WEAVER SWEEPS COOKEVILLE STORMPAY.COM DLMS FIELD

               COOKEVILLE, TN – Randy Weaver of Crossville, TN led wire-to-wire to win the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Touring event on Friday night at Cookeville Speedway .  Weaver started from the pole position in the Hicks and Ingles Mechanical Contractors Warrior and led every lap in a race that was shortened from 40 laps to 30 laps.

               “We sold this car to Stephen Ramsey from Florida last year, and I’m glad he still lets me drive it,” Weaver said.  “This was a good race car when we owned it, and it’s still a good race car.  I really enjoy running it with the crate engine.”

               The race was cut by ten laps because of excessive dust, which was a move most drivers, including Weaver, agreed with.

               “I thought it was a good move to shorten the race, not because I was leading the race, but because it was getting hard to see in the dust, and it was dangerous,” Weaver said.  “Track owner Doug Smith went out, got a grader, and a water track.  He used them, and I think he’s going to make this place better and better each week.  The fact that we haven’t had any rain in a while didn’t help the dust situation either.”

               StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Director Mike Vaughn agreed with Weaver in his assessment of the race.

               “This by far wasn’t the best race we’ve ever put on, and we would like to keep working with track owner Doug Smith and his staff, come back here again, and show the fans the kind of race we can put on with the side-by-side action we’re well-known for,” Vaughn said.  “Doug Smith is a new promoter, and he is learning.  He wants to do the right thing, and he has the means to get it done.”

Vaughn said the StormPay.com DLMS personnel will help Smith and the Cookeville Speedway staff work towards making it a better race track in all areas.

“We have some talented and experienced people working for this series with Marvin Ford in track prep and tech, and Roby Helm in promotions, public relations, and track management,” Vaughn said.  “I think if we keep working with Doug and his staff, we can help him reach his goal of making this a great facility.  The potential is there.  Doug and I have also talked about bringing Cookeville Speedway into the StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series for 2008.”

After the track had some major track prep problems a week ago, the series sent Competition Director Marvin Ford to Cookeville on Thursday to evaluate the situation at the invitation of track owner Doug Smith.

“Marvin got here Thursday night, and started working on the track this morning,” Vaughn said.  “I wish we would have had more time to work on the race track, and I apologize to the fans for all of the dust tonight.  But it wasn’t all a negative thing, as we all learned a lot from the experience.”

Vaughn said one of the major problems at the track that will be addressed by Smith and his staff was finding a quicker way to get water to and on the race track.

“The biggest problem we had today was getting water to and on the race track in a timely manner,” Vaughn said.  “It took 45 minutes to fill up the water truck outside the race track, and then it took 45 minutes to disperse that water on the race track.  As dry as the weather has been around here in the past couple of weeks, the track would just soak the water up like a sponge before you could get another load on it.”

Frank Ingram extended his StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series point lead with a second-place finish in the Universal Concrete Rocket.  Ingram now has a 26-point lead over the defending StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Champion David Gentry of Lewisburg , TN.

After running as high as fourth in the race, Gentry lost several points when he spun in turn four on lap 28 while running fifth, and finished 14^th in the Dixon Plumbing Mastersbilt.

Derrick Rainey of Powder Spring, GA finished third in the Dixon Hauling and Grading Rocket, and moved back into the third spot in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series point standings.  Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, TN took the fourth spot in the Miller Brothers Coal Warrior, and Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA rounded out the top five in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt.

Curtis Cline of Douglasville, GA was sixth in the Pearson Construction Warrior, and Chip Brindle of Chatsworth, GA earned the Rookie of the Race Award with a seventh-place effort in the Brindle Brothers Auto Parts GRT.  Larry Boutwell of Baker, FL finished eighth in the McLeod Construction TNT.

Chris Tays of Corinth, MS drove his Bud Coley Trucking Rocket to a ninth-place finish and moved into the seventh spot in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series point standings.  Jay Blair of Angie, LA rounded out the top ten in the Parrish Disposal Mastersbilt.

With his victory, Weaver scored a “clean-sweep” of the event, as he was also the fast qualifier with a lap around the 3/8-mile clay oval in 16.411 seconds.  Jim Till of Greenville, AL started his Dafor Heavy Timber Fabricators Trak Star in the 24^th spot, and finished 14^th to earn the NeSmith Chevrolet Hard Charger of the Race Award.

