Hobgood Cleans Up in South Carolina |
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Topics: Jake Hobgood, Peggy Torbert Memorial Twin 75s
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ISCARS Public Relations
August 18, 2007
 Hobgood was the man to beat at Florence.... winning the pole and both of the twin 75-lap main events. He led 149 of the evening's total 150 laps of competition. |
FLORENCE, SC (Aug. 8, 2007) -- Jake Hobgood took home both trophies and a $1000 bonus at the ISCARS Peggy Torbert Memorial Twin 75s in Florence, SC, on Saturday night. For Hobgood it was his second and third consecutive wins, respectively. After his victory in Dillon, Hobgood has now won three of three events in his home state with one more to go on September 8.
Hobgood won the ISCARS Hottest Lap Award presented by Showcall with a lap of 17.965 seconds, or 80.156mph. Younger brother Justin Hobgood started second in Scott Krehling's Cypress Corporation Pontiac. On the green flag, both brothers jumped out to the lead and leaned on one another for the first half of a lap until Jake took command from his sibling in turn three.
Danny Bagwell's team averted possible disaster on lap 11 when Bagwell pitted because of overheating issues on his Torbert Trucking/5 Brothers Produce Mercury. Realizing the grille was still taped off after qualfying, the team ripped off the covering and sent the Alabama driver back into the fray, just in front of leader Jake Hobgood and barely on the lead lap.
The first accident of the night occurred on lap 17 when the 68 car of Matt Johnson from Tennessee slapped the turn 4 wall with the right side of the car. He immediately pulled into the pits and was done for the evening.
While no caution was thrown for the Johnson incident, the first yellow of the night did fly for Davis Myers and his off-road excursion in turn two on lap 31. Davis continued with no damage from that accident. Four laps later, Davis and Brandon Burris tangled in turn one after the restart with both cars receiving damage from the accident. Myers retired with overheating problems while Burris continued after repairs and a new left rear tire.
Hobgood took off again on the restart while Eric Wilson kept clawing his way towards the front of the field. Wilson passed Joey Miller on the top of the racetrack and soon began working on Justin Hobgood whom he bypassed on lap 50. Two laps later, Randy Humphrey blew an oil line and retired from the event to bring out the third caution of the evening.
Within sight of the checkered flag in race one, Ned Combs and Matt Johnson from North Carolina were battling for position and Combs spun down the front straightaway with only 4 laps to go. The Duragloss Mercury escaped unscathed and rejoined the field for the green-white-checkered finish.
Having two laps to work with, Eric Wilson gave all he had to bypass leader Jake Hobgood on the restart by working high, low, and everywhere except through the back bumper of the leader. Hobgood took the checkered flag for his second consecutive ISCARS win and upheld is perfect record in South Carolina this season. If Hobgood won the next race, he would pocket an extra $1000 for winning three of the four South Carolina races this season.
"The car was pretty good, but we started getting a little bit free towards the end of the run. It's something we may have to make an adjustment on," said the driver of the No. 64 Cedar Creek Collision Pontiac in victory lane. "The 4 (Wilson) and the 10 (Bagwell) also have pretty good cars, so they're going to be tough to beat for the second 75. We've got the first half behind us, so now we'll try to get the second half."
"We didn't have anything for Hobgood, but it was a lot of fun racing with the other guys," said Eric Wilson in only his second Dash Series appearance this year. "We got our high groove thing going on during the restarts so we were able to get past a few of them otherwise I think we'd have been in pretty bad shape. Congratulations to Jake, he ran a really good race, but we'll be ahead of him on the start of the next one, but he'll be out on the high side and he's been really good out there."
"Everything's good. We just have a little bit of a different sound, so we're changing things to be sure. It's almost like the timing is off or something," said third place Bagwell as his crew thrashed changing ignition boxes and other car components after the first race. "It's running great but we burned our tires off in the first race. Still, I'm going to give it everything I've got. I'm still proud we got back out of the pits after taking the tape off without getting lapped."
