4/8/2006
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Ray Cook Captures Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Jimmy Mosteller Classic at Dixie Speedway
WOODSTOCK, GA (April 8, 2006)- Ray Cook of Brasstown, NC scored his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event win on Saturday Night at the Dixie Speedway in thrilling fashion as he passed the three frontrunners in front of him on lap 46 and then went on to capture the 50 Lap $10,000 to win Jimmy Mosteller Classic.
The 34 year old driver with the win becomes the seventh different series winner in the first eight races as he drove his Youngblood Concrete/Jacky Jones Automotive/Arvil Cook Investment Properties/Bill Elliott Motorsports/Engines, Inc. /Performance Rod and Custom/Grover Racing Engines/MasterSbilt Ford Fusion. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, GA finished second in the RSD Enterprises/SAE Parts/Custom GTO with Earl Pearson Jr of Jacksonville, FL taking third in the Lucas Oil Products/Dunn-Benson Ford/MasterSbilt Ford Taurus.
Completing the top five were Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, TN in the Miller Brothers Coal/Vic Hill Racing Engines/Bloomquist Race Cars Chevrolet and Jake Knowles of Tyrone, GA in the Mike Stewart/Walker Concrete/Rocket Grand Prix. A total of 60 cars were on hand for the Series third ever visit to the Mike Swims promoted facility.
Matt Miller and Marshall Green would make up the front row for the 24 car starting field, but as the cars took the green flag to start the race there would be contact between Miller and Green heading into turn number one resulting in the first caution of the night as both cars were finished for the night. Jake Knowles and Earl Pearson Jr. would make up the new front row starting lineup on the restart with Pearson taking the point on the first lap followed by Knowles, David Payne, Scott Bloomquist and Shane Clanton. Clanton would pass Bloomquist for fourth on lap two as Pearson started to build his lead over Knowles.
The caution would come with five laps complete for Phil Coltrane and then on the ensuing restart Knowles would drop from second place all the way to fifth as Payne, Clanton and Bloomquist would go by him. A few laps into the restart Pearson was up to a three car length advantage with Payne holding on for second as Clanton and Bloomquist were battling it out for third place. The second caution of the race on lap nine for Skip Arp would slow the field.
A lap later into the restart Clanton would pass Payne for second and now was within striking range of Pearson who was directly in front of him on the race track. On lap 12 Clanton would pass Pearson to take over the point as Bloomquist moved by Payne for third. Clanton was up to a six car length lead over Pearson and Bloomquist by the 17th lap as those three started to distance themselves from the rest of the field.
By the 23rd lap Clanton was beginning the get into some heavy traffic in front of him as Pearson and Bloomquist were racing for second with eighth place starting Ray Cook up to fourth with Knowles holding down the fifth slot. With 20 laps remaining Clanton started to see is lead evaporate as Pearson and Bloomquist had closed to with three car lengths in heavy traffic.
With no caution flags to clear the track in front of him Clanton would have to try and maneuver his way around cars that were in his racing line and that would allow Pearson, Bloomquist and eventually Cook to close right on him. With less than ten laps to go Clanton would have Pearson and Bloomquist breathing down his neck as the tension started to build up front as Cook was making his presence known as he would make it a four car chase to the checkers as the top four would go bumper to bumper.
As the cars crossed the start-finish line to complete lap 45 Pearson pulled alongside Clanton at the flag stand and the two went side by side into turn number one. They would run side by side through the corner and coming off of turn two there was contact between Clanton and Pearson and that forced Bloomquist who was right behind them to check up just enough as to where Cook would go by all three drivers to take over the lead on the 46th lap.
From that point Cook would sprint to the finish line and come home the winner with Clanton, Pearson, Bloomquist and Knowles completing the top five drivers. It feels great to get a win here at Dixie, said Cook in a jubilant victory lane. Our car got real good there towards the end of race and I just saw an opening there when Shane and Earl got together and I made it through just fine and here we are. I want to thank Brownie Brown and all of my great sponsors, the Grover Ford ran great and I cant thank them and Tader Masters enough for all of their help with our race team.
Completing the top ten were Donnie Moran, Ricky Williams, Don ONeal, Steve Shaver and Rodney Martin.
In preliminary action Shane Clanton topped the Comp Cams Time Trials with a lap of 14.865 seconds among the 60 entrants. The PBM Performance Heat Races went to Earl Pearson, Jr., Matt Miller, Marshall Green, Scott Bloomquist, Jake Knowles and David Payne. The Mason Racin Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main was won by Clint Smith and the Penske Shocks Second B-Main went to Brandon Rose.
Race Summary Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Dixie Speedway-Woodstock, GA Saturday Night, April 8, 2006
Comp Cams Fast Time: Shane Clanton 14.865 seconds
PBM Performance Products First Heat: (Top 3 Advance): Earl Pearson Jr., Shane Clanton, Wayne Echols, Joe Armistead Jr., Skip Arp, Jeremy Clements, Lamar Haygood, Scott Knowles, Bobby Giffin , William Burton
PBM Performance Products Second Heat: (Top 3 Advance): Matt Miller, Ray Cook, Don ONeal, Clint Smith, Scott James, Kenneth Westmoreland, Damon Eller, Terrence Nowell, Gary McPherson, Randall Walker
PBM Performance Products Third Heat: (Top 3 Advance): Marshall Green, Ricky Williams, Phil Coltrane, Billy Ogle Jr., Derrick Rainey, Michael England, Lavon Sparks, Doug Horton, David McCoy
PBM Performance Products Fourth Heat: (Top 3 Advance): Scott Bloomquist, Dale McDowell, Rodney Martin, Brandon Rose, Frank Ingram, Steve Casebolt, Tony Knowles, Laddie Fulcher, Steve Hillard, Sam Ruff
PBM Performance Products Fifth Heat: (Top 3 Advance): Jake Knowles, Steve Shaver, Johnny Cloer Jr., Derek Nichols, Scott Howard, James Roulette, Brady Smith, Jamey Cagle, Tim Day, Tracy Pearson
PBM Performance Products Sixth Heat: (Top 3 Advance): David Payne, Donnie Moran, Freddy Smith, Dennis Erb Jr., Greg Johnson, Randy Weaver, Brandon Kinzer, Ken Rupp, Lee Sutton, Tim Dohm
Mason Racin Rebel Shock Dyno First B-Main: (Top 2 Advance): Clint Smith, Skip Arp, Joe Armistead Jr., Derrick Rainey, Billy Ogle Jr., Michael England, Scott James, Lamar Haygood, Lavon Sparks, Kenneth Westmoreland, Terrence Nowell, Damon Eller, Gary McPherson, Doug Horton, Corey Conley, Bobby Giffin, Jeremy Clements, Scott Knowles, William Burton, Randall Walker, David McCoy
Penske Shocks B-Main: (Top 3 Advance): Brandon Rose, Derek Nichols, Greg Johnson, Randy Weaver, Frank Ingram, Dennis Erb Jr., Scott Howard, Steve Casebolt, Brady Smith, Ken Rupp, James Roulette, Tony Knowles, Brandon Kinzer, Jamey Cagle, Laddie Fulcher, Lee Sutton, Sam Ruff, Tracy Pearson, Tim Dohm, Tim Day, Steve Hillard
Jimmy Mosteller Classic Feature (50 Laps): Ray Cook, Shane Clanton, Earl Pearson Jr., Scott Bloomquist, Jake Knowles, Donnie Moran, Ricky Williams, Don ONeal, Steve Shaver, Rodney Martin, Freddy Smith, Dennis Erb Jr., Johnny Cloer Jr, Doug Horton, Brandon Rose, Clint Smith, Wayne Echols, David Payne, Derek Nichols, Phil Coltrane, Dale McDowell, Skip Arp, Matt Miller, Marshall Green
Race Statistics Entries: 60 Yellow Flags: 2 Red Flags: 0 Lap Leaders: Earl Pearson Jr. 1-11, Shane Clanton 12-45, Ray Cook 46-50 All-Star Performance Products Performer: Dennis Erb Jr (Started 23rd and Finished 12th) Advanced 11 Positions K&N Engineering Clean Pass of the Race: Scott Bloomquist Hawk Brake Tough Break Award: Marshall Green Quarter Master Move of the Race: Ray Cook Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Provisionals: Dennis Erb Jr. and Doug Horton
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields