RING THE BELL AT THE DAWSONVILLE POOL HALL! TURNER WINS NeSMITH CHEVROLET DLMS GREENVILLE RACE

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GREENVILLE, MS – The famous bell at the Dawsonville Pool Hall has rung once again, as Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, GA won the Washington Auto Body and Paint 40 for the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series on Friday night at Greenville Speedway. Turner’s first career series win was hard fought in one of the most exciting races in series history.

The top four cars raced under a blanket for the last five laps of the race, with the lead changing hands numerous times with three-wide racing around the ¼-mile gumbo clay oval. Five different drivers led the race before Turner grabbed the $2,000 top prize in the Turner Excavating DWB.

In Turner’s hometown of Dawsonville, GA, it had become a motorsports tradition through the years to ring the bell at the local Pool Hall every time Turner’s cousin Bill Elliott won a NASCAR race. The bell has been silent for the last few years, but Turner made it chime once again with Friday’s victory.

A lap 33 caution flag for debris set up the exciting finish that saw Turner, point leader Eric Cooley of Fulton, MS, Larry Boutwell of Baker, FL, and Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA put on an exciting battle, as they raced each other from top to bottom around the track.

“I hated to see that late caution flag, but it sure made for an exciting race for the fans, and that’s what it’s all about,” Turner said. “These are the best guys I’ve ever raced with because they’ll race you hard, but they race you clean. We did a little rubbing out there, but rubbing is racing, and I knew none of them would intentionally knock me out to win the race.”

Turner led Cooley, Boutwell, and Rainey down for the lap 33 restart. Turner had led the race since lap 15 using the bottom groove of the track, while Cooley ran the middle, Boutwell on the inside, and Rainey had charged from his tenth starting spot on the outside and into the fourth spot. That’s the way top four cars set up when the green came back out.

By lap 36, Turner’s car began to push just slightly off the bottom of the track, while Cooley charged on the outside, and Boutwell kept looking to find a hole inside Turner. As the lead trio entered turn three on lap 38, they were three-wide. Boutwell drove under Turner coming off the fourth turn to take the lead, and Cooley tried to sail by Turner on the outside for the second spot.

As Boutwell slid up in front of Turner coming off the second turn on lap 39, Turner made a hard left and got an inside run on Boutwell going down the backstretch. Turner took the lead going into turn three, as Boutwell tried once again to make an inside move on Turner in turn four, with Cooley still digging on the top of the track.

Boutwell ran out of room in turn four, as he grazed one of the utility tires that marked the inside of the race track. That slowed his momentum just enough to let Rainey into the battle for the final lap. Cooley tried to get a run on Turner going down the backstretch on the last lap, but got in the corner just a little too hot, and Turner sped away for a one car-length win.

Cooley had to regroup and then hold off Boutwell and Rainey for second. The battle for the second spot drove under the checkered flag three-wide with Cooley taking the second spot in the 78 Towing and Recovery Victory Circle, Rainey was third in the Barto Enterprises Warrior, and Boutwell was fourth in the McLeod Construction Rocket. Rainey was also the GM Performance Parts Hard Charger of the Race.

Ben McCreary of Baldwyn, MS led the race early and finished fifth in the Waddle Trucking Mastersbilt to earn the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Race Award and the Race Car Engineering Fifth-Place Award. Jeremy Hines of Seymour, IN took the sixth spot in the Bedford Transport Rayburn, and Chase Washington of Houlka, MS was seventh in the Jerry Inmon Race Cars GRT.

Todd Morrow of East Ridge, TN finished eighth in the T.J. Hunt Trucking Mastersbilt to earn the Race Car Engineering Eighth-Place Award, and Jason Sanderford of Pheba, MS was ninth in the Sanderford Racing TNT to earn the Maximum Signs Ninth-Place Award. Marcus Minga of Shannon, MS rounded out the top ten in the B&M Salvage Mastersbilt.

Cooley led the field down for the start of the race after earning the pole position by taking the McLeod Construction Fast Time Award with a lap in 15.134 Seconds. Cooley took the lead followed by Turner, McCreary, Boutwell, and Ronny Lee Hollingsworth of Northport, AL in the Kelley Electric Mastersbilt.

McCreary got by Turner on lap two to take over the second spot, but the field was slowed on lap three when Ricky Graham of Arlington, TN spun his Bill Bernard Farms GRT in turn four. Hollingsworth gave up the fifth spot when he went to the pits for the night under caution. That earned Hollingsworth the Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award.

