The Jetmore Top 5 (l.tor.) Jon Anderson, Kelly Boen, Kyle Berck, Jesse Stovall, and winner Al Purkey. (Lloyd Collins) MLRA/MARS/NCRA/CLMA: Purkey Shines in Home State in "Sunflower State Showdown"
Ashley Berry
JETMORE, Kan. - April 30. Coffeyville, Kansas native, Al Purkey masterfully navigated lap traffic en route to his first Lucas Oil MLRA win of the season at the Great American Dirt Track. Purkey won $10,000 for his "Sunflower State Showdown" win in his home state. The event was co-sanctioned by the MLRA, MARS, NCRA, and CLMA regional series'.
Lebanon, Mo.'s Tony Jackson, Jr. was the pole sitter after winning his heat race form the fifth starting position. Jackson led the first 20 laps, before Purkey took the lead on lap 21. Purkey would never relinquish the lead throughout the remaining 29 laps.
Continuing to makes some noise since stepping into a Late Model race car, Modified alumnus Jesse Stovall leads #2 Jon Anderson en route to a second place at the Great American Dirt Track. (Ron Mitchell)
Kyle Berck moves under fellow heat winner Tommy Weder, Jr. on his way to third place. Weder dropped to seventh at the finish. (Lloyd Collins) Late in the race, second finishing Jesse Stovall, who welcomed his first child just a day prior, pulled the nose of his race car to Purkey's door, but got no further. Kyle Berck started and finished third - his best finish of the season thus far. Kelly Boen, driving the Pannell Motorsports 33x, was the night's KRC Hard Charger. Boen finished third in his B Main. He started the A in 20th and finished fourth. John Anderson started sixth and finished fifth.
Arizona driver Anthony Madrid made a rare appearance with his midwestern counterparts and qualified for the show to post a 20th place showing. (Ron Mitchell) The win for Purkey marks his first since April 10, 2010 at Lucas Oil Speedway. Since debuting his new Larry Shaw Race Car last season, his worst finish is eigth. This is the third $10,000 plus payday for Purkey in his career. His Shaw by Purkey receives sponsorship support from Purkey's Auto Salvage, Taylormade Performance, Larry Shaw Race Cars, Hoosier Racing Tires, Hatfield Racing Engines and VP Racing Fuels. This win for Purkey is his 48th in MLRA history.
Normally an odds-on favorite to win when the big money is on the line, Springfield, Mo.'s Terry Phillips was shut out of the top five and had to settle for ninth place in the "Sunflower State Showdown". (Ron Mitchell)
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%20-%20car%20-%20Ron%20Mitchell.jpg "Anthony Madrid - Sunflower State Showdown")
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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