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Well, it’s one of my two favorites weekend’s of the year. I make another trip to the Martinsville Speedway this weekend as NASCAR goes short track racing at a place where contact is going to happen.
Forget, Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Fontana, and even Bristol--it’s time for some real racing to take place on Sunday.
The half-mile at Martinsville is an obstacle for most drivers, but it has produced some crazy antics, especially at the finish. And if it’s any consolation prize, the speedway hasn’t seen a Nextel Cup race with less than 11 cautions since 1999. As for picking a winner, seven of the last ten Martinsville races have been won from starting inside the top ten.
Tony Stewart has to be the favorite since he won in October and already picked up two early wins this season. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin do well at the paperclip, but I just have a suspicion that this is Jeff Gordon’s weekend.
Jeff Burton is the sleeper pick, finishing sixth in October and no doubt should have won last April. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a possible guy to break a long winless streak as well.
Much more important on a local level, Forest City resident, Jimmy Means debuts Hamilton-Means Racing in Martinsville this weekend. Means, ended his Nextel Cup program after the 1994 season. While his car is not on the preliminary Nextel Cup entry list and a driver hasn‘t been named, they are expected to go to Martinsville. Right now, there are 45 cars, which means they will have to beat three cars during Saturday’s time trials should they make the trip.
The NCAA Tourney is coming to a close and unfortunately for the Tarheels, the dream of a national Championship season ended with a loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. Too many injuries were a big factor in UNC’s run, but give them credit, they did hang with Kansas despite the injury issues 38-plus minutes this past Sunday.
So, Kansas plays Ohio St. and Louisville faces Kentucky in the Final Four on Saturday.
Here is my prognosis. I did get Kentucky and Ohio State right as Final Four picks and I say the two will meet in the championship game with Kentucky winning it all. Ohio State is the most athletic team this tourney has seen, but Kentucky is just the better team.
Softball and baseball in Rutherford County gets even more interesting next Tuesday. It’s the first of two meetings that Chase and East Rutherford will do battle. At stake in baseball, keeping pace with an undefeated Shelby and staying on inside track of the 2A playoff race. East Rutherford was 5-3, while Chase was 6-2 at the time of this column.
In softball, the fight for the inside track at a No.1 South Mountain Athletic Conference seed in the 2A side of the playoffs. Both games will be played on Tuesday April 3rd. On the record, East Rutherford is 8-1, 2-1, while Chase sits at 5-0, 2-0 at the time of this column.
For R-S Central, a chance at Burns on Friday in both softball and baseball, puts them in the middle of the pack with a win. R-S Central’s softball team has seen a nice turnaround after some early struggles, as they upset an undefeated Freedom club this last Tuesday. If they beat Shelby this past Tuesday, that would give them three straight victories on a Tuesday. After beating Freedom last week, R-S Central softball coach Melvin Digh felt good about the progress with an 11-hit day.
“We work hard everyday to try and get better,” Digh said. “We have struggled with the bats early on, but we showed it today, we can hit.”
R-S Central’s baseball team downed Freedom 16-1 to get their second win of the season. It certainly was rewarding, considering mistakes cost them in two early conference games so far this season.
“I am happy for the kids to get the win,” R-S Central baseball coach Chadd Fowler said. “Considering they have played tough and well enough to win more in seven games, I hope we are through the mistakes now.”
In Avondale, Thomas Jefferson is doing some damage on the diamond. While the baseball team does play their home games at McNair Field, Chris White has his club sitting at 5-2 in the early season with a 1A win against Avery. They host Hendersonville this Friday, March 30th.
