Jambalaya 100 to Adams, SUPR title to Ashley

MAGNOLIA, MS (November 6, 1999) - A-1 Auto Salvage may have won the battle but on this crisp

November night, it was David Ashley who had won the war. Ronny Adams drove the A-1 Auto Salvage GRT to his consecutive Jambalaya 100 victory but David Ashley finished second and clinched the 1999 O’Reilly Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) Championship. Ashley came into the race trailing Ronny’s A-1 Auto Salvage teammate, Duke Whiseant by just 6 points. But Whiseant’s weekend quickly went south when his bent a valve in his engine during hot laps on Friday night. Whiseant struggled to be competitive early,

finally earning a spot in the feature with a 3rd in his consilation race. He charged forward, recovered from a late racer spin, but could only manage a 9th place finish, to fall 30 points behind Ashley in the final season tally.

Adams jumped into the lead right at the start, as he was able to move past Scott Slay as the pair rocketed down the backstretch. Adams then built a solid early lead over Slay who was trying to stave off Ashley. Ashley moved by Slay following the fuel stop and then hounded Adams over the second half of the race. Adams was able to onto for the win despite a loose racecar that wanted to push in the turns. Adams, who led all drivers in wins this year wrapped up his seventh O’Reilly SUPR feature win of the year, and solidified his 3rd place finish in the final point standings.

For Ashley, the championship was the culmination of an emotional roller coaster. “It’s unbelievable. I just don’t think it has sunk in yet. I know what we did is great, I mean we went through a tough period were nothing seemed to work out and Duke just kept running so strong, so to come back and run good and to get it turned around is great. I want to thank the Good Lord first and foremost and my wife for all her support. Mr. Donald Watson and family for all their help, Eldon Rogillio with Aftercrash, Inc., and my crew Doug Barton, Jimmy Noland, Tracy Kemp and Rohn Ashley.”

Dennis Duncan finished third ahead of Diamond Dave Siegert, who wrapped up the Late Model America/Ashley Brothers Rookie of the Year title with a fifth place finish in the final point standings.

Keith Craft topped 37 Late Models to claim the GRT Top Qualifier award for the event. Heat race action saw Scott Slay slip by Craft to earn the pole for the feature. Ronny Adams claimed the second heat while Dennis Duncan won the third. David Ashley and Chris Cassano won the final pair of heat races with Lee Davis and Joel McRainey winning the last chance races.


JAMBALAYA 100
Official Results:
1. Ronny Adams
2. David Ashley
3. Dennis Duncan
4. Dave Siegert
5. Kenny Merchant
6. Mike Boland
7. Keith Craft
8. Eddie Taylor
9. Duke Whiseant
10. Elizabeth Halpin
11. Jay Blair
12. Marlon Wild
13. Jon Mitchell
14. Tod Hazel
15. Chris Cassano
16. Scott Slay
17. Joel McRainey
18. Bubba Mullins
19. Wade Cleveland
20. Neal Temple
21. Randy Blanchard
22. Tracy Gibbens
23. Lee Davis
24. Larry Ritter

For further information regarding the 2000 O’Reilly SUPR Series contact
Greg Holmes at 225-275-5040 or e-mail us at gholmes@suprracing.com.