith, Marshall, Jim Albert and former American Race Truck Series champion Colt James to bang each other around for the remaining top spots.
After a caution period for a Chris Snocker spin, James was able to get by Meredith, and then Green for second as Roper took off once again to earn a substantial lead.
At the half way point, it was Roper, James, Green, Meredith, and Albert.
As the laps wound down, Green closed back in on James and was putting the pressure on to regain second. The pair raced side-by side for a lap, but they made contact in turn 1 with James ending up on the outside apron to bring out the yellow flag with 17 laps remaining.
On the restart, Green began putting pressure on Roper for the lead as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Green looked high and low, but Roper was able to hold him off over the final laps.
Marshall, Albert, Meredith, James Lynch, who was making his USRA Truck Series debut, and Brent Bell all finished on the lead lap.
“We really had to hold on to win that one,” Roper said from the tech inspection area after the race. “He was definitely faster than me towards the end. I had to protect the bottom and that’s what you have to do here at Thunder Hill. I didn’t know if I would be able to hold him off until I saw that checkered flag.”
Results of the USRA Truck Series 50-lap feature event at the 10th Annual Stock Car Spectacular at Thunder Hill Raceway, 10/07/06
Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed
1. (40) Craig Roper, Vernon, TX, 16.353, 50 Laps
2. (54) Steve Green, Marble Falls, TX, 16.142, 50
3. (42) Jason Marshall, Leander, TX, 16.477, 50
4. (31) Jim Albert, Lockhart, TX, 16.467, 50
5. (30) Bryan Meredith, Austin, TX, 16.586, 50
6. (13) James Lynch, Cedar Park, TX, 16.977, 50
7. (72) Brent Bell, Katy, TX, 16.805, 50
8. (1) Jody Buzbee, Waco, TX, 16.769, 49
9. (38) Cameron Moore, Jr., Buda, TX, 17.062, 49
10. (43) Chris Snocker, San Antonio, TX, 16.817, 49
11. (60) Colt James, Buda, TX, 16.472, 44
12. (07) Rusty Mirth, Austin, TX, 16.636, 21
13. (28) Shawn Paul Lehman, Manchaca, TX, 16.622, 9
Lap Leaders: Roper led laps 1 - 50
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