By Steve Molnar
Doyline, Louisiana (April 19, 2003) - Jody Prince used a little home field advantage to claim his first-ever O'Reilly SUPR Late Model feature at Champion Park Speedway. Jody from nearby Sibley was in complete control of the feature almost from the onset, leading all 50-laps to take the win.
Jody acknowledges that much of his battle was just to get a chance to start near the front as he was slated to start the first heat race from the sixth starting spot. "I was little worried in the heat starting in the back but things went our way and I was able to get around Adams and went on from there. Prince's passing prowess earned him the B&K Underground Top Qualifier award and at that point Prince knew that the key to winning the race was matter of "holding it on the bottom in the groove."
Ray Moore started alongside of Jody after an equally impressive set of moves in his heat race. Moore took advantage of an early outside groove to storm from 7th to 2nd in his heat race and hope he could still find an outside groove on the start. But Jody got the jump on Moore and held him off throughout the race as the duo set the pace up front.
Ray Moore felt his car was good if just a tick behind Prince. "The car was good really all through the race except for the last few laps it kind of felt like the tires might have went away a little bit and it just didn't want to stick as good. We were almost as good as the leader and we're just going to try a little better next time to improve." Moore had plenty of opportunities to get close to Jody as several cautions waved in the feature but Jody was able to withstand the pressure.
Doug Ingalls was another driver facing plenty of pressure as he had to hold off several competitors including Ryan Plaisance and Garrett Durrett early and then spent much of the second half of the race holding off Kenny Merchant. Ingalls has quickly settled in to his new ride in the Nash Trucking GRT previously fielded by Chris Hennigan. Ingalls' second third place finish in as many weeks has propelled him up to 14th in the 2003 Championship standings.
David Ashley ran a steady race to finish fifth and keep within striking distance of Kenny Merchant in the battle for the 2003 O'Reilly SUPR Late Model Championship. Rob Litton was sixth across the followed by Jay Blair, who earned the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award as he passed 13 cars in moving from 20th to 7th at the finish. Ronny Adams recovered from a first lap spin in traffic to finish eighth with former SUPR Champs Rusty Cummings and Donald Watson rounding out the top 10.
26 O'Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand with Doug Ingalls, Jody Prince, James Ward and Ryan Plaisance taking the heat race victories and Donald Watson winning the Last Chance race.
Official Results:
1. Jody Prince
2. Ray Moore
3. Doug Ingalls
4. Kenny Merchant
5. David Ashley
6. Rob Litton
7. Jay Blair
8. Ronny Adams
9. Rusty Cummings
10. Donald Watson
11. Curt Lipsey
12. Odie Green
13. Bill Gordon
14. Garrett Durrett
15. Alan Tippen
16. Jon Mitchell
17. Ryan Plaisance
18. Tommy Surrett
19. Jeff Chanler
20. James Ward
21. Teddy Gray
Doyline, Louisiana (April 19, 2003) - Jody Prince used a little home field advantage to claim his first-ever O'Reilly SUPR Late Model feature at Champion Park Speedway. Jody from nearby Sibley was in complete control of the feature almost from the onset, leading all 50-laps to take the win.
Jody acknowledges that much of his battle was just to get a chance to start near the front as he was slated to start the first heat race from the sixth starting spot. "I was little worried in the heat starting in the back but things went our way and I was able to get around Adams and went on from there. Prince's passing prowess earned him the B&K Underground Top Qualifier award and at that point Prince knew that the key to winning the race was matter of "holding it on the bottom in the groove."
Ray Moore started alongside of Jody after an equally impressive set of moves in his heat race. Moore took advantage of an early outside groove to storm from 7th to 2nd in his heat race and hope he could still find an outside groove on the start. But Jody got the jump on Moore and held him off throughout the race as the duo set the pace up front.
Ray Moore felt his car was good if just a tick behind Prince. "The car was good really all through the race except for the last few laps it kind of felt like the tires might have went away a little bit and it just didn't want to stick as good. We were almost as good as the leader and we're just going to try a little better next time to improve." Moore had plenty of opportunities to get close to Jody as several cautions waved in the feature but Jody was able to withstand the pressure.
Doug Ingalls was another driver facing plenty of pressure as he had to hold off several competitors including Ryan Plaisance and Garrett Durrett early and then spent much of the second half of the race holding off Kenny Merchant. Ingalls has quickly settled in to his new ride in the Nash Trucking GRT previously fielded by Chris Hennigan. Ingalls' second third place finish in as many weeks has propelled him up to 14th in the 2003 Championship standings.
David Ashley ran a steady race to finish fifth and keep within striking distance of Kenny Merchant in the battle for the 2003 O'Reilly SUPR Late Model Championship. Rob Litton was sixth across the followed by Jay Blair, who earned the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award as he passed 13 cars in moving from 20th to 7th at the finish. Ronny Adams recovered from a first lap spin in traffic to finish eighth with former SUPR Champs Rusty Cummings and Donald Watson rounding out the top 10.
26 O'Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand with Doug Ingalls, Jody Prince, James Ward and Ryan Plaisance taking the heat race victories and Donald Watson winning the Last Chance race.
Official Results:
1. Jody Prince
2. Ray Moore
3. Doug Ingalls
4. Kenny Merchant
5. David Ashley
6. Rob Litton
7. Jay Blair
8. Ronny Adams
9. Rusty Cummings
10. Donald Watson
11. Curt Lipsey
12. Odie Green
13. Bill Gordon
14. Garrett Durrett
15. Alan Tippen
16. Jon Mitchell
17. Ryan Plaisance
18. Tommy Surrett
19. Jeff Chanler
20. James Ward
21. Teddy Gray
