USARacing South Boston Leftovers
A Champion, A Rookie of the Year and More
By Allison Fulson & Elgin Traylor
Rogers is King at South Boston With the Race Victory and the Championship
Clay Rogers Clenches Third Championship With a Win as Birth of Daughter Approaches Quickly
The first words out of Clay Rogers’ mouth as the 2009 USARacing Pro Cup Series Champion were, “I’m coming for you Bobby Gill.”
Rogers clinched his third series title by winning the Strutmasters.com 250 at South Boston Speedway on Saturday, which now puts him only one title away from tying Pro Cup veteran, and friend, Bobby Gill - who leads the series record books with four championships.
“It’s a great deal for our team,” explained Rogers. “JCR3 Motorsports has won championships in a bunch of different series and I’m just glad we were able to get them a championship in the Pro Cup series. I know they’ve been chasing it pretty hard for the last few years. It’s a family affair with JCR3, they’re dedicated to racing in general and motorsports as a whole and they gave me the opportunity to drive their equipment. After we worked through some hard times at the middle of last season, we found some stuff that’s really been working well for us.”
Rogers knows just as well as any multi-time champion, the road to a championship begins with the previous season and doesn’t come without its bumps in the road.
“We carried a lot of momentum out of Rockingham last year into the beginning of this season,” said Rogers. “We had a couple hiccups along the way, some broken parts, flat tires and things of that nature that were kind of out of our control but we bounced back really well every time. If we didn’t win, most of the time we were in the top three or four - so consistency is the key and I’m just proud to be driving this equipment really.”
For Rogers, who is soon-to-be a first time father, racing in the Pro Cup Series isn’t just a hobby, it’s his job.
“This is how I make my living,” explained Rogers. “And that’s hard in short track racing. If you’re not in one of the top three series, it’s hard to make a living racing - especially with the economy the way it’s been the last year and a half or two but we’ve been able to struggle through it. It definitely helps when you win championships and win a lot of races. I started racing for fun then over the last few years it’s become a job and I try to treat it that way. It kind of changes the way you look at things a little bit but I have a blast, I love doing it for a living as long as I can make enough money to pay my bills and drive racecars, what else could I want.”
Cheryl Rogers, Clay’s expectant wife, wasn’t able to attend the race due to doctor’s orders since the birth of their daughter is so close. That put Clay and his team on edge hoping they wouldn’t have to rush home before collecting their trophy.
“I wanted to get through the race this weekend without having any problems,” laughed Rogers. “And now I’d be happy if she’d go into labor tomorrow. I’m ready to get started, it seems like it’s been drawn out forever and I’ve been looking forward to the due date for a long time. I’ve got a birthday next week so I’m hoping she’ll be born on my birthday, that would be neat.”
Besides awaiting the arrival of his new bundle of joy, Rogers has a few other things to look forward to as the 2009 season comes to a close including a little race down in Florida, in December.
“I’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up,” said Rogers. “We’ve got the birth of our first child, I’ve got a birthday coming up and we’re working trying to go to the Snowball Derby. So we’re not done racing for the year yet hopefully.”
Lucas Ransone Clinches Raybesto’s Rookie of the Year Award with a String of Impressive Finishes
With eight top-10 finishes and a win in the 14-race 2009 USARacing Pro Cup Series season, Lucas Ransone nabbed the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.
“There weren’t many rookies,” commented Ransone. “But we’ll take it with one win this season. The biggest thing I got out of this year was getting used to these bigger cars. I haven’t quite got qualifying down yet but we’ll work on it in the off-season. But just driving these bigger cars, I feel like we’ll be good next year and we’ll only keep improving from here.”
Despite being involved in an incident which eventually caused Ransone not to complete the Strutmasters.com 250, he still left the track in high spirits with his Rookie of the Year Award.
“Well we had a really awesome car,” said the 19-year old, Madison, North Carolina native. “But it was just one of those racing deals. We were passing for fifth and got turned around, but we’ll take it. I’m proud of all my guys, all my sponsors and hopefully we can come back next year and win some more races.”
Drew Herring Takes Care of Business with a Third-Place Finish Before Heading Out on Halloween
2008 USARacing Pro Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Drew Herring capped off his sophomore season with a third-place finish in the Strutmasters.com 250 at South Boston Speedway as well as a solid third place in the final series’ points standings.
