BOLAND DECLARED WINNER OF STORMPAY.COM DLMS COLUMBUS, MS RACE

               COLUMBUS, MS – Mike Boland of Cuba, AL was declared the winner of the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Trak-Star Race Cars 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet on Saturday night at Columbus Speedway after the car of apparent winner Frank Ingram of Woodstock, GA failed the post-race engine inspection.

               The $2,500 victory was the second of the season for Boland, who has won two of the last three StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series events driving the Ware Construction Trak-Star.  Boland Performance, the builders of Trak-Star Race Cars, put up a $250 bonus for the winner of the race if they were driving a Trak-Star Race Car.

               “We were pretty happy to finish second, but this is even better,” Boland said.  “I guess I’m going to have to pay myself the $250 bonus.  I was 30 minutes down the road headed for home when they called and told me I had won the race.  I turned around and came back to the track to get the check and the trophy.”

Mike Boland of Cuba, AL (L) receives the first-place trophy and the top prize check for $2,500 from StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series President of Operations and Communications Roby Helm (R) after being declared the winner of the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Trak-Star Race Cars 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet on Saturday night at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, MS.  The car of the apparent winner Frank Ingram of Woodstock , GA failed the post-race engine inspection, and Boland moved up to the top spot.  ( Mike Blevins Photo)

               The disqualification dropped Ingram down to the fourth spot in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National point standings.  The defending StormPay.com DLMS National Champion David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN regained the point lead with a 24-point lead over Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA, and a 28-point lead over third-place Jay Blair of Angie, LA.

               Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS ended up second in the NeSmith Chevrolet Mastersbilt, and third went to Blair in the All-Star Graphics Mastersbilt.  Chris Tays of Corinth, MS gave credit to his new crew lead by new crew chief Bret Reed after posting his best finish of the year with a fourth-place effort in the Bud Coley Trucking Rocket.

               Rainey finished fifth in the Hays Racing/Barto Enterprises Warrior, and Steve Godsey of Bedford, IN was sixth in the Summerville Junkyard Rayburn.  Chip Brindle of Chatsworth , GA was the Rookie of the Race with a seventh-place effort in the CSC Trailer Repair GRT.  Brandon Keeton of Toomsuba , MS drove the Charlotte ’s Boy GRT to an eighth-place finish.

               Robert Stutts of Murfreesboro , TN took a provisional, started 23^rd, and rallied for a ninth-place finish in the Bob Parks Realty Rocket to earn the NeSmith Chevrolet Hard Charger of the Race Award.  Marcus Minga of Shannon , MS rounded out the top ten in the B&M Salvage Rayburn.

               Anthony Rushing of Kosciusko, MS earned the $100 Fast Time Award from Hogchain Racing after out-timing the 39-field with a lap around the ¼-mile high-banked clay oval in 14.990 seconds in the American Race Tires Rocket.

               Rushing took the lead on lap one after a side-by-side battle with Blair, who started on the outside of the front row.  Rushing led the first lap followed by Blair, Ingram in the Universal Concrete Rocket, Curtis Cline of  Douglasville , GA in the Pearson Construction Warrior, and Godsey.

               The first caution flag of the race came out on lap three when Terry Mosley of Gilbertown, AL stopped his Pee Wee’s Muffler GRT against the front straightaway wall.  Rushing led Blair, Ingram, Cline, and Brindle down for the restart.  Cline slowed on the restart, and began falling back through the field.

               Cline stopped on the front straightaway on lap five to bring out the second caution flag with a problem in the right-front suspension.  The top ten for the restart was Rushing, Blair, Ingram, Brindle, Godsey, Boland, Stokes, Rainey, Greg Dedwylder of Vossburg, MS in the Bumpers By Goose Trak-Star, and Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt.

               When the field went green, Rushing and Blair went to the bottom of the race track, while Ingram took to the outside.  On lap eight, Ingram raced around the outside of Blair for second in turn three, and then coming off the fourth turn, Rushing slid up in front of Ingram, who made a hard left, went to the inside, and passed Rushing for the lead in turn one.

               On lap nine, Dedwylder spun in turn two, and collected Gentry to bring out the third caution flag.  Dedwylder was able to continue, but Gentry had to take his Dixon Plumbing Mastersbilt to the pit area for repairs.  He later returned to the race, but finished 19^th.

