Carolina Clash: Roffers Outruns the Storm to win at Cleveland County Alex Cummings LAWNDALE, N.C. - April 15. The inclement weather on the way and severe thunderstorms in the3 forecast, Luke Roffers outran both the storm and a stout field of 25 of Late Model drivers at Cleveland County Speedway for his second Carolina Clash win of the young season. It also propelled Roffers to sole possession of first place in the championship points. With impending weather, officials from Cleveland County Speedway and the series decided it was best to qualify and go immediately into the feature event, starting all 25 cars present. Roffers set fast time during qualifying for his first pole of the 2011 season with a time of 17.182. 13 cars were able to break the track record of 17.664 on the newly configured high-banked half-mile. Roffers was able to jump out to the early lead when the feature began as the rest of the field behind him raced two and three-wide for position. On lap three, Dean Bowen collected the inside tire barrier in turn two, receiving extensive damage. Further in the pack, Scott Autry, Ricky Weeks, and Tim Allen ran three-wide for nearly six laps. Chris Ferguson made his move on lap 10 when he passed Kenny Compton, Jr. for second place and set sail for Roffers. Ferguson would get side by side with Roffers for the next five laps. On lap 16, Furman Parton stopped in turn two while seventh running Scott Autry went pitside with a flat tire. Dennis Franklin, who had been quite so far this season, made his way from 10th to third in just 16 laps. Jay Sessoms was also a man a mission tonight and was already in the top 10 by lap 16. Sessoms won the Hard Charger Award, advancing 16 positions during the feature event. Lap 19 saw a scary incident when Ferguson, while attempting to make a pass for the lead, got crossed up in turn three, sliding up the track into Roffers then hard into the outside wall where Ferguson came to rest on the top of the wall. Johnny Pursley made his way to second after the lap 19 incident and began reeling in Roffers. On lap 29, Pursley made his move to the inside of Roffers as the two would run side by side for the lead for the next five laps until Roffers was able to prevail and take over the lead. The final caution flew on lap 34 when David Taylor slowed with a flat tire. Under the caution, Mike Gault, who was on his way to the hard charger of the race award, began smoking heavily and stopped in turn one. This was a major blow to Gaults' championship hopes as he came into the race tied for first place in championship points. On the restart, Roffers walked away from the rest of the field and brought home the win. Johnny Pusley was able to finish second and Petey Ivey was able to finish third. Outside polesitter Kenny Compton, Jr. finished the race in fourth and Dennis Franklin rounded out the top five. "I would like to thank Wolfpack Racing, Cal Les 2 Trucking, Wayne Roffers Trucking, Chad Roffers Trucking, Roffers Wildlife Studio, and Wisconsin Lock & Load," said Roffers in victory lane. "My crew gave me a great setup tonight."
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
NALMS Suspends Remaining Season
In a statement released to the racing media Monday, Northern All All Stars Late Model Series (NALMS) owners Shawn Hall and Bob Mooney relased the following statement:
To all NALMS drivers and fans,
Northern Allstars Late Model Series regrets to inform all of our drivers and fans that as of today (May 14, 2012) we will suspend all series races for the remaining 2012 season. The primary reason for the decision to discontinue the series was mainly economics. Tracks, teams and fans are having a hard time these days with the cost of living in general. With the cost of fuel, parts, tires, tickets and lodging, many people just cannot afford to travel to our shows, so we feel it's best to stop for now and try to regroup for the 2013 season.
Our series needs to be able to have at least 18 to 20 shows to cover our cost of putting on these shows and our drivers point funds. With many tracks cutting back on their special events and other tracks just choosing not to have specials at all, it's has really cut our options for race tracks down to a very few unless you are willing to travel several hours away from the Central Illinois area, and that is not cost effective for the racing teams or fans.
In closing we would like to thank all of the drivers and fans whom have supported the series over the years and we hope to be able to come back with a bigger and better season for everyone in 2013.
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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