“The car was really good there at the beginning of the race,” said Herring. “We got by Clay [Rogers] and were actually running pretty good. I didn’t have to press the issue any and I was just riding it out and saving the car as best I could. We missed the pit sequence and it got us behind so we had to get tires early to try and make that ground up and then we just ran out of tires there at the end. Then we just lost the nose of the car, it kind of started sliding the nose in the center and I couldn’t get that bite off.”
Although Herring earned himself another solid top-five finish in the Strutmasters.com 250, his weekend didn’t start with such success on Friday.
“It was another one of those weekends,” explained Herring. “In practice yesterday coming off turn two, we got caught up in a wreck, hit the wall with the right front and destroyed the right front suspension. These guys busted their tails and got it back together, we didn’t get another lap of practice and then went out and sat on the outside pole and came home third. Regardless, it was definitely not a bad weekend and nothing to hang our heads about.”
Although Herring is looking forward to the 2010 season, on Saturday night he was in the Halloween spirit, along with several youngsters around the track dressed in their trick-or-treating garb, and ready to head out of South Boston.
“It’s cool to be racing on Halloween. I’ve raced on Halloween for about the last four or five years so I’m glad to actually get it done early today. I’m going to try to get back home to Raleigh and put on a costume besides this race suit and go out and do some ‘Halloweening’ myself.”
Adjustments to Brandon Ward’s Rain Dampened Set-Up Earn Him the Runner-Up Spot
“We struggled there at the beginning of the race,” said Ward. “We were really tight in the center.
Yesterday in practice we had a good car but we had worked on running right on the very bottom down on the apron, since that’s where we were here earlier in the year. Then after all the rain, we couldn’t get down there so we were having to run up in the middle which made us tight. But we made three adjustments during the race and that got us a lot better so by the end we were really good.”
Some have called Ward “The Jack of All Trades” this year as he’s left his mark on many series’ throughout the 2009 season but his heart is with the USARacing Pro Cup Series.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” explained Ward. “We don’t really have any money to take to these deals so we’re just trying to position ourselves to be in the best ride possible no matter what division. I still hope to be able to run some of the Modified stuff next year and some of the PASS stuff as well, but I really love this Pro Cup Series and hope to be back here next year.”
With his focus set on a return to the series next season, Ward is excited about the contents of the recently released 2010 series schedule.
“I’ve never raced at North Wilkesboro,” commented Ward. “But it would be a great opportunity. This series has really stepped back up to the plate to what it’s always been. Being able to go to Iowa, Rockingham, North Wilkesboro and Bristol, plus and all the great short tracks like here at South Boston is just awesome.”
JP Morgan Happy With Second In Points
After the race at South Boston some would expect a driver who just lost the championship to be hanging his head and not talking with other competitors. JP Morgan however took everything in as he finished off his best season yet in the USARacing Pro Cup Series.
“Oh man, it means everything to us,” said Morgan. “We’ve been trying so hard with Pro Cup, we ran those partial seasons there for years and then now having our second full season under our belt and to come out finishing second in points. That’s one of those things we said, we’re going to do this you know, we dreamed of doing it and it has been awesome.”
Morgan spent his post race thanking all his fellow drivers and even was the first driver to congratulate Clay Rogers in victory lane.
Speed Shots
-Clay Rogers won six races this season putting him fourth on the all time list. He is still 23 victories behind Bobby Gill.
-Rogers is now the all-time pole award winner with 26 in his USARacing Pro Cup career.
-Rookie Logan Ruffin scored his first ever top 10 finish at South Boston
-Bryce Walker logged his third top 10 of 2009.
-Veteran Bobby Gill scored his 11th top five finish of the season at South Boston and still he was shut out of victory lane for the second straight year.
Clay Rogers got the big trophy at South Boston. (51 Sports photo)
Clay Rogers talks with his wife who was home resting as they anticipate the birth of their first child any day now. (51 Sports photo)
Lucas Ransone won the 2009 Rookie of the Year award. (Kathy Bond photo)
Brandon Ward works his way to the front at South Boston. (51 Sports photo)
JP Morgan gives Clay Rogers a celebratory hug in victory lane. (51 Sports photo)
