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Roby Helm
COLUMBUS, Miss. (September 5) - Eric Cooley of Fulton, MS took another step towards the 2009 NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Championship on Saturday night when he took his first career series win at Columbus Speedway in the BT Customs 50 driving the 78 Towing and Recovery Victory Circle.
Cooley picked up the exciting battle from Friday night at Greenville Speedway in Greenville, MS with Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, GA, as the two drivers battled side-by-side for the lead in the closing laps. The two drivers reversed their finishing positions from the night before, as Friday winner Turner finished second on Saturday night in the Turner Excavating DWB.
"We've never really been that good here in National events, and I would have been happy with the top five finish," Cooley said. "It feels good to get my first win this close to home. We're on a roll now with two poles, a second and a win, and I hope we can just keep it going and get the championship."
Mike Boland of Cuba, AL drove The Strength Center Trak-Star to a third-place finish, and Ben McCreary of Baldwyn, MS took the fourth spot in the Waddle Trucking Mastersbilt to earn the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Race Award. Todd Morrow of East Ridge, TN finished fifth in the T.J. Hunt Trucking Mastersbilt to earn the Race Car Engineering Fifth-Place Award.
The defending NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series West Region Champion Jim McDuffie of Meridian, MS was sixth in the H.E. Mosley, Inc. Trak-Star, and Larry Boutwell of Baker, FL started 19th and finished seventh in the McLeod Construction Rocket to earn the GM Performance Parts Hard Charger Award.
Justin McRee of Woodstock, AL drove the Century Carriers, Inc. Trak-Star to an eighth-place finish to earn the Race Car Engineering Eighth-Place Award, and Chase Washington of Houlka, MS was ninth in the Jerry Inmon Race Cars GRT to earn the Maximum Signs Ninth-Place Award. Jason Sanderford of Pheba, MS rounded out the top ten in the Sanderford Racing TNT.
Cooley earned his second straight McLeod Construction Fast Time Award with a lap around the ¼-mile clay oval in 14.443 seconds, and started the race from the pole position. Cooley took the lead at the start of the race with McCreary settling into the second spot from his outside front row starting position.
McDuffie threw a slider on McCreary and Cooley in turn two on lap two to take the lead from the third spot, but he didn't get credit for leading the lap, as Cooley recaptured the point coming off the fourth turn. McCreary also got by McDuffie to reclaim the second spot on lap four with an inside move coming off the second turn.
A four-car battle for the second spot developed by lap eight involving McCreary, McDuffie, Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth of Northport, AL in the Waddle Trucking Mastersbilt, and McRee. While that quartet of drivers battled for second, Cooley was able to open up a half-straightaway lead by lap ten.
Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA brought out the first caution flag on lap 11 when he spun the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt in turn two. Cooley had McCreary, McDuffie, Hollingsworth, McRee, Boland, and Morrow behind him for the restart.
When the field went to green flag action, Hollingsworth spun in turn two and collected seventh-place Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba, MS in the Boland Performance Trak-Star, tenth-place Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA in the Hays Family Racing Warrior, and Jeremy Himes of Seymour, IN in the Bedford Transport Rayburn.
Rainey's car did a slow roll and landed on its wheels which necessitated a red flag. All four cars were eventually retired for the evening due to damage in the crash, and Rainey was given the Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award.
Cooley was the leader for the restart with "The Mac Attack" behind him in the form of McCreary, McDuffie, and McRee starting second through fourth respectively behind him. McCreary and McDuffie battled side-by-side for second until McDuffie took the position on lap 12. A caution flag for debris in turn one came out on lap 15.
Behind Cooley, McRee had dropped back to the seventh spot, as Boland, Morrow, and Turner moved up to the fourth through sixth spots respectively for the restart. Boland wasted no time in moving up, as he passed McCreary for the third spot on the restart. McRee climbed back up to the fifth spot on the restart.
Turner, who started tenth, made his first appearance in the top five on lap 17 when he passed McRee for fifth. After starting 19th, Boutwell was running ninth by lap 20. Lap 23 saw Boland dive to the bottom of the track in turn three to challenge for the second spot, and then slide up in front of McDuffie to take the position.
McDuffie had to check up when Boland moved up in front of him, and that bottled up McCreary, who had to get his car sideways and slide to the infield on the front straightaway. McCreary did a nice piece of driving to gather his car up and get back on the race track, only losing two positions back to the sixth spot.