               Weaver and fellow front-row starter Ingram raced the first lap side-by-side, with Weaver leading lap one by a half car-length.  Rainey settled into the third spot followed by Rodney Hamby of Rockwood, TN in the PPM Racing Products PPM, and Fields.  Gentry came from the seventh starting spot to pass Fields for fifth on lap four.

                The first of five cautions flags came out on lap nine when Kody Barber of Bogalusa , LA hit the turn two wall in the Magic City Lawn Care Mastersbilt.  Right front suspension damage put Barber out for the night.  The second caution light was turned on after the restart for a six-car tangle in turn two.

                Weaver led Ingram, Rainey, Hamby, and Gentry down for the restart.  Hamby’s ride in the fourth spot would end on lap 10 when he spun in turn four to bring out the third caution flag.  That moved Gentry up to fourth for the restart with Fields moving back into the top five.  Johnson would get by Fields on the restart for the fifth spot.

                The field got in several laps under green, and by lap 20, the track conditions quickly began to deteriorate and get dusty.  Series officials deemed the track to be too dangerous on lap 28, and put the fourth caution flag out to assess the situation.  The decision was made to cut the race distance from 40 laps to 30 laps in the interest of driver safety.

                When the field went back to green flag action, Johnson began to pressure Gentry for the fourth position.  On lap 28, Johnson got inside Gentry in turn four.  Gentry spun from the outside groove in turn four to the infield to bring out the final caution flag of the race.  Weaver pulled away on the restart to post a six car-length win over Ingram.

                The next event for the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Tour will be on Saturday night at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, GA.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 10 AT COOKEVILLE SPEEDWAY IN COOKEVILLE , TN ON 5/25/07 :

POS       STRT     CAR #   DRIVER                             HOMETOWN                   LAPS     $ WON 

1.            1             119        Randy Weaver                   Crossville, TN                  30           $2,500
2.            2             F9          Frank Ingram                   Woodstock , GA                30           $1,250
3.            3             87           Derrick Rainey                 Powder Springs, GA       30           $850
4.            8             5             Ronnie Johnson                Chattanooga , TN              30           $700
5.            5             16           Jeff Fields                          Aragon, GA                       30           $650
6.            6             44c         Curtis Cline                      Douglasville, GA             30           $550
7.            9             38c         Chip Brindle (R)              Chatsworth , GA                               30           $500
8.            10           58           Larry Boutwell                Baker, FL                          30           $450
9.            16           8             Chris Tays                         Corinth , MS                      30           $400
10.          14           2x           Jay Blair                            Angie , LA                            30           $375
11.          18           302        Robert Stutts (R)             Murfreesboro , TN            30           $350
12.          12           27           John Ownby                      Cleveland, TN                   30           $300
13.          17           06           Bill Flowers                     Bremen , GA                      30           $280
14.          7             56           David Gentry                    Lewisburg, TN                  30           $360
15.          24           44t         Jim Till (R)                       Greenville , AL                  29           $350
16.          13           10           Matthew Turner                              Dawsonville, GA                             29               $240
17.          20           90           Jimmy Kay                        Taylorsville , GA                             20           $220
18.          4             11           Rodney Hamby                 Rockwood, TN                  16           $200
19.          11           75           Carnell Parker III           Clarksville , TN                 9             $200
20.          26           11x         Steven Ashby                     Cunningham, TN              9             $200
21.          15           44           Reed Johnson                    Dalton , GA                        8             $200
22.          19           K5          Scott Russell                     Knoxville , TN                    8             $200
23.          21           6             Caleb Ashby                      Cunningham, TN              8             $200
24.          22           21x         Kody Barber                     Bogalusa , LA                     8             $200
25.          25           182        Randle Sweeney                              Clifty, KY                           8             $200
26.          23           21           Rusty Hoge                        Ooltewah, TN                    3             $200

ENTRIES:  26
PROVISIONALS:  None
LEAD CHANGES:  None
LAP LEADER:  Weaver, 1-30
NeSMITH CHEVROLET HARD CHARGER:  Till (started 24^th and finished 15^th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Brindle
CAUTIONS:  5

QUALIFYING (Top 10 Locked Into Main Event):