THE ANGIE ASSASSIN BLAIR MAKES SECOND COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY STORMPAY.COM DLMS HIT

               COLUMBUS, MS – Jay Blair of Angie, LA drove the All-Star Graphics Mastersbilt to a wire-to-wire win on Friday night in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Holley Carburetors 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet at Columbus Speedway.  It was the second “hit” for the “Angie Assassin” at the “Baddest Bullring In The South.”

                It was the second StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series win of the season for Blair at Columbus Speedway , as he also won the Winter Classic back in January.  Blair was quick to express his fondness of the ¼-mile high-banked clay oval in victory lane.

                “This is without a doubt my favorite race track,” Blair said.  “We changed our set up from what we had in January, and it worked great tonight.  I had a close call with a lapped car, and got hit in the right-rear pretty hard.  I was worried about it affecting the handling, but everything was O.K.”

                Frank Ingram of Woodstock, GA finished second in the Universal Concrete Rocket, as he did in January.  Ingram, who was tied with the defending StormPay.com DLMS National Champion David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN coming into the race, took a ten point lead in the title chase.

                Anthony Rushing of Kosciusko, MS took the third spot in the American Race Tires Rocket, and Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA was fourth in the Hays Racing/Barto Enterprises Warrior.  Jeff Smith of Rocky Face, GA finished fifth in the AllSouth Racing Products Warrior, and Mike Boland of Cuba, AL drove the Ware Construction Trak-Star to the sixth spot.

                Gentry finished seventh in the Dixon Plumbing Mastersbilt, and was the fast-qualifier among the 44 entrants.  Gentry toured Columbus Speedway in 14.590 seconds to earn the pole position for the race.

                Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA was eighth in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt, and Marcus Minga of Shannon, MS finished ninth in the B&M Salvage Rayburn.  Chris Tays of Corinth , MS rounded out the top ten in the Ben Coley Trucking Rocket.

                There are now just 68 points separating the top four drivers in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National point standings.  Ingram has the points lead with 1,496 points, followed by Gentry with 1,486 points in the second spot, Rainey in third with 1,436 points, and Blair with 1,428 points in the fourth position.

                Mark Tice of Hollandale , MS started the TNT Graphix Mastersbilt in the 19^th spot and finished 13^th to earn the NeSmith Chevrolet Hard Charger of the Race Award.  Chip Brindle of Chatsworth , GA finished 14^th in the CSC Trailer Repair GRT to take the Rookie of the Race Award.

                Polesitter Gentry and outside front row starter Blair brought the 25-car field down for the green flag, and raced side-by-side into the first turn.  That’s as close as anyone got to Blair all night, as he took the lead coming off the second turn on the high side.  Gentry tucked in behind Blair followed by Ingram, Rainey, and Rushing.

                The battle for second went three-wide on lap two with Rainey going to the bottom of the track, Gentry in the middle, and Ingram on the outside.  Ingram got a run on the outside of Gentry on lap three to take the second spot, and Rainey passed Gentry on the inside in turn two for third on lap four.

                Rushing and Boland got by Gentry on lap five to move into the top five, and by lap eight, Rushing stepped to the outside to battle Rainey for the third spot, and made the pass for the position on lap nine.

                Blair began lapping cars on lap 12, and as he went under Jim Till of Greenville, AL in the Dafor Heavy Timber Fabricators Trak-Star coming off the fourth turn, the two cars made contact.  Both drivers regained control of their respective race cars, and continued without incident.  

Jay Blair of Angie, LA in the #2x All-Star Graphics Mastersbilt has a close call lapping Jim Till of Greenville, AL in the #44t Dafor Heavy Timber Trak-Star in Saturday night’s Holley Carburetors 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet for the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series on Friday night at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, MS.  The two cars made contact, but were able to continue, and Blair went on to win the race.  ( Mike Blevins Photo)

                 The first caution flag came out on lap 16 when J.J. Nye of Ballground , GA spun his C&C Grading and Hauling Rocket in turn two.  Blair led Ingram, Rainey, Rushing, Boland, Gentry, Fields, Stephen Brantley of Monroeville, AL in the Airport Sports Center Rocket, Smith, and Frankie Beard of Hartwell, GA in the Freeman Plumbing Mastersbilt down for the restart.

 The second and final caution flag of the race came out on lap 17 when Till spun coming off the fourth turn.  When the field went back to green, Blair pulled away from Ingram, but there was plenty of action behind the leaders for position beginning with Rainey getting by Rushing for the third spot.

 Fields got around Gentry for the sixth spot on lap 19, and by the halfway point, Rushing and Boland were battling for the fourth spot. Boland dove inside Rushing in turn four on lap 20 to take fourth, but Rushing came back on lap 21 to retake the spot with an outside move coming off the second turn.

 Blair caught the lapped traffic again on lap 24, and Ingram used the opportunity to close in on the leader.  Blair was able to quickly slip through the traffic, putting a couple of lapped cars between himself and Ingram.

 Smith went to the high side of the track on lap 25, and a three-car battle for the sixth spot developed among Fields, Gentry, and Smith.  Rushing also went to the high side of the track and passed Rainey for the third spot coming off the second turn on lap 28.

 Smith climbed into the top five when he passed Fields and Gentry for the sixth spot on lap 30, and then got around Boland to take the fifth position on lap 37.  Blair was able to pull away in the late laps of the race went Ingram got caught in lapped traffic.

 The StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Speedway returns to action at Columbus Speedway on Saturday night for the $2,500-to-win Trak-Star Race Cars 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 17 AT COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS , MS ON 9/14/07 :

POS       STRT     CAR #   DRIVER                             HOMETOWN                   LAPS     $ WON 
1.            2             2x           Jay Blair                            Angie , LA                            40           $2,500
2.            4             F9          Frank Ingram                   Woodstock , GA                40           $1,250
3.            5             70-1/2   Anthony Rushing              Kosciusko , MS                   40           $850
4.            3             87           Derrick Rainey                 Powder Springs, GA       40           $700
5.            7             00           Jeff Smith                          Rocky Face, GA                40           $650
6.            8             4             Mike Boland                     Cuba , AL                             40           $550
7.            1             56           David Gentry                    Lewisburg, TN                  40           $600
8.            6             16           Jeff Fields                          Aragon, GA                       40           $450
9.            9             19           Marcus Minga                  Shannon, MS                     40           $375
10.          12           8             Chris Tays                         Corinth , MS                      40           $350
11.          10           02           Stephen Brantley             Monroeville , AL                              40           $300
12.          17           F1          Keith Freeman                 Commerce, GA                 40           $280
13.          19           77t         Mark Tice                          Hollandale, MS                40           $260
14.          15           38c         Chip Brindle (R)              Chatsworth , GA                               40           $250
15.          20           G33       Greg Dedwylder                             Vossburg, MS                    40           $240
16.          18           34           Brandon Keeton                              Toomsuba, MS                  39           $220
17.          16           10           Matthew Turner                              Dawsonville, GA                             39               $200
18.          11           F21        Frankie Beard                  Hartwell, GA                    39           $200
19.          14           00h        Chris Hoomes                   Brenton, AL                      39           $200
20.          21           m6         Marty Hardy                     Terry , MS                           38           $200
21.          23           302        Robert Stutts (R)             Murfreesboro , TN            38           $200
22.          24           44t         Jim Till (R)                       Greenville , AL                  38           $200
23.          25           21           Jamie Pickard                  Columbus, MS                  30           $200
24.          22           55           J.J. Nye                               Ballground, GA                15           $200
25.          13           58           Larry Boutwell                Baker, FL                          10           $200

ENTRIES:  44
FAST QUALIFIER:  Gentry, 14.590 Seconds
PROVISIONALS:  Stutts and Till
TRACK PROVISIONAL:  Pickard
LEAD CHANGES:  None
LAP LEADER:  Blair, 1-40
NeSMITH CHEVROLET HARD CHARGER:  Tice (started 19^th and finished 13^th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Brindle
CAUTIONS:  2

QUALIFYING (Top 10 Transfer To Main Event):