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Roby Helm
GREENVILLE, Miss. (July 31) - Jason Hiett of Lincoln, AL mastered the 3/10-mile gumbo clay of Greenville Speedway to pick up his first career NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Touring win on Saturday night driving the OMG/Cofields Racing Starters GRT. Hiett led all 50 laps of the Delta Dirt Nationals main event.
"The track surface here is a lot different than what we have at home, so it took us awhile to figure it out," Hiett said. "We weren't that good last night, so we changed just about everything on the car except the engine, and all of that paid off tonight."
Hiett beat Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, GA to the checkered flag by .445 seconds to take the win. Turner in the Turner Excavating DWB got to within a couple of car-lengths of Hiett in lapped traffic, but had to settle for second. Mike Boland of Cuba, AL finished third in The Strength Center Trak-Star.
Larry Harrod of Plains, GA took the fifth spot in the Harrod Logging Scorpion and was the VP Racing Fuels Rookie of the Race in addition to earning the Race Car Engineering 5th-Place Award.
The defending NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Champion and current point leader Eric Cooley of Fulton, MS was sixth in the 78 Towing and Recovery Victory Circle and picked up the KRC 6th-Place Award. Turner has now closed to within 58 points of Cooley in the $20,000 Championship battle.
Jeremy Shaw of Millport, AL finished seventh in the Summit Resource Development Trak-Star and won the Joe Gibbs Driven Oil 7th-Place Award. Bubba Harrison of Merigold, MS drove the Redden Farms GRT to the eighth spot and the Race Car Engineering 8th-Place Award. Chris McElhenney of Lake, MS finished ninth in the G&M Trucking Trak-Star to earn the Maximum Signs and Graphics 9th-Place Award.
Mark Tice of Avon, MS took the tenth spot and the KRC 10th-Place Award in the Precision Marine Trak-Star, and Chip Brindle of Chatsworth, GA was 11th to pick up the Mike's Custom Tanks 11th-Place Award in the Bryson Motorsports Pro-1 by Brindle.
Marcus Minga of Shannon, MS took a provisional, started 24th, and raced the B&M Salvage Rocket to a 12th-place finish to earn the GM Performance Parts Hard Charger of the Race Award and the Shorty's Shock Service 12th-Place Award.
The caution flag was waved early and often in the 50-lap race, and the first of 13 yellows came out on the opening lap when five cars tangled in the first turn. The wreck took out Chris Ragan of Ramer, TN in the Southeastern Ag Transport Trak-Star and three-time NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series West Region Champion Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba, MS in the Boland Performance Trak-Star.
Keeton was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he did pick up the Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award. When the field saw the green flag again for the complete restart, Hiett took the lead from his outside front row starting spot followed by Turner, polesitter Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS in the TJC Mortgage/Maximum Signs and Graphics Mastersbilt, Boland, and Evan Ellis of Plantersville, MS in the Ellis Certified Welders Trak-Star.
Palasini drove into the top five and up to third by lap three. Boland battled with Stokes for the fourth spot side-by-side on lap five with Stokes on the high side of the track, and Boland using the bottom groove. Caution flag number two came out on lap seven when Michael Blount of Sumrall, MS sailed his Lamar Auto Salvage Trak-Star off the track in turn two.
Hiett was out front all by himself with the rest of the field doubled up behind him for the Delaware-style double-file restart. Second-place Turner chose the outside, which put the third-place Palasini to his left on the inside. Palasini found that to his liking, as he passed Turner for the second spot on the restart.
Justin McRee of Tuscaloosa, AL spun the Century Dedicated Trak-Star in turn two while running sixth to light the yellow bulb for the third time in the race on lap nine. After a couple of more cautions on the ensuing restarts, the third time was charm, as Hiett opened up a lead while Turner and Palasini battled side-by-side for second.
Turner got a run on Palasini on lap 12 and sailed around him on the outside to retake the second spot. Cooley charged from his 16th starting spot to settle into the sixth position by lap 12. Hiett began to reach the cars on the tail of the lead lap by lap 15, and dodged a big bullet on lap 17.
As Hiett entered turn one behind the lapped car of McRee, "J-Mac" spun in front of the leader, and Hiett just made it around him as the caution flag was unfurled for the sixth time. Hiett led Turner, Palasini, Boland, Stokes, Cooley, Harrod, Ellis, Brindle, and Harrison down for the restart.
After starting 15th, Harrod got up on the wheel when the field went back to green flag action, as he bolted from the seventh spot to fifth. Palasini began to fade while using the bottom groove, as both Boland and Harrod passed him for the third and fourth spots respectively on lap 18.
Shannon Lee of Lumberton, MS spun the Billy Riels Racing GRT in turn four to bring out the caution flag on lap 20. Ellis flew off the turn one banking on the restart while running eighth to bring out the eighth caution flag.
The restart saw a crowded battle for the fifth spot among Palasini, Brindle, Cooley, and Stokes. Brindle and Stokes were able to advance to the fifth and sixth spots respectively on lap 21. Stokes got into the back of Brindle on lap 22 going down the front straightaway, and the two cars locked bumpers sending Brindle spinning down the front chute.
The drivers behind Brindle were alerted via RaceCeiver one-way radio from the control tower of Brindle sitting sideways on the high side of the front straightaway, and everyone missed him by going to the inside as the caution flag flew for the ninth time. Stokes was charged with caution flag, and Brindle returned to restart in the fifth spot.
Palasini regrouped after the caution period, and passed Brindle for the fifth spot on lap 24. Blount took his second wild ride of the night on lap 26 when he disappeared into the night off the second turn. With one-half of the race in the books, Hiett led Turner, Boland, Harrod, Palasini, Brindle, Cooley, Harrison, Cliff Williams of Star, MS in the Ware Construction Trak-Star, and Shaw.
Most of the drivers in the field were running the high groove of the speedway during the second half of the race. Cooley worked around Brindle for the sixth spot on lap 32, while Hiett encountered heavy lapped traffic by lap 33.
After starting 21st and running as high as seventh, Williams began to fade on lap 35, as Harrison and Shaw moved up to the seventh and eighth spots respectively, and Chad Washington of Greenville, MS made his first appearance in the top ten driving the C&W Graphics GRT. With less than ten laps to go, Hiett found more heavy lapped traffic in front of him, and Turner began to close the gap on lap 42.
The caution flag came out on lap 45 when Brindle stalled on the front stretch with a cut down right-rear tire. On the restart, the cars of Washington, Charlie Henderson of Cottondale, AL in the Century Dedicated Mastersbilt, Lee, and Robert Smith of Leland, MS in the Brown's Salvage Mastersbilt tangled in turn one.
Palasini got by Harrod on the restart to move back up to the fourth spot. Henderson spun in turn two on lap 48 to bring out the final caution flag of the race. Hiett took off on the restart, keeping Turner and Boland behind him to post the win.
In preliminary action, Stokes was the fast qualifier in the 35-car field with a lap in 15.185 seconds. The two 15-lap Qualifying Races were won by Shaw and Keeton. The NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Tour will now move to Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, MS for a 40-lap $2,000-to-win main event on Sunday night.
