Photo courtesy of Vicki Keene www.keenesphotography.smugmug.com 

Whiseant Grabs $3,000 O'Reilly SUPR Victory at Greenville Speedway
Story courtesy of Todd Turner DirtonDirt.com

GREENVILLE, Miss. (April 12) — Polesitter Duke Whiseant of Texarkana, Ark., led all 50 laps at Greenville Speedway for a victory on the O'Reilly Southern United Professional Racing circuit, his first SUPR victory since a five-win season in 1999. Whiseant outran reigning series champion Ray Moore of Shreveport, La., to earn $3,000 and his sixth career SUPR triumph.

“I want to thank my mom and dad for putting me back in a car,” said Whiseant, who had taken a few years off from racing. “Without them I wouldn’t have been here with the opportunity to be in victory lane.”

While Whiseant has access to newer cars since his return to the driver's seat, he brought out a 1996 GRT Race Car that's been updated, and the 28-year-old driver settled comfortably into the 12-year-old piece. “It’s my first Late Model race car to have and we totally rebuilt it,” Whiseant said. “Every time I ever bring it out it seems to have good luck and runs good.”

Whiseant started on the pole at the quarter-mile oval and led every lap, slicing and dicing through lapped traffic. Allen Tippen chased Whiseant the first eight laps, then the fifth-starting Moore grabbed the runner-up slot and took up the chase. Moore put some pressure on Whiseant on a late restart, but he couldn't mount a serious challenge at the race's conclusion. Jeff Chanler of Minden, La., finished third ahead of hometown favorite Greg Fore. Ross Camponovo of Clarksdale, Miss., who started 10th, finished fifth on a gumbo surface that provided two distinct grooves while Tippen ended up sixth.

Whiseant's GRT is sponsored by his family-owned A1 Auto Salvage as well as GRT by Catman. The winner debuted a new Jay Dickens-built spec motor, an all-aluminum piece that meets specifications for SUPR's second-generation spec engines.

A two-race weekend is up next for SUPR competitors with an April 18 event at Baton Rouge Raceway in Baker, La., and April 19 event at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss.

Corporate sponsors of O’Reilly SUPR include: AFCO, Barber Specialties Inc., Bert Transmission, Brodix, BSB Manufacturing, Dura-Lite Racing Wheels, GRT Race Cars, Hinchman Uniforms, Hoosier Tire Southwest, J&J Motorsports, Keith Craft Inc., Larry Shaw Race Cars, Lile's Custom Home's, Master Vac, O'Reilly Auto Parts, PBM Performance Products, Peterson Aluminum, Trick Wild, Triple A Diesel Service and Wall 2 Wall Performance.

O'Reilly SUPR @ Greenville: (1) Duke Whiseant, (2) Ray Moore, (3) Jeff Chanler, (4) Greg Fore, (5) Ross Camponovo, (6) Allen Tippen, (7) Jody Prince, (8) Patrik Daniel, (9) Gary Muncher, (10) Wayne Skinner, (11) B.K. Dye, (12) Bubba Harrison, (13) Stormy Derryberry, (14) Billy Moyer Jr., (15) Mike Poynor, (16) Bo Gordon, (17) Kenny Basco (18) Kyle Cummings, (19) Clay Fisher, (20) Jeffrey Horton, (21) Terry Henson, (22) Nicholas Brown, (23) Kenny Merchant, (24) Doug Showah, (25) Mark Tice, (26) Robert Smith. Heat race winners (among 26 cars): Whiseant, Chanler, Fore.