When the field went back to green, McCreary put pressure on Cooley for the lead. Cooley slid up the banking in turn three on lap four, and McCreary drove underneath to take the lead. Chance Inman of Bruce, MS spun the Lynn Inman Cooling and Heating GRT in turn four on lap ten to bring out the second caution flag.

McCreary led Cooley, Turner, and Boutwell, Jamie Elam of Senatobia, MS in the Save-A-Lot Used Cars GRT, Washington, Sanderford, Hines, Rainey, and Robert Smith of Leland, MS in the Brown’s Towing Mastersbilt down for the restart. Turner got to the inside of Cooley on lap 13 coming off the fourth turn to take the second spot.

Turner then made a beeline for McCreary to challenge for the lead, and made the pass on the inside coming off the fourth turn to grab the point on lap 15. The third caution flag of the race came out on lap 17 when Scott Tice of Hollandale, MS in the Precision Marine GRT spun in turn four.

The restart set up a wild scramble throughout the top ten for position changes. Cooley went to the outside to pass McCreary for the second spot just after the green flag came out. On lap 22, Elam had trouble in the fifth spot, and went to the pits, while Boutwell got by McCreary for the third spot. Rainey was digging hard on the outside and drove into the top five by lap 25.

Turner and Cooley raced side-by-side for the lead on lap 30, as they negotiated lapped traffic with Turner hugging the bottom of the track, and Cooley using his momentum on the outside. As the Turner and Cooley came off the fourth turn on lap 33, Turner drove under two lapped cars, who got as high on the track as they could, and slowed down to give the leader plenty of room.

That was good for Turner, but bad for Cooley. When the lapped cars slowed on the high side of the track, Cooley had a full head of steam coming off the fourth turn. Cooley got into the back of one of the lapped cars, damaging the right-front corner of his race car. Cooley’s right-front fender came off the car onto the front straightaway to bring out the debris caution flag.

The was a break for Cooley, as he was able to continue for the restart behind Turner. Boutwell, McCreary, and Rainey followed them to the green flag for the wild eight-lap battle to the checkered flag.

Cooley extended his point lead over Boutwell in the NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National point standings to 92 points. Boutwell holds a 60-point advantage over Rainey for the second spot, and the win moved Turner up to the fourth spot in the points chase, 18 points behind Rainey.

The Mississippi Labor Day Triple Crown continues with the second jewel on Saturday night at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, MS with a $2,500-to-win 50-lap main event.

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 18 AT GREENVILLE SPEEDWAY IN GREENVILLE, MS ON 9/4/09:

POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS $ WON
1. 2 10 Matthew Turner Dawsonville, GA 40 $2,000
2. 1 33c Eric Cooley Fulton, MS 40 $1,100
3. 10 87 Derrick Rainey Powder Springs, GA 40 $800
4. 5 58 Larry Boutwell Baker, FL 40 $550
5. 3 21 Ben McCreary (R) Baldwyn, MS 40 $500
6. 8 49 Jeremy Hines Seymour, IN 40 $425
7. 11 38 Chase Washington (R) Houlka, MS 40 $375
8. 14 T16 Todd Morrow East Ridge, TN 40 $350
9. 6 82 Jason Sanderford Pheba, MS 40 $325
10. 12 19 Marcus Minga Shannon, MS 40 $300
11. 18 F5 Lamar Furr Hollandale, MS 40 $275
12. 16 56 Bubba Harrison Cleveland, MS 39 $250
13. 17 84 Randall Beckwith Kilmichael, MS 39 $225
14. 21 14 Chance Inman Bruce, MS 39 $200
15. 13 48 Ricky Graham Arlington, TN 39 $175
16. 9 8kv Robert Smith Leland, MS 39 $150
17. 15 1 Scott Tice Hollandale, MS 39 $140
18. 20 C55 David Carpenter Greenwood, MS 36 $125
19. 7 1x Jamie Elam Senatobia, MS 21 $125
20. 4 18 Ronny Hollingsworth Northport, AL 2 $125
21. 19 L58 Larry Harrod Plains, GA 2 $125

