COLUMBUS, MS - Saturday night marked the second night of the 13th Annual James King Memorial Weekend at Columbus Speedway. A field 51 Super Late Models featuring many of the country's top-shelf drivers as well as regional heroes were on hand to do battle for a $10,000 winner's share. A fine crowd was in attendance on a cool and very windy afternoon.
The time leading up to the race would prove to be an uphill battle for Johnny Stokes and crew, as the day began with the Columbus Speedway track water truck breaking down. Stokes would have to use an older and far less efficient truck, normally used to keep dust down in the pits, to help prep the racetrack.
Shannon Babb would set fast time in pole qualifying with a 14.09-second lap. Shane Clanton, Billy Moyer, David Gentry, Friday night’s feature winner Matt Miller, Don O’Neal, and 2005 Rebel Challenge winner Clint Smith would win the six heat races. Chris Wall and Ricky Williams would take B-Main wins, and James Cline and Wendell Wallace were added to the field via past champion provisionals.
Clanton would grab the lead from the pole as Gentry went under Moyer for second place ahead of Miller, Smith, and O'Neal, who fanned out for 3rd. Miller would take over 3rd place on the following lap and look under Moyer as Smith pulled outside of Gentry behind them. O'Neal would then take over the battle with Gentry as Smith moved up into 4th, and O'Neal would take over on lap 6 as Moyer pulled up close to Clanton. The first event caution fell on lap 7 with Clanton, Moyer, Miller, O'Neal, and Smith in the top five.
Miller would drop under Moyer and challenge Clanton on the restart, but would have to settle for second place as Clanton showed early on that he came a little more than well-prepared for the event. Clint Smith would dive below Moyer, then fall back to go 3-wide with Gentry and O'Neal once again as Miller tried the outside on Moyer with no success. Clanton wasted little time moving away from the pack as O'Neal and Smith now raced ahead of Gentry and Babb for the 4th and 6th positions, respectively.
Clanton would begin to navigate lapped traffic on lap 17, and had little trouble until pulling up on a traffic jam of backmarkers that had the whole track taken up on lap 21. Clanton would be spared being caught by Miller and Moyer on lap 22 as the second caution of the event fell. Clanton, Miller, Moyer, O'Neal, and Smith held the top five.
O'Neal would go under and around Moyer after the restart to take over third place, and then look under Miller for 2nd as Moyer went to the rim. Smith and Gentry would pull alongside Moyer through 3 and 4, but Moyer would come out ahead and fend off another challenge by Smith. Moyer would then go beneath O'Neal and the two ran door-to-door for a lap as Clanton, getting stronger as the race went on, stretched out to an even bigger lead than before. Miller, still in second place, had also distanced himself from O'Neal and Moyer, but could not stay with the leader.
Moyer would continue working on O'Neal each lap for 3rd ahead of a similar battle for 5th by Smith and Gentry on lap 38. Clanton would have a full straightaway lead by the time the final caution fell on lap 48. Miller, O'Neal, Moyer, and Smith would make up the top five going into the final green flag stretch of laps.
Moyer would take over third from O'Neal on the lap following the restart, and Smith would follow suit by going outside and around Gentry for 5th place. But with Clanton dominating, Miller running a very strong second, and a racetrack that was fading and giving drivers less and less room to battle, there was not much left to be done. Moyer would chase down Miller by lap 61, but it would prove too little too late as Clanton charged on, well ahead of the rest of the leaders, to take the win. The #25 machine had led all 64 laps in dominant fashion, never seriously challenged.
Clanton, from Locust Grove, GA, would become the 12th driver in 13 events to win the prestigious James King Memorial and would pocket $10,000 for his efforts. Miller, backing up his $2,000 win on Friday night with a strong second place run on Saturday night, was crowned "King of the Ring" and was awarded a $1,000 bonus for having the highest points over both nights of racing. Moyer, O'Neal, and Smith completed the top five, and Gentry, Dan Schlieper, Anthony Rushing, Jay Blair, and Chris Wall rounded out the top ten. Blair, who started the race 18th on the grid, was awarded the Hard Charger award.
