Show-Me Racing Series: Essary De-Merritts Springfield Event For Fifth Win Trenton Berry SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Aug. 20. It’s now five of the last six in Race Brothers Show Me Racin Series action for Leslie Essary. This win came a bit differently Saturday at Springfield Raceway however, as Essary passed Rex Merritt in heavy lapped traffic on lap 26. “I knew it was getting close to the end,” stated Essary. “It looked like Rex kept getting a little bit tighter all the time. We finally got to some lapped cars and got a chance to get by him.” This win comes on the heels of a runner up effort in the last series race. Merritt led 22 laps in the feature, taking the lead on lap five. He ultimately finished second, his best Race Brothers Show Me Series finish of the season. “It’s just one of them deals,” Merritt said of Essary’s pass for the win. “I tried him on the outside, it didn’t work. I tried him on the inside and Leslie went to the outside. It’s just racing.” Earlier in the night he raced from eighth in his heat race to second. Ken Essary hung around the front the entire evening and was in several two and three car battles for position. “It was a good race. Leslie gets through traffic good. The fans should have liked that one,” Essary stated. He broke his upper A Frame early in the race and had to fight handling for the majority of the laps. “We were lucky to finish third". Larry Campbell suffered a flat right front tire around the midway point of the race and pulled to the pits, ending his night. Prior to his 19th place DNF, Campbell’s worst finish had been ninth. He came into the evening’s race second in points, just 14 markers out of the lead. Justin Wells and Randy Zimmerman finished fourth and fifth, respectively. BP Grocery Rookie of the Year Point Leader Brandon Hunter was the highest finishing rookie in sixth. He has now reeled off four consecutive top tens. The large crowd was treated to quite a show as the track was lightning fast, but also wide and smooth. The drivers did an outstanding job, as a whole, providing an excellent feature.
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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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