               The restart saw Ingram leading Rushing, and Blair, while Boland had moved up to the fourth spot  after starting eighth.  Stokes restarted in fifth followed by Godsey, Rainey, Brindle, Tays, and Fields.  Boland was able to get to the inside of Blair on lap ten, and made the pass for the third spot coming off the fourth turn.

               Rushing would run into trouble on a lap 25 restart when his car would not come up to full song.  He took the car to the infield, as Boland would move up to the second spot, and what would end up to be the winning moment for the seven-time Mississippi State Late Model Champion.

Mike Boland of Cuba, AL in action driving the #4 Ware Construction Trak-Star in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series Trak-Star Race Cars 40 Presented By NeSmith Chevrolet on Saturday night at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, MS.  Boland went under the checkered flag in the second spot, but would be awarded the victory when the car of the apparent winner Frank Ingram of Woodstock, GA failed the post-race engine inspection.  ( Mike Blevins Photo)

             Stokes got by Blair for third on the lap 26 restart with an inside move coming off the fourth turn.  Tays was on the move, as he moved up to fifth on lap 28 after starting 15^th.  At the halfway point in the race, Godsey had dropped out of the top ten, but he came roaring back using the outside groove. 

With ten laps to go, Godsey moved back up to the eighth spot.  After restart on lap 36, Godsey went to the outside and passed Brindle for the seventh spot.  Brindle battled back to retake the spot on lap 38 after a restart, but Godsey came back again on the outside to claim the spot at the checkered flag.

               The next event for the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series will be a two-day $5,000-to-win 75-lap event at Twin Cities Raceway Park in North Vernon , IN on September 21-22.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 18 AT COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS , MS ON 9/15/07 :

POS       STRT     CAR #   DRIVER                             HOMETOWN                   LAPS     $ WON 
1.            8             4             Mike Boland                     Cuba , AL                             40           $2,500
2.            9             1             Johnny Stokes                    Columbus, MS                  40           $1,250
3.            2             2x           Jay Blair                            Angie , LA                            40           $850
4.            15           8             Chris Tays                         Corinth , MS                      40           $700
5.            12           87           Derrick Rainey                 Powder Springs, GA       40           $650
6.            6             18           Steve Godsey                     Bedford , IN                        40           $550
7.            5             38c         Chip Brindle (R)              Chatsworth , GA                               40           $500
8.            16           34           Brandon Keeton                              Toomsuba, MS                  40           $450
9.            23           302        Robert Stutts (R)             Murfreesboro , TN            40           $400
10.          14           19           Marcus Minga                  Shannon, MS                     40           $475
11.          24           10           Matthew Turner                              Dawsonville, GA                             40               $350
12.          7             G33       Greg Dedwylder                             Vossburg, MS                    39           $300
13.          25           x15         Roman Ponds                    Columbus, MS                  39           $280
14.          19           38           Chase Washington           Houlka, MS                       38           $260
15.          17           311        Stormy Derryberry         Monticello , AR                 37           $250
16.          22           F21        Frankie Beard                  Hartwell, GA                    34           $240
17.          11           16           Jeff Fields                          Aragon, GA                       32           $220
18.          4             44c         Curtis Cline                      Douglasville, GA             28           $200
19.          18           56           David Gentry                    Lewisburg, TN                  25           $300
20.          1             70-1/2   Anthony Rushing              Kosciusko , MS                   25           $300     
21.          13           00           Jeff Smith                          Rocky Face, GA                23           $200
22.          20           55           J.J. Nye                               Ballground, GA                22           $200                    
23.          21           58           Larry Boutwell                Baker, FL                          3             $200
24.          10           22t         Terry Mosley (R)             Gilbertown , AL                 2             $200
25.          3             F9          Frank Ingram                   Woodstock , GA                0             $0 - DQ

ENTRIES:  39
FAST QUALIFIER:  Rushing, 14.990 Seconds
PROVISIONALS:  Stutts and Turner
TRACK PROVISIONAL:  Ponds
LEAD CHANGES:  1
LAP LEADERS:  Rushing, 1-7; Ingram, 8-40
LAPS LED:  Ingram, 33; Rushing, 7
NeSMITH CHEVROLET HARD CHARGER:  Stutts (started 23^rd and finished 10^th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Brindle
CAUTIONS:  8

QUALIFYING (Top 10 Transfer To Main Event):