Jason Hollis would return to the form that earned him the name "Mr. Untouchable" as he led every lap of the attrition-filled Open-Wheel Modified event and took the win. David Griffin, Todd Gray, and Lee Ray would have a fine battle for second place for much of the race and would finish in that order. Rusty Duncan would be the final top five finisher.
Judson Littlejohn, still a newcomer to racing with only a handful of features under his belt, would take the win in the Late Model Stock class after taking over the lead from Tommy Reed. Randy Boyd Thompson, Reed, Alan Jaynes, and Billy Franklin completed the top five.
David Honeycutt once again proved to be the man to beat in the Street Stock division, taking the win over a scrappy TK King. Danny Gable, Richard West, and Marvin Beard would round out the top five. Scott Gable would take the Mini Stock win over Aaron Peay, Jim Hunt, Heath Minor, and Stanley Busbin.
The next event at "The Bullring" is on Saturday, April 9th with a Rebel Challenge Weekly Racing Series regular show featuring Super Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, and all local divisions in action. In two weeks the action moves "across the river" to Magnolia Motor Speedway for the 2nd Annual Governor's cup paying $10,000-to-win for Super Late Models in the first event at "The Mag" under the guidance of Race Director Johnny Stokes. An "open house" and practice is also scheduled at Magnolia Motor Speedway for this Friday night, April 8th.
For 13th Annual James King Memorial full results as well as other details, stop by the Columbus Speedway Official Website located at www.ColumbusSpeedway.net .
13th Annual James King Memorial
Saturday Results
Super Late Model
$10,000-to-win - 64 laps
1ST 25 SHANE CLANTON
2ND 7 MATT MILLER
3RD 21 BILLY MOYER
4TH 71 DON O'NEAL
5TH 44 CLINT SMITH
6TH 56 DAVID GENTRY
7TH S9 DAN SCHLIEPER
8TH 70 1/2 ANTHONY RUSHING
9TH 2X JAY BLAIR
10TH 71 CHRIS WALL
11TH 54 DAVID BREAZEALE
12TH 18 SHANNON BABB
13TH 12 JASON SMITH
14TH 53 RAY COOK
15TH 1CJ PATRICK SHELTRA
16TH 222 MIKE BOLAND
17TH 17 RICKY WILLIAMS
18TH 55 TERRENCE NOWELL
19TH 48 MARLON WILD
20TH 72 STEVE RUSSELL
21ST 3 JAMES CLINE
22ND 88 WENDELL WALLACE
23RD 20 JIMMY OWENS
24TH 17M DALE MCDOWELL
Open-Wheel Modifieds - top 10
1ST 5 JASON HOLLIS
2ND 59 DAVID GRIFFIN
3RD 7 TODD GRAY
4TH 2 LEE RAY
5TH 12 RUSTY DUNCAN
6TH W7 GREG WILHITE
7TH 31 BLAKE KOENIGSBERGER
8TH 17 MATT PRICE
9TH 11 JIM CLEMONS
10TH 36 RON GRANDEL
Late Model Stock - Top 5
1ST 3 JUDSON LITTLEJOHN
2ND K3 RANDY BOYD THOMPSON
3RD 727 TOMMY REED
4TH 60 ALAN JAYNES
5TH 65 BILLY FRANKLIN
Street Stock - Top 5
1ST 15 DAVID HONEYCUTT
2ND 6 TK KING
3RD 47 DANNY GABLE
4TH 4 RICHARD WEST
5TH 15 MARVIN BEARD
Mini Stock - top 5
1ST 7 SCOTT GABLE
2ND 11 AARON PEAY
3RD 28 JIM HUNT
4TH 21 HEATH MINOR
5TH 6 STANLEY BUSBIN
