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Roby Helm
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (March 17) - The NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series will make its first visit to Flomaton Speedway in Flomaton, AL this Friday and Saturday night for round four of the 2008 season that will be highlighted by a 75-lap $5,000-to-win main event. The race fans will also have an opportunity to get into the action with rides in a two-seat race car to benefit the American Cancer Society.
A tight battle for the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series point lead between Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA and Chip Brindle of Chatsworth, GA will take to the ¼-mile high-banked clay oval this weekend. Just two points separate point leader Fields and second-place Brindle. Fields has 236 points, and Brindle has 234 points.
Fields has attended every NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS event ever held since the series was founded in 2005, and he is the only driver to finish in the top five of the National point standings over the past three seasons. Fields was the National Championship Runner-Up in 2005, finished third in the points in 2006, and took the fifth spot in the points chase last season.
Brindle was the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series Rookie of the Year last season with three wins. Brindle finished fourth overall in the National point standings last season. Brindle has a 28-point lead over the third-place driver in points, Chris Tays of Corinth, MS. Tays leads a tight battle for the third spot in the series standings with 206 points.
Ted Lackey of Munford, AL is just four points behind Tays for the third spot with 202 points, and the 2007 NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National Championship Runner-Up Jay Blair of Angie, LA is fifth, just two points behind Lackey with 200 points. Three drivers are tied for the sixth spot in the National points chase, and one of those drivers is a local favorite at Flomaton Speedway.
Larry Boutwell of Baker, FL will be looking for a win at his home track to break the tie he is in with Carlton Freeman of Eastaboga, AL and Jeff Smith of Rocky Face, GA for the sixth spot at 192 points. Jason Hiett of Lincoln, AL is the leading Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year Candidate, and is ninth in the points, just two points out of the three-way tie for sixth with 190 points. Scott Knowles of Lanett, AL rounds out the top ten in the NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National points after three races with 160 points.
Another pair of local favorites entered this weekend have had success with the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series. Frank Wilson of Harold, FL is the defending NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series South Region Champion, and Josh Huss of Flomaton, AL was the South Region Runner-Up in 2007.
Flomaton Speedway will join the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series in 2008, with the season running from March 28 through September 28. Weekly competitors at Flomaton Speedway in the NeSmith Chevrolet Late Model Division will compete for a track point fund, and a regional point fund that will be based on their best 16 finishes against drivers at other Nesmith Chevrolet WRS-sanctioned tracks.
The race fans will have an opportunity to get some laps at speed around Flomaton Speedway on Friday and Saturday night in the specially-built two-seat dirt late model that will benefit the local chapter of the American Cancer Society with the Ride For Life program.
Race fans will have the opportunity to bid for a ride with their favorite driver, and the fans with the highest bids will strap in the passenger seat to get six laps at speed around Flomaton Speedway. All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the local chapter of the American Cancer Society.
Flomaton Speedway will host an open practice on Thursday night, as drivers will begin to dial in their race cars in the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series' first visit to Flomaton Speedway. On Friday night, the NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS competitors will Qualify for starting spots in heat races that will determine the first 16 to 18 starting spots in feature race.
The top finishers in Friday night's heat races will transfer into the 75-lap $5,000-to-win main event on Saturday night. Drivers that fail to transfer out of the Friday night heat races will have another opportunity to try and make the tail of the 24-car main event starting field through a pair of B-main events on Saturday night.
For more information call Flomaton Speedway at 251-296-DIRT (3478), or visit the track web site at www.flomatonspeedway.com. Flomaton Speedway is located one-mile west of U.S. Highway 31 on State Road 113. For more information about the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series, visit the series web site at www.nesmithracing.com.
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