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PAGE 2C PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. APRIL 22. 2004
Continued from 1C
PHS Baseball
Sports Banquet & Auction
Racing Views
How do you Make
a Thrilling Race?
future team will exact some revenge
for all of the past. That’s enough
said about that game and that team.
Finally, the week ended with a
road trip to Flowery Branch. We
had handled them in our earlier
meeting, but high school baseball is
always “wait and see.” Coaches
Nunn, Bail and Black put out their
usual line-up with Lester on the
mound on a gorgeous afternoon for
baseball. We’re rocking along
through the first with not much hap
pening when “bam.” No, it wasn’t
Batman punching out the Riddler. It
was a young Mark Patterson send
ing a ball over the left field wall
with the smoothest of swings to
score himself and a teammate who
had reached on an error. Wow, this
kid can play and will continue to do
so in the next couple of seasons.
Flowery Branch got into the act in
the third with three runs on a couple
of hits and a couple of walks. Then
we’re right back at it with
Buchanan doing his thing with a hit.
Jeremy Helmuth, who had a good
night at the plate (3 for 5), got in on
the fun and the A’s continued their
good work with hits and RBIs. All
totaled, we’re up 6-3 at the end of
four. But this game was far from
over as you will see.
We’re feeling confident, but the
Falcons are not through as they
plate two more in the fifth to chip
away at our lead. It was such an
offensive night, that I haven’t men
tioned Lester’s pitching. Justin
struggled with his control but still
had five strike-outs and, as usual,
battled like a bullfrog. No college
analogy intended. And our defense,
which has been improving in the
last several games, was very steady
in this game. In fact, at times it was
great. The middle of the infield,
with Helmuth and Tony Popadics,
turned a double play and Golden
made a couple of nice plays at first.
But, on with the hitting. In the sixth
we loaded the bases and unloaded
on Flowery Branch for four more
runs on hits by Buchanan, Patter
son, Helmuth, Golden and McDon
ald. Moving to the seventh, Drag
ons up by five, 10-5. So, parents are
beginning to pack up and clean up
and corral the younger siblings for
the ride home, right? Wrong! Well,
not so fast sports fans.
The Falcons pulled one out of
the Dragon play book and tem
porarily broke our hearts with a
five-run comeback highlighted (if I
can even say that) by a two-run
home run to tie the score at 10.
Goodness gracious, great balls of
fire. I’m not sure that that was all
that was said in the dugout after that
inning, but we were shocked. But,
once again, this team never dies
without a fight. Two scoreless
innings by both teams produce
nothing but stomach acid and we go
to the 10th. And, who should appear
for the Dragons? You guessed it.
Just what this doctor ordered. Hel
muth coolly slaps a single and Alex
gets a hit and Andy gets a walk and
we’re loaded for the “meat” of the
order.
McDonald takes one for the
team scoring the first run (that
means he got hit by a pitch). John
son does what a clean-up hitter is
supposed to do and drives in two
more runs with a hit and there’s still
no outs. Another walk and a sacri
fice fly by Green and before the
Falcons know what hit them, the
Dragons score five to surge ahead,
15-10. But these kids in Hall Coun
ty are fighters too. Flowery Branch
starts an uprising and scores one
run. But Johnson, who came on to
pitch in relief in the eighth, turns on
the fire extinguisher and squelches
the flame. Final score, Pickens 15,
Flowery Branch 11. Whew! We did
it. I’m tired just writing about it.
But it was great. It was fun. The
truth is it was nerve-wracking. But
it is a win and we move on at 8-10
on the season and 6-6 in the region.
I think I’m gonna lie down. I’ll talk
to you next week.
The Pickens High Baseball Dia
mond Club is hosting a sports ban
quet/auction on Saturday, May 1.
Proceeds will go toward an indoor
batting facility. The fun begins at 5
p.m. in the cafeteria.
Activities kick off with a silent
auction followed by a steak dinner.
The evening will continue with
many auction items (fishing, hunt
ing, camping equipment, sports
memorabilia, etc.) and various raf-
the top spot in their division with a
loss to the lowly Golden State War
riors in the final game. The Spurs,
playing the best basketball of any
one to end the regular season, are
looking to me like the best team in
the West.
The Eastern Conference, defi
nitely the weaker side of the league,
is hoping that one of their teams
can win it all this year because it’s
been a while. The New Jersey Nets
were the representative last year in
the finals, but I’d look for the
Detroit Pistons or Indiana Pacers to
be the team that comes out of the
East to play for the championship.
After the excitement of the
NCAA playoffs, the NBA post sea
son is still a drawn out process, as it
will be nearly two months before
the winner is crowned. There are
too many teams in the playoffs, not
enough emphasis on winning in the
(Blue Ridge, GA, April 16,
2004) Excitement was the keyword
for the action at Sugar Creek Race
way in Blue Ridge, GA as Timmy
Millwood, the new track promoter,
continued to please the fans with
fast cars and a fast racing program.
And as both racers and fans make
their way to the track on Friday
nights the program continues to
build. “We all need this race track
to continue, the racers and the
fans,” stated Late Model driver
David Payne of Murphy, NC after
his second win in as many nights.
“We need Sugar Creek as a place to
race and the fans need it for the
entertainment. We both need to
continue to support it.”
With Payne's help the track
should have plenty of new fans
after the thrilling finish to last Fri
day night's feature event. The qual
ifying time of 14.72 seconds was
fast enough to place the Payne Tire
Company sponsored number 8 on
pole for the feature. But Payne, the
coach of the boy's varsity basket
ball and the junior varsity football
teams at Murphy High School, gave
all his fellow competitors a sporting
chance as he spun out in turn four
during the second lap of the 30-lap
event. “I just got into the corner to
hard. I was spinning out in turn 3
and completely lost it in four. It
was just driver error. Fortunately
for me they had done a good job in
preparing the track and I had a
good place to run up top. Every
body else was on the bottom. I've
won before coming from the rear
but this is the first time I've ever
won on the final corner after com
ing from the rear! I made up my
mind after coming out of turn two I
would tear the wall down or win
fles. There will be door prizes and
plenty of good food, good music
and lots of fun. Don’t miss out.
Ticket prices are $50 and covers
steak dinner for two. Our $2,000
raffle will be a 5-ticket drawn raffle
with only 100 chances sold; tickets
are $50. For ticket information,
please contact Barry Cheshire at
692-6373, stop by any home varsity
baseball game or contact one of
your favorite baseball Dragons.
regular season and too many thugs
making too much money for me to
get very excited about professional
basketball anymore. As a kid I
loved watching Bill Russell and the
Celtics dynasty with Red Auerbach
at the helm take on Wilt Chamber
lin and the 76ers, then my favorite
of all time Larry Bird go against
Magic Johnson, and finally the
Michael Jordan era always created
something special. I’ll probably
watch my share of games since I
still love basketball, but it’s hard to
get excited when you don’t have
anyone to cheer for. Now with the
huge influx of European foreigners,
I can’t even pronounce a lot of
players names. Maybe they should
start calling it the International Bas
ketball Association. Anyway, in
today’s NBA, I’m like a lot of the
players and really don’t much care.
Payne had his hands full during
the race with Jonathan Davenport
of Blairsville, GA who was running
in the second position behind race
leader Russell Thomas of Morgan-
ton, GA at the time. “With the par
ticular line that he (Davenport) was
running it made it hard to pass him.
It was hard to get above him and
not hit him as I passed. It took sev
eral laps to do it,” Payne explained.
Payne took the checkered flag a
couple of feet in front of Thomas in
second, Davenport in third, Johnny
Chastain of Murphy, NC in fourth,
and Bear Patterson of Ellijay, GA in
fifth.
The tone for the night was set
during first feature the Econo
Hobby class where Kenneth Burns
of Woodstock, GA and a Gary
Jenkins of Blairsville, GA battled
for several laps side-by-side for the
lead before Burns was able to
establish superiority and take the
point and hold it to the checkered
flag. John Cobb of Ballground
took third in front of Carl Barnett
of Jasper, GA in fourth and Donnie
Price of White, GA in fifth.
Modified Hobby class feature
winner was Greg Ledford from
Talking Rock, GA who led Arlan
Ledford of Hayesville, NC to the
finish line. Finishing in third was
Keith Morton of Mableton, GA
over Ryan Stillwell of Copperhill,
TN in fourth and Chad Kimbrell of
Dawsonville, GA in fifth.
In the Limited Late Model class,
fast qualifier at 15.75 seconds, Trig
Parris was able to get the win
unlike the week before when he had
Continued on 3C
by Larry Sams
What does it take to make a race
achieve the status of “thrilling”?
That's easy. All you need is race
track with at least two
grooves(lanes of racing), equal cars,
all with drivers willing to risk
everything for the win. The hard
part is putting equal cars, daring
drivers, and a more than one groove
race track together at the same time.
What we see on many tracks
these days is a track which has been
prepared so that the cars have to
follow each other because they only
have one groove where they can
race. On dirt tracks this means that
all the moisture is down at the bot
tom of the track allowing the cars to
get a bite or the top of the track has
so much loose dirt on it that there is
no traction. When it comes to an
asphalt track it means that all of the
rubber on the track is concentrated
in the bottom lane and therefore the
one and only place the racers can
race.
How do you change this so that
the fans can see good racing and the
racer who qualifies tenth still has a
chance to win? Dirt track operators
have to prepare the tracks using
watering techniques and chemicals
which will release moisture all dur
ing the evening of racing. In addi
tion, the moisture release needs to
happen uniformly across the entire
racing surface, from the top to the
bottom of the track. You would
want the racer running the top line
to get the same traction as the racer
in the bottom groove. In order for a
race track operator to achieve this
level he needs to be both knowl
edgeable of the track, or what it will
do during the night, and he has to
be lucky! A real hot sunny day can
end any hopes of a good surface if
the operator wasn't counting on it
being a hot day.
To change the condition of an
asphalt track is a lot easier and is a
lot more predictable. In order to
increase the amount of rubber in
different areas of the track the oper
ator has to change the areas on the
track the racers practice. This can
be done by putting cones on the
track in the lower grooves and mak
ing them practice in the upper areas
of the racing surface and thereby
put rubber down on the upper
grooves. Another method of adding
rubber to the racing surface is by
tying worn-out tires together and
dragging them around the track
behind the wreckers and other track
vehicles until there is rubber on the
asphalt in the areas where there is
not any normally. This track treat
ment needs to occur each week as
the rubber build-up can be washed
away with any rain shower.
The easiest part of having an
exciting race is having equal race
cars. Most tracks do a relativiely
good job of keeping the racers'
equipment within the rules. And
most racers know what their com
petition is using and the word gets
back to the technical personel
almost as fast as the racers can buy
illegal equipment. Sometimes a
racer will find something that will
give him an advantage for a couple
of races but both his competition
and the track will be looking closer
each time he wins until they find
out what secret parts he is using to
go fast.
Now for the third part of the
equation and the hardest one of all
to find. Drivers with the determina
tion to win at any cost. How do
you get that drive when the cost of
wrecking one of these high-pow
ered racing machines might mean
that the driver is out of racing for
many weeks? And the winner's
share of the purse is not enough to
replace the body on the car, let
alone the suspension components.
Who would want to chance the loss
of their car, or worse yet, them
selves trying for a win that didn't
pay a lot of money? Only those
racers who race to win! As Late
Model racer David Payne of Mur
phy, NC said after winning the fea
ture event at Sugar Creek Raceway
in Blue Ridge, GA last Friday night,
“ I made up my mind after coming
out of turn two I would tear the wall
down or win the race!” And win
the race he did as he passed race
leader Russell Thomas of Morgan-
ton, GA in turn four to take his sec
ond win in a row! That's what it
takes to make a race exciting!
Sometimes you can watch a race
take place and know that a particu
lar driver is going to come through
the pack and do whatever it takes to
take the win, and so it was with
Payne after his spin on lap 2 of the
race.
When two drivers race side-by-
side for lap after lap without touch
ing each other you are watching
two skilled racers perform the sport
as it was designed to be performed.
And you are being entertained,
thrilled and excited by the most dar
ing sport there is, auto racing!
Sometimes you are just lucky
enough to be there when the best
racers in the sport, without regard to
class, find themselves on a great
race track, in almost equal cars,
with lots of drivers showing their
skills. Such was the case last week
at Sugar Creek Raceway.
This week the wild and exciting
sport of auto racing will start on
Friday night with a full racing pro
gram at Sugar Creek Raceway in
Blue Ridge, GA. On Saturday
night they will be dirt track racing
at North Georgia Speedway in
Chats worth, GA and asphalt racing
at Lanier National Speedway in
Gainesville, GA.
If you have a question or com
ment you can reach us P.O. Box
1522, Woodstock, GA 30188 or by
e-mail at Jcableman@aol.com
Nettes Basketball Camp 2004
Date: June 7 - June 11
Time: Session 1: 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. --upcoming 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th graders.
Session 2: 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. — upcoming 5 th , 6 th , 7 th , 8 th graders.
Place: Pickens High School Gym
Cost: A fee of $75 will be charged. Included in the cost will be a basketball,
Camp T-shirt.
Staff: Pickens High School Coaching Staff and High School Varsity Players.
Purpose
The purpose of the Nettes Basketball Camv is to teach and develop basketball skills in
every phase of the game. The daily program will consist of fundamental sessions, free
throw, one on one, three on three, super shooter contest, lectures and games.
Additionally, but just as important, the purpose of our basketball camp is to help develop
attitudes, and we hope a burning desire to become a top player. We are trying to better
basketball players for Pickens County. This will be a complete week of basketball and
fun for all.
Health Information
I hereby state that my child is physically fit and has my permission to participate in all
camp activities. I also grant permission to have my child treated by a physician if
necessary.
Insurance Company
Policy #
Parent’s signature
Nettes Basketball Camp Application
Name
Address
City State Zip
Name of parent
Home phone
Work phone
Age Date of Birth
Grade next year
T-shirt size (Youth or Adult)
send to:
Nettes Basketball Camp
c/o Donnie Byrom
Pickens High School
500 Dragon Drive
Jasper, Ga. 30143
For more information Call:
706-253-1810 Office or
770-893-1277 Home
ESTES REAL ESTATE CO.
81 South Main St. • Jasper, GA
Office: 706-692-2845
Home: 770-735-2908
Call me today for a FREE Market
Analysis. I can help you determine
a fair market value for your
home or property.
Pam Renfroe
Sales Associate
Continued from 1C
Let the games begin
Sugar Creek Update
Sweet Revenge at Sugar Creek Raceway
by Larry Sams the race!”
Dragons Basketball Camp 2004
Date: June 14 - June 18
Time: Session 1: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. - upcoming 5 th , 6 th , 7 th , 8 th graders.
Session 2: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. — upcoming 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th graders.
Place: Pickens High School Gym
Cost: A fee of $75 will be charged. Included in the cost will be a basketball, and
Camp T-shirt.
Staff: Pickens High School Coaching Staff and High School Varsity Players.
Purpose
The purpose of the Dragons Basketball Camp is to teach and develop basketball skills
in every phase of the game. The daily program will consist of fundamental sessions, free
throw, one on one, three on three, super shooter contest, lectures and games.
Additionally, but just as important, the purpose of our basketball camp is to help develop
attitudes, and we hope a burning desire to become a top player. We are trying to better
basketball players for Pickens County. This will be a complete week of basketball and
fun for all.
Health Information
I hereby state that my child is physically fit and has my permission to participate in all
camp activities. I also grant permission to have my child treated by a physician if
necessary.
Insurance Company
Policy #
Parent’s signature
Dragons Basketball Camp Application
Name
send to:
Dragons Basketball Camp
Address
c/o Harold Culbreth
City State
Zip
Pickens High School
Name of parent
500 Dragon Drive
Home phone
Jasper, Ga. 30143
Work phone
Aee Date of Birth
For more information Call:
Grade next year
706-253-t810 Office
T-shirt size
(Youth or Adult)
770-893-8282 Cell
706-253-8282 Home
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