After only two weeks of racing prior to Saturday night's running of the Georgia Asphalt Series 100-lap race at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA), there was one question on every competitor's mind: Was anybody The Ruble-Fleeman rivalry started early, in qualifying, when Fleeman grabbed the fast qualifier spot by the narrowest of margins. After being pushed back to the fifth- and sixth-place positions in the post-qualifying inversion, the two put on quite a show in the opening laps by weaving their way back to the head of the pack. "Russell beat me in qualifying by three one-thousandths of a second, so I guess I didn't quite get enough out of the car," said Ruble. "The car was good, and I knew in the race I had to get to the front as quick as possible. That's what I did, as soon as we got there, I just tried to ride." Once Ruble had the lead, however, Fleeman would not give up the fight. He attempted to grab the top spot when his tires were the coolest, on each of the night's restarts, but to no avail. There were eight cautions on the night, including one for a six-car pileup in turn four, and another extensive one for oil being put on the track by Taylor Satterfield's car. The number of cautions ensured that Fleeman's car, dubbed the Ford "Confusion," would have plenty of opportunities to challenge. "Naturally, we were trying to wait until the car came to us, and it finally did," said Fleeman. "Korey had such a good car that I couldn't keep up. My only shot was on the restarts, when his car washed up a little." The two battled side-by-side a couple of times during the race, including during a string of laps after a lap-55 restart, which energized the packed crowd that showed up to the 3/8-mile speedway in Cordele, GA. "Every time we got a caution, he was a little bit better than me on the restarts for about two or three laps," explained Ruble. "We were a little tight in the center and after a few laps it would come to me. It looked like he was a little tight coming off of turn four, and that's where I got a run on him and got around him." Fleeman, who had convincing wins at both Birmingham International Raceway (AL) and Five Flags Speedway (FL) to start the season, tried in vain to hold off Ruble and finally relinquished the lead for good on lap 63. "I knew it was only a matter of time until he'd get me back," said Fleeman. "I gave it a shot, and he raced me clean." Fleeman reflected on his positive start to the 2007 season. "We went to Birmingham, had a good car and won; went to Pensacola with a good car and won; we came to Cordele, and we've always had a good car here," said Fleeman. "We won last year. We unloaded Friday and weren't quite so good. We made several changes to the car on Friday and made a few more today. We set the fast time in qualifying. We expected a good car and had it, but that good car came up a little bit short." The win marked Ruble's third at Watermelon Capital Speedway in the past year. The celebration this time was bittersweet, though. "I really want to dedicate this win to one of my number-one fan club members," said Ruble. "Her dad passed away yesterday, and I just want to dedicate this win to them." Saturday night's victory also sets the stage for yet another showdown between Ruble and Fleeman, at the Georgia Asphalt Series' next event at South Alabama Speedway in Opp, AL, on Saturday, April 7th. "Russell won the first two and we got this win, and we're going to Opp next," said Ruble. "We're really strong there. Maybe we can even up the score." The Georgia Asphalt Series' visit to South Alabama on April 7th will mark the Pro Late Model touring division's first-ever trip to the famed track. ––––––– "GAS Event at Watermelon Capital Providing New Take on Spring Break" -Young Drivers Taking to Watermelon Capital Speedway, Not the Beach, For Their Fun CONCORD, NC (March 16, 2007) – Cancun, Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach and South Beach are all more-known as tourist hotspots than Cordele, Georgia, is this time of year for high school and college students. That's not going to stop a select number of school-aged racecar drivers, plus some of their more seasoned colleagues from making their Spring Break plans at the small town in Southern Georgia on Saturday, March 24th. Cordele may not have the surf and sun that those other places have, but when the Georgia Asphalt Series makes its first stop of three to Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele on March 24th, suddenly the 3/8-mile facility will be the wildest spot in the South for Spring Break. Watermelon Capital will play host to the third GAS event of the season, and there are plenty of drivers excited about spending their Spring Break time at the track rather than at the beach. Russell Fleeman, who has won the first two GAS events of the year at Birmingham International Raceway (AL) and Five Flags Speedway (FL), is among the favorites at Watermelon Capital, based on his two wins already this season and his victory at the track last year. Veterans David Elliott, Joey Senter and Fredrick Moore also plan to take down the victory, but there are plenty of GAS "young guns" ready to take down the old guard on the 24th. Take, for instance, 21-year-old University of Alabama Junior Korey Ruble. Instead of spending his Spring Break on the beach with his buddies, there is nowhere else he would rather be than either working on his #73 Georgia Asphalt Series machine or at Watermelon Capital Speedway. "I think 99-percent of my friends from school are all down at the beach, either at Panama City Beach or Gulf Shores or something like that," said Ruble. "I just wanted to go home and relax for my Spring