For more information about the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series visit the series web site at www.nesmithracing.com, or visit the series on Facebook at NeSmith Racing. Becoming a fan of the NeSmith Racing Facebook page will make you eligible for special prizes that will be given away each month.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS PENDING TIRE LAB TESTS OF ROUND 17 AT GREENVILLE SPEEDWAY IN GREENVILLE, MS ON 7/31/10:
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS $ WON
1. 2 1h Jason Hiett Lincoln, AL 50 $2,500
2. 3 77 Matthew Turner Dawsonville, GA 50 $1,250
3. 4 222 Mike Boland Cuba, AL 50 $850
4. 9 8 Mike Palasini Jr. Leland, MS 50 $700
5. 15 27 Larry Harrod (R) Plains, GA 50 $650
6. 16 33c Eric Cooley Fulton, MS 50 $650
7. 11 1c Jeremy Shaw Millport, AL 50 $500
8. 10 56 Bubba Harrison Merigold, MS 50 $450
9. 19 28 Chris McElhenney Lake, MS 50 $400
10. 14 24 Mark Tice (R) Avon, MS 50 $375
11. 13 38c Chip Brindle Chatsworth, GA 50 $350
12. 24 19 Marcus Minga Shannon, MS 50 $400
13. 5 88 Charlie Henderson (R) Cottondale, AL 50 $280
14. 20 26 Glenn Craft Greenville, MS 49 $260
15. 18 17 Chad Washington Greenville, MS 44 $250
16. 22 8kv Robert Smith Leland, MS 44 $240
17. 17 47 Shannon Lee (R) Lumberton, MS 44 $220
18. 21 4 Cliff Williams Star, MS 43 $200
19. 23 121 Michael Blount (R) Sumrall, MS 25 $200
20. 1 1 Johnny Stokes Columbus, MS 21 $200
21. 6 73 Evan Ellis (R) Plantersville, MS 19 $200
22. 8 25 Justin McRee Tuscaloosa, AL 16 $200
23. 7 C16 Chris Ragan Ramer, TN 0 $200
24. 12 22 Lucky Keeton Toomsuba, MS 0 $200
ENTRIES: 35
FAST QUALIFIER: Stokes, 15.185 Seconds
PROVISIONALS: Blount and Minga
LEAD CHANGES: None
LAP LEADER: Hiett, 1-50
VP RACING FUELS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Harrod
GM PERFORMANCE PARTS HARD CHARGER: Minga (started 24th and finished 12th)
DOMINATOR RACE PRODUCTS HARD LUCK AWARD: Keeton
RACE CAR ENGINEERING 5TH-PLACE AWARD: Harrod
KRC 6TH-PLACE AWARD: Cooley
JOE GIBBS DRIVEN OIL 7TH-PLACE AWARD: Shaw
RACE CAR ENGINEERING 8TH-PLACE AWARD: Harrison
MAXIMUM SIGNS AND GRAPHICS 9TH-PLACE AWARD: McElhenney
KRC 10TH-PLACE AWARD: Tice
MIKE'S CUSTOM SIGNS 11TH-PLACE AWARD: Brindle
SHORTY'S SHOCK SERVICE 12TH-PLACE AWARD: Minga
CAUTIONS: 13
MARGIN OF VICTORY: .445 Seconds
TIME OF THE RACE: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes and 14.248 Seconds
HEAT RACES (15 Laps - Top 6 Transfer To Main Event):
1ST HEAT: 1. Shaw; 2. Brindle; 3. Harrod (R); 4, Lee (R); 5. McElhenney; 6. Williams; 7. Minga; 8. Barrett; 9. Blount (R); 10. Showah; 11. K. Carpenter; 12. Derryberry; 13. K. Henderson DNS.
2ND HEAT: 1. Keeton; 2. Tice (R); 3. Cooley; 4. Washington; 5. Craft; 6. Smith; 7. Parker; 8. Jordan; 9. Evans; 10. Sluder; 11. D. Carpenter; 12. Brown DNS.
NeSMITH CHEVROLET DIRT LATE MODEL SERIES NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 7/31/10:
1. 33c Eric Cooley - 1,538
2. 77 Matthew Turner - 1,480
3. 25 Justin McRee - 1,332
4. 47 Shannon Lee (R) - 1,252
5. 27 Larry Harrod (R) - 1,240
5. 88 Charlie Henderson (R) - 1,240
7. 28 Chris McElhenney - 1,210
8. 121 Michael Blount (R) - 1,128
9, 19 Marcus Minga - 992
10. 38c Chip Brindle - 686
11. 1 Johnny Stokes - 640
12. 222 Mike Boland - 586
13. 25b Jay Burchfield (R) - 524
14. T9 Troy Dixon (R) - 502
15. C16 Chris Ragan - 484
16. 73 Evan Ellis (R) - 476
17. 18 Ronnie Lee Hollingsworth - 464
18. 72 Frank Wilson (R) - 416
19. 4 Cliff Williams - 404
19. 8 Mike Palasini Jr.
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