Turner moved up to the third spot on lap 24, and the caution flag came back out on lap 28 when Chris McElhenney of Lake, MS spun the G&M Trucking GRT in turn two. On the restart, McElhenney got tangled up with Charlie Henderson of Cottondale, AL in the Century Carriers, Inc. Mastersbilt to set up another restart.
When the green flag came back out, Boland and Turner put the pressure on Cooley for the lead by lap 32. Cooley, who had been running the top groove since the start of the race, dropped to the bottom of the track on lap 35. Morrow was the only driver by this point in the race to remain on the high side.
Turner got under Boland for the second spot, and McCreary drove under Morrow in turn two on lap 42 to take over the fourth position. Cooley encountered lapped traffic on lap 44, and went back to the outside line to find his way through. Turner found an opening on the inside, and passed Cooley for the lead.
Cooley got a good run on lap 45 on the outside to reclaim the top spot, and in the process put two lapped cars between himself and Turner. Once Turner cleared the lapped cars, Cooley had a big enough advantage to carry him to the checkered flag and his first career NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Touring win.
Cooley now holds a 106-point advantage over Boutwell in the NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National points chase. Turner's second-place finish moved him up to the third spot in the point standings, 78 points behind Boutwell.
In preliminary action, the three eight-lap heat races were won by Hollingsworth, Morrow, and Boland. The ten-lap B-main was won by Washington. The final jewel of the Mississippi Labor Day Triple Crown for the NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National Tour will be held on Sunday night at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, MS with a $2,000-to-win 40-lap main event.
OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 19 AT COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS, MS ON 9/5/09:
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS $ WON
1. 1 33c Eric Cooley Fulton, MS 50 $2,600
2. 10 10 Matthew Turner Dawsonville, GA 50 $1,250
3. 7 222 Mike Boland Cuba, AL 50 $850
4. 2 21 Ben McCreary (R) Baldwyn, MS 50 $700
5. 6 T16 Todd Morrow East Ridge, TN 50 $650
6. 4 760 Jim McDuffie Meridian, MS 50 $550
7. 19 58 Larry Boutwell Baker, FL 50 $600
8. 3 25 Justin McRee Woodstock, AL 50 $450
9. 17 38 Chase Washington (R) Houlka, MS 50 $400
10. 14 82 Jason Sanderford Pheba, MS 50 $375
11. 9 16 Jeff Fields Aragon, GA 50 $350
12. 11 5 Klint Byars Carrollton, MS 50 $300
13. 20 52 Blake Koenigsberger Columbus, MS 50 $280
14. 18 90 Eddie Rickman Columbus, MS 49 $260
15. 22 19 Marcus Minga Shannon, MS 49 $250
16. 15 5e Shawn Edwards Louisville, MS 49 $240
17. 24 20 Kelly Lovorn Calhoun City, MS 49 $220
18. 21 28 Chris McElhenney Lake, MS 47 $200
19. 16 88 Charlie Henderson Cottondale, AL 27 $200
20. 8 22 Lucky Keeton Toomsuba, MS 13 $200
21. 5 18 Ronny Hollingsworth Northport, AL 10 $200
22. 12 87 Derrick Rainey Powder Springs, GA 10 $200
23. 13 49 Jeremy Hines Seymour, IN 10 $200
24. 23 4 Kevin Henderson Cottondale, AL 1 $200
ENTRIES: 31
McLEOD CONSTRUCTION FAST TIME AWARD: Cooley, 14.443 Seconds
PROVISIONALS: None
LEAD CHANGES: 2
LAP LEADERS: Cooley, 1-43; Turner, 44; Cooley, 45-50
LAPS LED: Cooley, 49; Turner, 1
SUNOCO RACE FUELS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: McCreary
GM PERFORMANCE PARTS HARD CHARGER: Boutwell (started 19th and finished 7th)
DOMINATOR RACE PRODUCTS HARD LUCK AWARD: Rainey
RACE CAR ENGINEERING FIFTH-PLACE AWARD: Morrow
RACE CAR ENGINEERING EIGHTH-PLACE AWARD: McRee
MAXIMUM SIGNS NINTH-PLACE AWARD: Washington
CAUTIONS: 5 (one red flag)
TIME OF THE RACE: 32 Minutes and 21.341 Seconds
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