ISCARS mandated an inversion of the field after the first race, but the number of cars was dependent upon the number that winner Hobgood pulled out of a hat in victory lane. Drawing a "6," Hobgood put his brother Justin on the pole for the second race with ISCARS Watermelon Eating Contest winner Gary Young, Jr., on the outside of row 1.
Justin Hobgood got the jump on the start, but Young was anxious to lead and moved the No. 1 of Hobgood in turn three to lead lap number one. While everyone was bottled up with the leaders, first race winner Jake Hobgood made his way up to third by the end of the first lap and set his sights on his brother in turn two. Successfully completing the pass on Justin in turn two, Jake edged ahead of Gary Young exiting turn four to lead the second lap and resume his position up front.
The only caution of the second race occurred on lap 8 when the 66 car of Matt Johnson made contact with Randy Humphrey on the backstretch. Humphrey spun and Johnson climbed the left front of the wrong-way facing Humphrey and landed hard, knocking the B&D Quick Stop Pontiac out of the event. Humphrey continued from the accident, albeit wounded with suspension damage from the accident.
Jake Hobgood jumped out to the lead on the lap 12 restart and quickly pulled away from the field including Danny Bagwell and Eric Wilson. Bagwell would not be able to track down Hobgood until the pair caught slower traffic near halfway. Hobgood quickly maneuvered through traffic while Bagwell wasn't as lucky and lost time to the leader.
With less than fifteen laps to go, Bagwell closed what was a full straightaway lead down to about ten car lengths. Hobgood, however, was able to go on command and quickly pulled out to a larger lead as the field came down for the finish. Hobgood claimed his third ISCARS win in three races with Bagwell second and Eric Wilson in third, the only three cars on the lead lap.
"It was a pretty good night tonight. When we started in the second race, I didn't think we'd get to the front as quickly as we did. The track was slick from the previous races and everyone drove into the corner and slid up and left the bottom open so it gave me a groove to run on the bottom. Once I got out front, I just tried to set a good and even pace. She stayed under us all night. We've really got this thing dialed in and we're excited -- it's a happy night," said Hobgood in victory lane.
"We made a couple of adjustments that took care of the freeness we had after the first race," he continued. "It doesn't always go your way like it did tonight, but we made the right calls, the right adjustments, and we're going to savor this moment because it doesn't happen very often."
Second place point runner Joey Miller was unable to make the second race due to a valve problem in his motor and was credited with a 13th place finish. Combined with Danny Bagwell's second place run in race two, Bagwell now leads Mlller by 71 points with 4 races remaining in the 2007 season.
The next ISCARS DASH Touring event will also be in South Carolina at Dillon Motor Speedway on September 8th. Tickets for the second visit by ISCARS to Dillon this season are still available and can be obtained from Dillon's ticket office by calling 843-774-1888.
More information about ISCARS is available by logging onto www.iscarsonline.com. ISCARS Wide Open, the series' national television show hosted by MRN Radio's Joe Moore and Tiffany Ricardo, is available in over 200 markets weekly and covers the Dash Series teams, drivers, and officials in depth on every show. Check local listings for times and channels.
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NOTES OF INTEREST:
Gary Young was also a winner on Saturday night. ISCARS drivers all participated in a watermelon eating contest between events on top of the grandstand concourse. With 5 entire pieces of watermelon, no one was even close to Young at the end of the three minute contest. "I'm going to the beach after the race tonight, so I needed $100 to go fishing. This was absolutely a blast!," said Young after the contest in a watermelon stained tshirt. ISCARS Chief Scorer Cissy Lehman was an unofficial second, but her pieces did not count due to a significant head start and the incompletion of her pieces to the watermelon rhines.
2006 ISCARS Champion Eric Wilson made only his second ISCARS appearance this season at Florence. His first appearance resulted in a win at Hickory, where he will be making his next start in October.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
RACE #1 RUNDOWN
ISCARS
Florence Motor Speedway
Peggy Torbert Memorial 150
Twin 75 Lap Races
Race Date: Saturday, August 18, 2007
FIN ST No Driver Hometown Laps Status
1 1 64 Jake Hobgood Winnsboro, SC Cedar Creek Collision Pontiac 79 Running
2 5 4 Eric Wilson Hickory, NC Huntington House/John Boy & Billy Pontiac 79 Running
3 4 10 Danny Bagwell Cordova, AL 5 Bros./Torbert Trucking/Stops, Inc. Mercury 79 Running
4 3 19 Joey Miller Wilmington, NC M2 RV Storage Pontiac 79 Running
5 8 26* Gary Young Burlington, NC Pipeline Racing/Moss Motorsports Pontiac 79 Running
6 2 1 Justin Hobgood Winnsboro, SC Cypress Corp. Pontiac 79 Running
7 7 66* Matt Johnson N. Wilkesboro, NC B&D Quick Stop/CMG Autosports Pontiac 79 Running
8 11 53 Joey Jones Fredericksburg, VA Jones Site Work/James River Equipment Pontiac 79 Running
9 9 9 Ned Combs Newton, NC Duragloss Car Care Products Mercury 79 Running
10 10 98* Brandon Burris Cornelius, NC Shi Construction Pontiac 78 Engine
11 6 93 Randy Humphrey Topeka, KS Fatheadz Sunglasses/Joe Gibbs Racing Oil Pontiac 52 Oil Line
12 12 20 Davis Myers Batesburg, SC Sponsor Needed Pontiac 35 Overheating
13 13 68 Matt Johnson Limestone, TN Hughes Used Cars/Johnson Jewelers Pontiac 18 Accident
*Denotes Rookie of the Year Contender
0 Lead Changes Among 1 Drivers: Hobgood (1-75)
4 caution flags for 16 laps: 30-33; 36-40; 52-53; 73-77
Polesitter: Jake Hobgood 17.965 seconds/80.156 mph
Rookie of the Race: Gary Young
RACE #2 RUNDOWN
ISCARS
Florence Motor Speedway
Peggy Torbert Memorial 150
Twin 75 Lap Races (Race #2)
Race Date: Saturday, August 18, 2007
FIN ST No Driver Hometown Laps Status
1 6 64 Jake Hobgood Winnsboro, SC Cedar Creek Collision Pontiac 75 Running
2 4 10 Danny Bagwell Cordova, AL 5 Bros./Torbert Trucking/Stops, Inc. Mercury 75 Running
3 5 4 Eric Wilson Hickory, NC Huntington House/John Boy & Billy Pontiac 75 Running
4 1 1 Justin Hobgood Winnsboro, SC Cypress Corp. Pontiac 74 Running
5 11 93 Randy Humphrey Topeka, KS Fatheadz Sunglasses/Joe Gibbs Racing Oil Pontiac 74 Running
6 9 9 Ned Combs Newton, NC Duragloss Car Care Products Mercury 74 Running
7 8 53 Joey Jones Fredericksburg, VA Jones Site Work/James River Equipment Pontiac 74 Running
8 2 26* Gary Young Burlington, NC Pipeline Racing/Moss Motorsports Pontiac 73 Running
9 10 98* Brandon Burris Cornelius, NC Shi Construction Pontiac 72 Running
10 13 68 Matt Johnson Limestone, TN Hughes Used Cars/Johnson Jewelers Pontiac 20 Engine
11 12 20 Davis Myers Batesburg, SC Sponsor Needed Pontiac 14 Engine
12 7 66* Matt Johnson N. Wilkesboro, NC B&D Quick Stop/CMG Autosports Pontiac 9 Accident
13 3 19 Joey Miller Wilmington, NC M2 RV Storage Pontiac 0 Engine
*Denotes Rookie of the Year Contender
2 Lead Changes Among 3 Drivers: Ju. Hobgood (Pole), Young (1), Ja. Hobgood (2-75)
1 Cautions for 4 Laps: (8-11)
Polesitter: Justin Hobgood (Top 6 Inversion from Race 1)
Rookie of the Race: Gary Young