Tyler Burgess made quick work of the 26 car infield in the Glenn’s BBQ and Fish CRUSA Late Model Sportsman feature on Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Burgess had a comfortable lead in the second half of the race, and was able to make the arduous turns with ease.
“Don’t tear anything up, we’ve got a big race here in two weeks, just try to get out in one piece,” Burgess said of his mindset going into the race.
The Sportsman race featured talented drivers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. While competitive, the Sportsman race was not a clean race in the first half, with a caution on the third lap, and a wreck on the eighth lap. Burgess was forced to swerve out of the way of another car on the eighth lap, narrowly missing it. From there, the race really opened up, as Burgess pulled away after the second restart.
“When you have those cautions, you kinda worry about if your car is gonna fire, but our car has been good from start to finish,” Burgess said. “The cautions for me, they gave me more of a break than anything else, they gave me a clean racetrack.”
Burgess used the clean track as an opportunity to really solidify his lead in the second half. While Burgess led wire-to-wire, he mostly pulled away in the second half of the 15-lap race, and attributed a little of the success to the caution.
Mario Gresham, who was hot on Burgess’ tail for most of the race, finished in second. Jarrett Jones, Scott Flurry, and Chance Inman rounded out the top five in the Sportsman feature.
Steens racers Chase Pennington placed 12th and Mike Pickard finished 18th.
Caledonia’s Colby Ponds finished sixth after a strong start.
Dirt Late Models
Jeremy Boland of Cuba, Alabama won the Trak-Star Race Cars CRUSA Dirt Late Model feature. Monte Skinner placed second, while Jason Markewitz, Mike Combs, and Jake Elam rounded out the top five.
Josh Parkerson of Columbus finished ninth.
CRUSA Modified Sportsman
Shay Knight of Columbus won the Eaton Clinic CRUSA Modified Sportsman feature. Rusty Duncan took second place, while Shane Burns, Brent Burns, and Wesley Cribbs rounded out the top 5.
No other local racers competed in this race.
CRUSA Street Stocks
Lee Ray of Columbus won the Murphy Towing CRUSA Street Stocks. Mark Thorne placed second, while Wesley Greene, Shay Knight, and Doug Dodd rounded out the top 5.
Dusty Dupler of Columbus competed, but was not able to place top five, finishing in eighth place.
Factory Stocks
John Johnson IV of Ethelsville, Alabama won the William Wells 3 Star Tire and Auto Factory Stocks. Aiden Fletcher of Columbus placed second, while Johnny Pannell, CJ Hodges, and Shawn Hill rounded out the top five.
Josh Guest of West Point placed eighth, while Columbus’s Craig Barham did not finish.
Hot Shots
Taylor Murphy won the Murphy Towing Hot Shots race. Robert Eaton placed second,and Shawn Silas of Columbus placed third.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion