First Timers Finish First on Father’s Day
Chuck Ulsch (red shirt) and the entire Gil Mobley-led team celebrate Ulsch’s first ORSCA event win.
All but one winner in seven classes visited ORSCA’s victory lane for the first time June 15-17, as the Atlanta-based, eighth-mile series visited Montgomery (AL) Motorsports Park (MMP) on a hot and muggy Father’s Day weekend. Only David Reese, who pocketed a special $10,000 prize for winning in EZ Street, had experienced ORSCA success previously.
The Limited Street crown in Montgomery went to Carlton Thompson, who said it was his first win of any kind in five years, while Richard Reagan made the most of his first Modified Street final-round appearance and Chuck Ulsch finally broke through with his first ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 event win.
The index classes also featured a trio of first-time champs when John Smith prevailed in the third final round of his 5.30 career, Blaine Aldridge got the job done in convincing fashion in 6.0 and Bobby Davis benefited from his opponent’s breakout pass in the 7.0 final.
OUTLAW 10.5
Gil Mobley’s powerhouse Maryland-based team showed up at Montgomery with yet another imposing weapon in its Outlaw 10.5 arsenal, as 23-year-old Keith Sexton made his ORSCA debut behind the wheel of the ’69 Camaro his father, Richard, previously piloted. The senior Sexton scored the number-one starting position with a 4.63 at 167.69 in his new GTO, while Keith was right behind at 4.64/157.09 and Ulsch completed a 1-2-3 sweep of the qualifying order for Mobley with a 4.66 pass at 168.66 mph.
“When you watch him you just know that he’s watched his father, he’s watched me so many times, helped us pull into the beams, he just knows what it takes,” Ulsch said of his new teammate. “And trust me, that boy’s good on the tree; when he gets some experience behind him he’s going to be tough.”
 Richard Sexton holds the plaque he received for qualifying number-one in Outlaw 10.5 at Montgomery, just ahead of his son, Keith (center), who made his ORSCA debut at the race, and teammate Chuck Ulsch, who went on to win his first ORSCA event. |
With track temperatures approaching 140 degrees, round one of eliminations proved too tough for many top performers in the class as both Sextons fell, along with the likes of Tim Lynch, Mike Hill, Steve Kirk and Jack Barfield. Todd Moyer, out of Pasadena, TX, set low E.T. of eliminations with a 4.73 win in the opening round over Kirk as he began a march toward meeting Ulsch in the 10-wide final.
In round two, Ulsch overcame a holeshot by Memphis racer Bobby Cole, then turned the trick again in the semis against Jimmy Blackmon from Rockmart, GA, who lost traction early in his run. “We were running behind the whole weekend, just chasing, trying to figure out what was wrong,” Blackmon said. “Everybody’s got to race the track, no matter how bad it is, but I did expect a little bit better here.”