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Ben Shelton
COLUMBUS, Miss. (April 12) - On Saturday night, the 16th Annual Larry Clark Chevrolet James King Memorial was held at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi, and when the checkered flag flew on the 64 lap Super Late Model feature, every one in attendance knew that they had just seen one of the best battles ever at "The Baddest Bullring in the South".
Twenty-Seven Super Late Models representing seven states signed in to battle for the $5,000 top prize. In qualifying it was Four Corners, Mississippi driver, David Breazeale, who turned a 13.63 second lap, to lead the field. Breazeale earned the pole position for the 64 lap feature as well as a $300 fast qualifier check courtesy of Rod's Auto Sales in Baldwyn, Mississippi. Starting alongside Breazeale was Lettsworth, Louisiana driver, James Ward.
At the drop of the green flag, Breazeale rocketed to the lead with Ward, Justin McRee, Dean Carpenter, Chris Wall, and Kyle Beard in tow. Breazeale set a torrid pace early on and was already approaching lapped traffic by lap 3 as Kyle Beard and Terry English began to race side by side for the 5th spot. The battle would be short-lived though, as Beard rolled to a stop on lap nine with a right rear wheel packed full of mud bringing out the caution. Beard would dart into the pits and rejoin the back of the field before the green flag waived again.
At the time of the caution, the top five runners consisted of Breazeale, Ward, McRee, Wall, and Terry English. On the ensuing restart, eighth running Dean Carpenter looped his #51 machine in turn two, collecting Jack Sullivan, Dewaine Hottinger, and Jon Kirby. Sullivan and Carpenter were done for the night while, Hottinger and Kirby rejoined the field.
As green flag action resumed, Breazeale once again began to drive away from the field, as English and Wall battled side by side for the fourth position with Wendell Wallace and Mike Boland having their own side by side battle for the sixth position. On lap 16, disaster would strike for the leader as he made hard contact with the wall exiting turn two, which resulted in heavy damage to his #54 Mastersbilt, and ended his night. With Breazeale in the pits, Ward inherited the lead followed by McRee, Wall, English, and Boland.
The restart would see the action really starting to heat up at the front as the leaders began to battle four wide at the front of the pack with Ward maintaining a slim advantage. On lap 17, Boland would drive his #222 Trakstar past English for the fourth position. At the front of the pack, Ward, Wall, and McRee began to battle three wide for the top spot. McRee's night would take a turn for the worse on lap 22, when he and Wall made contact exiting turn four that resulted in McRee rolling to a stop in turn one with his night done. With McRee pitside the top five runners were once again shuffled with Ward at the point followed by Wall, Boland, English, and twelfth starting, Dane Dacus.
On the restart, Wall was shuffled backward, as Boland and Dacus moved into second and third respectively. With Boland and Dacus pressuring Ward for the top spot, another driver on the move was Kyle Beard, who was back up to the 7th position by lap 24 after going tailback on lap 9. Lap 25, would see Dacus use the low side to race past Boland for the second spot with Beard rocketing past English on lap 27 for the 5th position as Boland pulled to the infield with mechanical woes on lap 28. The caution flag would once again fly on lap 30 for debris on the track with the top five running order consisting of Ward, Dacus, English, Wall, and Beard.
On the restart Ward and Dacus began battling side by side for the lead with Dacus on the low side and Ward on the cushion. Lap 35 would see Wendell Wallace, who had gone pitside on lap 17 for fresh tires, pass Kyle Beard for the 5th spot. By lap 37 Ward had stretched his lead on the field by a few car lengths as Dacus, English, and Wall raced three wide for the second position with Wallace making up ground on the trio each lap.
Terry English would take the third position from Wall on lap 43, but disaster would strike for English on lap 47 as the Kentucky native's engine expired in his #96 Mastersbilt. With English done for the night, the top five running order consisted of Wall, Dacus, Wall, Wallace, and 19th starting, Neil Baggett.
When green flag action resumed, total mayhem reigned supreme at the front of the pack as the top five cars all contested the lead as they battled three and four wide. Wall would take the second spot from Dacus on lap 48 with Wallace overtaking Dacus for third on lap 51. At the front of the pack Ward and Wall battled side by side for the lead for the next six laps before Wall took over the top spot for good on lap 57. Wallace rocketed past Ward for the second position on lap 60 with Baggett passing Ward on lap 62 for the third position. Wall would lead the last two laps en route to the $5,000 payday. With the win, Wall became only the second driver to win the event more than once (Freddy Smith, 2003 and 1999). Following Wall across the line was Wendell Wallace, Neil Baggett (started 19th), James Ward, and Tony Knowles (started 18th).
In victory lane, an elated Wall jumped on top of his car as he pumped his fist in the air, before climbing the front stretch catch fence. In the post race interview, Wall commented, "I thought I was done around lap 8 when I broke a left front shock, but I just kept digging and despite the broke shock, the car was unbelievable at the end. That was an unbelievable race with Ward. Johnny Stokes has the race track phenomenal tonight, and this is no doubt my favorite track in the country!"
The Open Wheel Modified feature was a barn-burner as well with Tony Gray and Shay Knight having a great side by side battle for much of the race before Knight took the top spot for good with a few laps to go. Knight, Todd Gray, Jay Burchfield, Jeremy Shaw, and Tony Gray rounded out the top five.
The 15 lap NeSmith Weekly Racing Series Crate Late Model event was topped by Tanner English (son of Terry English) from Benton, Kentucky with Ben McCreary, Tony Shelton, Caleb Myers, and Roman Ponds rounding out the top five.
The Late Model Stock feature was topped by 2007 Track Champion, Eric Cooley. At the line Cooley was followed by TK King, Marcus Minga, William Bell, and Jason Poole.
The Street Stock feature saw pole sitter Jamie Sudduth take the win over a 25 car field. Sudduth was followed by Tony Silvestri, Heath Beard, Dusty Robertson, and Danny Gable.
The next event at Columbus Speedway will be the 10th Annual John L. Cliett Memorial on Saturday, May 10th, and will feature a $5,000 to win Super Late Model event featuring the Southern All Star Super Late Models against the S.U.P.R. Super Late Models PLUS a Weekly Racing Series Event. For more information, please visit www.ColumbusSpeedway.net .
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SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
1ST 71 CHRIS WALL
2ND 88 WENDELL WALLACE
3RD 21 NEIL BAGGETT
4TH W3 JAMES WARD
5TH 26 TONY KNOWLES
6TH 54 DANE DACUS
7TH 121 ANTHONY BURROUGHS
8TH 65 DEWAINE HOTTINGER
9TH 11J JOHNNY LANCASTER
10TH 22 KEITH HOUSE
11TH 68 RICK RICKMAN
12TH 86 KYLE BEARD
13TH 96 TERRY ENGLISH
14TH 8 JASON CLIBURN
15TH 70 1/2 ANTHONY RUSHING
16TH 222 MIKE BOLAND
17TH 57J BUB MCCOOL
18TH 25 JUSTIN MCREE
19TH 54 DAVID BREAZEALE
20TH 1S JEFF WELLS, JR.
21ST 51 DEAN CARPENTER
22ND 18 JACK SULLIVAN
23RD 11 JOHN KIRBY
24TH 44 VIRGIL TAYLOR
NONQUAL 10 DANIEL BROWN
NONQUAL 54C STACEY CALDWELL
NONQUAL D7 JERRY INMON
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