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Racers running down dreams
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Photos/Audra Perry
Two Forsyth County drivers No. 01 Marc Gallichotte and No. 42 Chris Holbrook finished in second and third places, respectively,
Saturday night in the Factory Four division at Lanier National Speedway. Below, Holbrook, right, and a friend work on his 1977 Ford
Pinto at the Braselton race track.
Forsyth racers finish 2-3 in
Factory Fours at LNS
By Jeff Hood
For the Forsyth County News
"You gotta' start somewhere."
That statement from local racer
and pro-hopeful Chris Holbrook
summed up the feelings of so many
drivers careening around the oval at
Lanier National Speedway Saturday
night.
For Holbrook —a recent gradu
ate of North Forsyth High School
that start has been pretty good so far.
Finishing third Saturday, behind
fellow Forsyth-resident Mark
Gallichotte and winner Chad
Hoopaugh. in the Garrison Racing
Equipment Factory Four 20-lap fea
ture. Holbrook continues to chase
his dream of some day reaching the
pinnacle of the stock car world.
Currently 11th in the points
standings in this, his second season,
Holbrook has raced his blue No. 42
1977 Ford Pinto in 16 races it's a
place he'll gladly take after not even
knowing where his ride would come
from before the season.
Luckily, Holbrook’s uncle, a for
mer racer himself, stepped in to pro
vide Chris with a ride, and now
Holbrook is shooting for the stars.
“I want to be a NASCAR driver,”
said Holbrook, who placed third in
rookie points last season.
Yet for now, Holbrook, who grew
up racing go-karts, will have to
make do at tracks like Lanier
Speedway, getting help from any
where he can.
“It’s just me and my dad and the
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$ ■OaT
Photo/Submitted
North Forsyth’s roller hockey club celebrates their state title after
defeating Greater Atlanta Christian School 7-6.
1 • k
Sports
few people we can get to help us
out,” said Holbrook. Who has
already proven that with just a little
help, he can get results.
In other racing. Saturday night at
Lanier National, Dwayne Buggay
continued his domination of the
Akins Pro Late Model division, win
ning his fourth-straight race, dating
back to last season.
Yet after winning. Buggay has
pledged a hands-off policy on the
setup of his No. 45.
Buggay's winning formula on
race setup is rubbing off in Pepsi
Qualifying. The Marietta driver
snagged the pole for Saturday
night's Pro Late Model feature with
a lap 13.991 seconds.
But his winning touch soured
during opening ceremonies when he
rolled a five during the inversion
dn 11. forcing Buggay to start fifth.
“I don’t know about that five
stuff.” Buggay said. “I’d rather start
up front.”
For the second consecutive week,
race fans were treated to a classic,
Saturday night short-track shootout
between Buggay and Gainesville's
Tony Bennett.
Buggay methodically worked his
way to the front and took the lead
with 17 laps remaining with a text
book pass on Bennett’s No. 42.
“Tony, again, raced me clean,”
Buggay continued. “I think we
bumped one time. 1 hope he doesn't
think it was intentional.
Buggay held off Bennett. Stacy
HF W
BF
Long. Greg Simpson and Richey
Etheridge in a two lap dash to the
checkered flag following a spin by
Aaron Miller on the backstretch on
lap 48.
Curt Britt started second but
quickly muscled past pole-sitter
Tom Schuette to grab the lead
which he never relinquished in the
Team Ford of Marietta feature. Britt
held off Rob Young to claim the
victory.
Travis Terry led wire-to-wire and
held off Mike Bruce to win the
wreck-filled Simpson’s Trucking and
North Forsyth roller
hockey nets state title
From staff reports
Sunday evening, March 28,
proved a magical night for the
North Forsyth High School Roller
Hockey team, as the squad fought
their way to the 2004 Georgia
High School Roller Hockey
Association (GHRA) state cham
pionship in class AA.
Opening playoffs on Saturday
with a win over South Forsyth,
the Raiders moved into the final
four just two games from the title.
North took out Central
Gwinnett 7-4 on Sunday morning
to clinch the finals berth, where
they were matched up against
Greater Atlanta Christian School
(GACS).
In a thrilling title-decider, the
two teams played each other to a
standoff, taking a 6-6 scoreline
into the game’s dying minutes.
Grading Sportsman race.
Steve Hill charged from the rear
of the field, passing Thomas Ross
with two laps remaining to win the
20-lap Billy Howell Ford Modified
Ministock feature.
Chad Hoopaugh edged Marc
Gallichotte to claim first-place pay
in the Garrison Racing Equipment
Factory Four 20-lap feature.
Legends winners were Chris
Dilbeck in Pro and Eric Simpson in
Semi Pro.
Audra Perry contributed to
this article
But with just 59 seconds
remaining, Raider sophomore
Sean Spade struck to edge GACS
7-6 and give the championship to
North.
The entire team, including sen
ior Anthony Davis, juniors Clint
Coleman. Brian Johnson. Chris
Haynes, JJ Roman, freshmen
Colby Earhart. Eric Turney, Ryan
Jones, and eighth graders, Jeff
Hudson and Jon Ryerse played a
tremendous tournament. The
Raiders also got outstanding play
from freshmen goalies Richard
Bryan and Brad Gustafson.
With the victory, the team has
been invited to play in the USA
Hockey Regional Competition in
May at the Cooler in Alpharetta.
Winners of this competition will
go on to battle it out in a national
finals tournament in California.
OUTDOORS
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Photo/File
Lake Lanier has short periods
when the diving crankbait is the
best lure to catch spotted bass.
Now is the
time to use
crankbaits
on Lanier
By Bill Vanderford
For the Forsyth County News
Every' spring as the trees start to
bud, the geese begin to nest, and the
surface temperature of the water rises
above 50 degrees to stay. Lake Lanier
has about a two-week period when
the diving crankbait is the best lure to
catch spotted bass. The reason is that
the warming waters start to draw the
bass away from their deeper winter
homes towards the flowering shore
lines.
In the beginning of this process,
most bass tend to hold and feed sus
pended away from the banks of the
lake in six to 10 feet of water.
Therefore, for an angler to be suc
cessful. it is necessary to have a lure
pass through this magic depth at a
very slow pace, but with enough
action to attract the bass, curiosity
and appetite.
This is accomplished by utilizing
diving crankbaits in one-fourth to
one-half ounce sizes with enough of a
diving lip to easily take the lure to the
desired depth with the proper wiggle.
In the clearer waters, color never
seems to make much of a difference,
but when fishing stained or slightly
muddy water, brighter chartreuse or
white crankbaits tend to be more pro
ductive. The most important ingredi
ent is always the speed of the
See BASS, Page 2B
Hot Stove
preps for
road trip
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
Baseball season is officially
under way and Johnny Tailant
couldn’t be happier.
Tomorrow at noon, the retired
Forsyth County coach heads to
Atlanta for a luncheon with the
Braves 400 Club and the Forsyth
County Hot Stove League.
“This is the first time we’ve had
it at the 755 Club, so I’m kind of
excited about that,” Tailant said.
Some of the group’s members
will stick around Turner Field for
the Thursday night game against
the Mets, marking the 30th
anniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715th
home run. But for Tailant, it’s back
into the van and off to Rome.
“I’m coming back home and
then going to Rome that night,” the
coach said. "That’s the same night
that Rome opens up ... That will be
a full day."
In fact, Tailant and the Hot
Stove League are currently plan-
See STOVE, Page 2B
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