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Talladega Short Track
EASTABOGA, Ala. (January 4) - Ray Cook from Brasstown, NC etched his way into the record books by scoring victory in the Super Late Model feature event in Icebowl XVIII at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, AL.
Persistent rain dampered the weekend, but not the spirits, of the 369 race drivers from seventeen different states. Rain moved in and out of the area all weekend long turning the Icebowl into a Mudbowl, but happened to produce one of the best Icebowl races in the eighteen year history of the event.
Two, three and even four wide racing highlighted the event after four days of numerous laps around the 1/3 mile clay oval.
Ronnie Johnson shot to the early lead while fierce racing action from top to bottom followed behind him. Cook moved up to challenge Johnson half-way through the race, and the two would swap the top position several times before Cook finally took charge. The lead would be short lived for Cook, as 2007 Icebowl winner Billy Mayo moved from third to first to grab the lead. Cook would use the final restart with twelve laps remaining to take advantage of the double-file restarts and put the pressure on Mayo, wasting little time to grab the lead back. Cook would grab the lead and then lead the final ten laps for the win and Icebowl trophy.
"I love this place," Cook stated from victory lane. "I have won here several times before but its my first Icebowl win. This is one great racetrack. I had no idea it would be this racy but once you got out of the mess in the pits and onto the track, the track was in great shape."
In other Icebowl Championship action, Tony Miles won the Bomber car feature event while Jason Hiett picked up the Limited Late Model win. The IMCA Modified feature went to Benji Lacrosse with Brad Hall picking up the win for the Nesmith Dirt Late Model Series crate division.
Mark your calendars now as Icebowl XIX will invade the Hornets Nest next January 7th - 10th, 2010.
Unofficial Finish: 1. 53 Ray Cook 2. W3 James Ward 3. 115 Billy Mayo 4. 57J Bub McCool 5. 21 Neil Baggett 6. 1N Jordy Nipper 7. 25 Jeff Smith 8. 99 Terry Smith 10. 21 Royce Bray 11. M31 Tony Morris 12. 25 Tim Roswell 13. C16 Chris Ragan 14. 46 Chris Jones 15. B1 Vic Hill 16. 41 Lamar Scoggins 17. 81 Aaron Ridley 18. 11 Tommy Bailey 19. 22 Williams Thomas 20. 07 Larry Timms 21. 49 Dingus Griffin 22. R1 Ronnie Johnson 23. 01 Travis Pennington 24. X15 Skip Freeman 25. 77 Tim Day 26. 3 James Cline T1 Todd Morrow (DNS)
ICE BOWL Images courtesy of Thomas Hendrickson @ dt52photos.com
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