BUCKINGHAM BAGS STORMPAY.COM DLMS WIN NUMBER THREE IN HATTIESBURG

                HATTIESBURG, MS – Shannon Buckingham of Morristown, TN bagged his third StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series win of the season in the 40-lap main event on Friday night at Southern Speedway .  Buckingham led wire-to-wire in the S&S Millwright Barry Wright after starting on the outside of the front row.

Shannon Buckingham of Morristown, TN races his #44 S&S Millwright Barry Wright to his third StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series win of the season on Friday night at Southern Speedway in Hattiesburg , MS .  (Mike Blevins Photo)

               The defending StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Champion David Gentry of Lewisburg , TN finished second in the Dixon Plumbing Mastersbilt.  Gentry started on the pole after setting fast time among the 27 entrants with a lap around the ¼-mile dirt oval in 13.390 seconds.

               “Getting a good start was the key to winning, and there was just enough on the outside to pass David on the start,” Buckingham said.  “When we got into lapped traffic, I wasn’t sure how big of a lead we had, so I just kept doing what we were doing, and it worked out for us.”

               Jay Blair of Angie, LA took the third spot in the Parish Disposal Mastersbilt, and Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA was fourth in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt.  Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA started 15^th and finished fifth in the Dixon Hauling and Grading Rocket to earn the NeSmith Chevrolet Hard Charger of the Race Award.

               Frank Ingram of Woodstock , GA rallied late in the race for a sixth-place finish in the Universal Concrete Rocket.  Ingram needed the extra boost to remain on top of the StormPay.com DLMS National point standings by two points over Gentry.

The top five in the StormPay.com DLMS National point standings tightened up after the Southern Speedway race.  Rainey is third in points, 16 points behind Ingram, with Buckingham fourth, 22 points out of first place, and Blair is fifth, 38 points behind Ingram.

Chip Brindle of Chatsworth , GA finished seventh in the Brindle Brothers Auto Parts GRT, and was the Rookie of the Race.  Chris Tays of Corinth, MS took the eighth spot in the Bud Coley Trucking Rocket, and Robert Stutts of Murfreesboro, TN was ninth in the Bob Parks Realty Barry Wright.  Rusty Hoge of Ooltewah, TN rounded out the top ten in the H&H Powersports GRT.

Buckingham took the lead at the start of the race followed by Gentry, Darin Dorsey of Brandon, MS, Brindle, and Fields.  Blair passed Fields on lap three to move up to the top five.  Dorsey brought out the first of five caution flags on lap six, when his J. Michael Cox Sports and Imports GRT came to an abrupt halt on the backstretch.

Dorsey was out for the night with a broken rear suspension.  Buckingham led Gentry, Brindle, Blair, Fields, Stutts, and National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Inmon of Bruce, MS down for the restart.  When the green flag came out, Blair made another move for position, getting around Brindle for the third spot.

The caution flag waved again on lap 10 when Ryan Little of Satsuma, AL in the Little’s Auto Sales GRT and Kody Barber of Bogalusa, LA in the Magic City Lawn Care GRT tangled in turn one.  On the restart, Ingram got by Inmon for the seventh spot, as Inmon fell off the pace and took his Gary Washington GRT to the pit area.

On lap 12, the defending StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series West Region Champion Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba , MS drove the Reynolds Motorsports GRT into the tenth spot.  The field was slowed by the third caution flag of the race when Matthew Turner of Dawsonville , GA spun the Turner Excavating Hicks in turn four.

Buckingham led Gentry, Blair, Fields, Brindle, Stutts, Ingram, Tays, Keeton, and Rainey down for the restart.  Rainey was the driver on the move after starting 15^th.  Rainey had ignition problems in time trials, and raced his way into the race in the B-Main after starting in the back.  By lap 16, Rainey was up to the seventh spot, and began a side-by-side battle for position with Ingram.

Ingram passed Rainey on lap 18, but Rainey came back to pass Ingram on lap 25.  Rainey then pulled away and closed in on Stutts to challenge for the sixth spot.

With ten laps to go, Buckingham had a half-straightaway lead on Gentry, who was beginning to close in on the leader in lapped traffic.  Rainey was still moving up through the field, passing Stutts and Brindle in lapped traffic on lap 34 to take over the fifth spot.

Buckingham caught a break to get out of the lapped traffic on lap 35 when the caution flag came out for a turn four spin by Barber.  Shannon Lee of Lumberton, MS spun his Billy Riels GRT down the front straightaway on the restart.  The next restart was clean, as Ingram got by Brindle for the sixth spot.

Gentry could not mount a challenge on Buckingham in the six-lap dash to the finish, and Buckingham was able to take the checkered flag with five car-length advantage over Gentry.

The StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series travels to Swinging Bridge Raceway in Jackson , MS on Saturday night for Round 8 of the 2007 season, a 50-lap $3,000-to-win event.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 7 AT SOUTHERN SPEEDWAY IN HATTIESBURG , MS ON 3/30/07 :

POS       STRT     CAR #   DRIVER                             HOMETOWN                   LAPS     $ WON 
1.            2             44           Shannon Buckingham     Morristown , TN                40           $2,500
2.            1             56           David Gentry                      Lewisburg, TN                  40           $1,350
3.            7             2x           Jay Blair                            Angie , LA                           40           $850
4.            5             16           Jeff Fields                          Aragon, GA                       40           $700
5.            15           87           Derrick Rainey                Powder Springs, GA        40           $750
6.            10           F9          Frank Ingram                   Woodstock , GA                 40           $550
7.            3             38c         Chip Brindle (R)              Chatsworth , GA                 40           $500
8.            9             8             Chris Tays                         Corinth , MS                      40           $450
9.            6             302        Robert Stutts (R)            Murfreesboro , TN             40           $400
10.          16           21           Rusty Hoge                       Ooltewah, TN                     40           $375
11.          11           9             Lucky Keeton                   Toomsuba, MS                   40           $350
12.          13           s12         Owen Stockstill               Columbia, MS                   40           $300
13.          17           10           Matthew Turner                Dawsonville, GA               40           $280
14.          21           97           Ryan Little                        Satsuma, AL                      40           $260
15.          19           47           Shannon Lee                      Lumberton , MS                40           $250
16.          14           44t         Jim Till (R)                       Greenville , AL                    39           $240
17.          23           22           Jamey Smith                     Purvis, MS                         39           $220
18.          12           711        Greg Harris                      Pearl , MS                           39           $200
19.          22           06           Bill Flowers                     Bremen , GA                        39           $200
20.          20           21x         Kody Barber                     Bogalusa , LA                     34           $200
21.          24           11j         Bubba Jones                      Ellisville , MS                      25           $200
22.          8             D7          Jerry Inmon                      Bruce, MS                          11           $200
23.          17           L97        Randy Little                      Satsuma, MS                      6             $200
24.          4             23           Darin Dorsey                    Brandon , MS                      5             $200

ENTRIES:  27
LAPS LED:  Buckingham, 1-40
NeSMITH CHEVROLET HARD CHARGER:  Rainey (started 15^th and finished 5^th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Brindle
CAUTIONS:  5

QUALIFYING (Top 10 Locked Into Main Event):