Car owner found guilty of assault after 2005 Bowman Gray race

[tkj24]

Car owner found guilty of assault after 2005 Bowman Gray race
The Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A stock-car owner was found guilty Thursday in the misdemeanor assault of a driver after a bloody 2005 post-race fight at Bowman Gray Stadium.

A Forsyth Superior Court jury found James “Rupert” Sink, 39, guilty of assault inflicting serious injury in the beating of Maynard Peters. The incident happened Aug. 13, 2005, after a NASCAR-sanctioned event.

Sink was also found guilty of simple assault against another man who came to Peters’ aid.

Sink, of Winston-Salem, was sentenced to 29 days in jail and three years probation. Judge Henry E. Frye Jr. also ordered Sink to pay $20,146 to cover the men’s medical bills. Peters’ injuries required surgery to repair fractures in bones around his eyes and a broken nose.

Sink had faced three felony charges linked to the incident. Frye dismissed two of them and told the jury not to consider the third for lack of evidence.

“We obviously weren’t happy to get convicted of anything, but I was happy that the court threw out the felonies,” said Sink attorney Don Tisdale, adding that his client will appeal.

Witnesses said the beating took place after Peters had collided with Kris Bradley’s car as they went into the third turn of the quarter-mile track during a 15-lap race. Bradley was Sink’s driver.

Bradley and his twin brother, Robert, also face assault charges. Their trials are scheduled for next month.

 

[buckaroo]

As a weekly race goer to Bowman Gray Stadium, I know of this incident and know it well. I can't believe that it took them this long to end just this one part of the criminal act. And there is yet another trial to come with the twins, who were really the main perps of it all.

Rupert, as he always wants to be called, has always been a tough guy and a hard drinker. He seesm to have plenty of money and has always been able to field the best cars, with the best cheat systems as well. He's not all that bad a driver either, but his temper and emotions obviously are his main faults. After this incident, NASCAR banned him and his teams from the track indefinately and they are still banned. However, Rupert has begun to race again his modified cars in the ASA Modified Tour which is run here in the south. He has asked to be reinstated, but NASCAR has yet to allow him back on the track and I'd bet that they never will again.

The Bradley boys are young and follow Rupert's lead in that they too feel like toughies in the world. They had t-shirts printed that said "9 out of 10 surgeon generals say that if you wreck a Sink car, it's bad for your health".

I know Peters and while he has a big mouth and isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, he's always been around to help with all the owners at the track. One of Sink's defenses was that he was only trying to break up a fight that he though Maynard started. Yeah right.

What happened was that Maynard was in the scoring house, a building in the pit area going to talk to the scoring judge about something when he was blind sided by one of the Bradley boys. Maynard said that at one point, one of those boys kicked his head like it was a football. There were plenty of witnesses there and included were a few cops. The defense had little in their arguments that helped them and the prosecution filled the witness box with plenty of witnesses that were very credible.

Maynard no longer drives but helps field a car in the limited late model series (second tier at the stadium). He still has a little problem with his speach and of course, his medical bills and problems are still around. However, to look at him, you wouldn't know that he was almost beaten to a pulp. However, he is just glad to be alive.

 

[tkj24]

I figured you knew about this. That is why I posted it.

 

[buckaroo]

Yeah, of course it's big talk here. BTW, one of the felonies that Rupert had dropped was "habitual fighting" and the reason it was dropped was because it was too long in between fights. Now I don't understand that, but I'm sure his lawyer had something to do about all of that. He, Sink, is going to appeal the virdict.