Break. I had three tests the week before Spring Break, so I wanted to just go home and work on the racecar. It doesn't get any better than that for me." But it won't be all that relaxing for Ruble once he pulls into the pit area at Watermelon Capital on March 24th. Ruble will instantly be one of the favorites for victory there, as he won two of the races in Cordele in 2006, giving him three GAS wins at the track overall in the last two seasons. Even with all the success in recent races there, Ruble knows that he will have his work cut out for him on the racetrack. "I think I'm going to be one of the favorites, but honestly I think everyone's eyes are going to be on the #98 car of Russell Fleeman. He's run so strong the first two races and won them both this year, and he won the last race of the year at Cordele last year. "I'm definitely going to be one of the ones gunning for him, though. If I go to the track this year, we're going there for the win. We're not going for points, so we're out to win at Cordele." While some are using the Spring Break time to go away, teenager Michael Pope is actually using this time to stay close to home. The high-schooler currently sits fifth in Georgia Asphalt Series points standings after finishing in the top 10 in both of the first two races. Pope has some momentum on his side, but he'll also have the advantage of racing close to home on March 24th. "I am really excited to get back racing at Cordele," said Pope. "I think that we are going to be really good there. "The last time that we were at Watermelon Capital, we finished seventh. This time we are planning on being up front for the win. We've been good so far this year, and there is no reason for us not to be up front." Pope will also have the advantage of having the hometown crowd in his corner on raceday. Instead of using the March 24th weekend to head to a vacation spot, even Pope's classmates may be joining him at the track for a little bit of fun at the races. "A lot of my friends from school are actually talking about getting together and heading on down, so I think that we should have a pretty good crowd. And it always makes it a little easier and a little bit more fun to race in front of a big group of fans." The Georgia Asphalt Series event at Watermelon Capital Speedway is race number-three of an 18-race schedule in 2007. Russell Fleeman has won the first two events of the season and currently leads the point standings going into Watermelon Capital. The March 24th feature events are scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm. For more information on the Georgia Asphalt Series, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 455-2051 x 5 and visit www.georgiaasphaltseries.com. ––––––– "Sanders Ends Up in a Familar Place - South Alabama Victory Lane" by Steven Neeley
Sanders held off two hard-charging young drivers, Korey Ruble and Ryan Paul, to capture the win in Saturday night's 125-lap Pro Late Model event, the precursor to the 31st annual running of The Rattler. "I've been coming here a long time; since 1973," said Sanders. "It had good asphalt when John Dykes first got it. This is the second time he's paved this track. It was this good one time before." Sanders quickly jumped up from his ninth starting spot and chased down the two leaders at the time, Ben Rowe and Ruble. Sensing that Sanders was closing fast, Rowe and Ruble started racing hard, leading to contact between the two, sending Rowe into a spin in turn four. Ruble was penalized for the contact by the officials and sent to the back of the pack along with Rowe, handing the lead to Sanders. "I was looking under him and was a little bit quicker than he was," said Ruble of the incident with Rowe. "Ronnie was starting to pressure me, and I got a good run on him (Rowe) coming off of two. He started to come down going down the straightaway and I still had my nose right there. I should've really and truly backed off and waited, but it's one of those racing deals. I'm sure he would have done the same thing." "It was just a racing deal," said Rowe of the incident. Ruble fought his way from the tail-end of the field, and scooted through the middle of a four-car wreck in turn four to catch back up to Sanders. However, it was Sanders' fast pace and pressure from Paul that hurt Ruble's chance at winning. "Ryan was coming on strong there," added Ruble. "I think me and Ronnie both burnt up our tires. He was able to ride at the beginning of the race and make a charge at the end. We were just sliding around. His tires were definitely just a little bit better." Paul seemed to run out of time in his effort to try to win at South Alabama. After getting beside Ruble a couple times, he fell back in line and rode to finish third. "We chased them down, but we burnt our stuff up getting to them. All we could do was ride right there at the end. We didn't have anything to get past those front two guys." Sanders believed that the combination of old tires and new asphalt closed up the field at the end. "I figured that if we could get some heat in the tires, the car would be real good, and it was, but I was over-driving the car a little during the end of the race and Korey caught up to me," said Sanders. Officials with the track changed the compound of tire everyone was
going to use after a little bit of blistering during some testing on "We came down and tested with the 45-tire, our normal tire, and it was |
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A lot has changed at South Alabama Speedway in the more than three
decades since the track was built. Fan amenities have been added, the
pits have been reconfigured, and the track was once again repaved this
past winter.