ENTRIES: 21
McLEOD CONSTRUCTION FAST QUALIFIER: Cooley, 15.134 Seconds
PROVISIONALS: None
LEAD CHANGES: 4
LAP LEADERS: Cooley, 1-3; McCreary, 4-14; Turner, 15-36; Boutwell, 37; Turner, 38-40
LAPS LED: Turner, 20; McCreary, 11; Cooley, 3; Boutwell, 1
SUNOCO RACE FUELS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: McCreary
GM PERFORMANCE PARTS HARD CHARGER: Rainey (started 10th and finished 3rd)
DOMINATOR RACE PRODUCTS HARD LUCK AWARD: Hollingsworth
RACE CAR ENGINEERING FIFTH-PLACE AWARD: McCreary
RACE CAR ENGINEERING EIGHT-PLACE AWARD: Morrow
MAXIMUM SIGNS NINTH-PLACE AWARD: Sanderford
CAUTIONS: 4
TIME OF THE RACE: 24 Minutes and 31.238 Seconds

McLEOD CONSTRUCTION QUALIFYING (Top 4 Transfer To Main Event):
POS CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN CHASSIS LAP 1 LAP 2 TIME
1 33c Eric Cooley Fulton, MS Victory Circle 15.275 15.134 15.134
2 10 Matthew Turner Dawsonville, GA DWB 16.579 15.491 15.491
3 21m Ben McCreary - R Baldwyn, MS Mastersbilt 15.776 15.590 15.590
4 18 Ronny Hollingsworth Northport, AL Mastersbilt 15.740 15.623 15.623
5 58 Larry Boutwell Baker, FL Rocket 15.767 15.667 15.667
6 T16 Todd Morrow East Ridge, TN Mastersbilt 15.683 15.746 15.683
7 38 Chase Washington - R Houlka, MS GRT 15.867 15.802 15.802
8 82 Jason Sanderford Pheba, MS TnT 16.269 15.835 15.835
9 L58 Larry Harrod Plains, GA TnT 17.854 15.864 15.864
10 49 Jeremy Hines Seymour, IN Rayburn 15.922 15.885 15.885
11 14 Chance Inman Bruce, MS GRT 16.005 21.820 16.005
12 56 Bubba Harrison Cleveland, MS GRT 16.342 16.081 16.081
13 84 Randall Beckwith Kilmichael, MS Rocket 16.224 16.371 16.224
14 19 Marcus Minga Shannon, MS Mastersbilt 16.332 16.509 16.332
15 8kv Robert Smith Leland, MS Mastersbilt 16.377 16.462 16.377
16 87 Derrick Rainey Powder Springs, GA Warrior 17.287 16.433 16.433
17 1x Jamie Elam Senatobia, MS GRT 16.710 16.566 16.566
18 C55 David Carpenter Greenwood, MS GRT 16.756 16.750 16.750
19 48 Ricky Graham Arlington, TN GRT 16.994 17.029 16.994
20 F5 Lamar Furr Hollandale, MS GRT 17.545 17.483 17.483
21 1 Scott Tice Hollandale, MS GRT 18.734 18.997 18.734

B-MAINS (10 Laps):

1ST B-MAIN: 1. Boutwell; 2. Elam; 3. Smith; 4. Washington (R); 5. Graham; 6. Tice; 7. Beckwith; 8. Harrod DNS; 9. Inman DNS.

2ND B-MAIN: 1. Sanderford; 2. Hines; 3. Rainey; 4. Minga; 5. Morrow; 6. Harrison; 7. Furr; 8. Carpenter.

NeSMITH CHEVROLET DIRT LATE MODEL SERIES NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 9/4/09:

1. 33c Eric Cooley – 1,532
2. 58 Larry Boutwell – 1,440
3. 87 Derrick Rainey – 1,380
4. 10 Matthew Turner – 1,362
5. 56 David Gentry – 1,272
6. 38 Chase Washington (R) – 1,206
7. 21 Ben McCreary (R) – 1,184
8. 19 Marcus Minga – 902
9. 2x Jay Blair – 774
10. 22 Jason Wilson (R) – 654
11. 38c Chip Brindle – 600
12. 16 Jeff Fields – 548
13. 81 Aaron Ridley – 520
14. 47 Brad Hall – 506
15. 4 Cliff Williams – 470
16. 86 Rick Rickman – 466
17. 222 Mike Boland – 448
18. F9 Frank Ingram – 406
18. 66k Scott Knowles – 406
18. 28 Chris McElhenney - 406

R – Denotes Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year Candidate
 




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