COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI-A strong field of 150 race teams braved temperatures in the mid 30 degree range and the recent artic blast to take part in the 3rd Annual Jim’s Used Cars Winter Classic. Those who made the trek from across the southeast were treated to a prototypical Columbus Speedway “get down” affair as Johnny Stokes had the 3/10’s mile high banked clay oval in fine condition for some of the best racing ever held at the fabled speed plant.
The weather was indeed cold, but the Johnny Stokes prepped track was in incredible condition, allowing drivers to take their machines "high, low, anywhere you want to go" all day long. Heat races in all divisions and B-Mains for Super Late Models and Mississippi Modifieds provided some of the best racing possible, as it seemed every race went down to the wire. The faithful race fans who braved the weather could have walked away satisfied before the features even lined up. They did not, and they were rewarded in grandiose fashion.
Locust Grove, GA driver Shane Clanton's resume is quickly getting longer as he is “en fuego”. One week after winning the 12th Annual Ice Bowl at Talladega Short Track, Clanton piloted his American Racer-shod, RSD Enterprises-sponsored Custom Racing Engines Rocket racecar from 12th place to victory lane at the 3rd Annual Jim's Used Cars Mississippi Winter Classic at Columbus Speedway. Even more impressive was that in his first ever Columbus Speedway appearance Clanton topped the field that was as good as it gets for a regional event with a “who’s who” roster including reigning 2002 Dirt Track World Champion Shannon Babb, 2002 SUPR Series Champion Rodney Wing, 2002 Southern All Star Champion Duayne Hommel, reigning and 7 time Mississippi State Champion Mike Boland, reigning and 7 time Magnolia State 100 Champion Billy Moyer, Rushing, Russell, plus many of the best the region has to offer.
Action got underway during Midsouthracing.com Pole Qualifying with "Mr. Smooth" Billy Moyer setting his Jay Dickens powered machine on the pole with a 14.26-second lap as he was the first driver to take to the track, with teammate Shannon Babb earning the outside front row with14.30-second elapsed time in the 43-car field. Two B-Main were required to fill out the 24-car starting field with Randy Little and Mike Boland taking the B-Main wins. Some notable drivers missing the show included 2001 Winter Classic Champions James Dean who incurred heavy damage in one of the B-Mains and Duayne Hommel who tagged the wall in qualifying and was done for the day.
The 40-lap frenzy would get underway with Moyer grabbing the lead from Babb after a struggle, and David Earl Gentry quickly moved up from his 6th-place starting spot to pull inside Babb for what would be a 29-lap, side-by-side heated battle for the runner-up spot. Moyer never separated himself from the two, and the three drivers often went 3-wide in the solid black and rubbered over high-banked turns.
Behind the battle up front, Darin Dorsey and James Cline battled side-by-side for the 4th spot for the duration of the event, while 2003 Ice Bowl champ Shane Clanton and the popular #222 of Mike Boland began to pick off cars on their way to the front using the middle and top of the track as Boland started deep in the field after winning a B-Main. By lap 17, Clanton had moved up to fifth, and four laps later, he had moved the yellow #25 machine into fourth place ahead of the still-battling Cline and Dorsey. Meanwhile, the intervals between the leaders would expand and contract regularly as made quick work of lapped traffic, running fast anywhere their cars would take them.
Misfortune struck on lap 29 after over 20 laps of green-flag racing as "The WeirWolf" Tombo Callahan blew an engine and attempted to exit the track. Babb piled into Callahan and Gentry into Babb as Moyer escaped harm, and the three damaged rides came to a stop at the top of and over the 3rd turn. Neither Babb nor Gentry were able to continue, but Clanton who was already quickly catching the front-running trio, would now inherit the 2nd spot.
After fending off a challenge from James Cline, Clanton set off after Moyer, catching the #21 machine on lap 32 with only 8 laps to go. Moyer continued to work the middle and upper grooves as he had all day. Clanton drove under Moyer on the bottom of the track on the next lap, and then began to distance himself as the race wound to a close. A jubilant Clanton would take the victory in his first visit to Columbus and take the victory back to Georgia with Moyer, Oxford Alabama’s James Cline, Pearl’s Darin Dorsey, and Mike Boland up from 18th, rounding out the top five.
Completing a top ten that saw hand to hand combat for position all day included Clanton’s teammate of Fayetteville, Georgia’s Rickey Williams sixth followed by Columbus’ Mark Stokes with a strong run with Meridian’s Rodney Wing eighth. Finishing the top ten were Talladega’s Ross Martin up from 16th and Berry, Alabama’s Scott Shepherd in tenth after posting an impressive third place qualifying effort.
Official Winter Classic Finish:
1-Shane Clanton 2-Billy Moyer 3-James Cline 4-Darin Dorsey 5-Mike Boland 6-Rickey Williams 7-Mark Stokes 8-Rodney Wing 9-Ross Martin 10-Scott Shepherd 11-Randy Little 12-Shawn Edwards 13-Jason Smith 14-Dennis Duncan 15-Marcus Minga 16-Jason McMahon 17-Skip Freeman 18-Anthony Rushing 19-Shannon Babb 20-David Gentry 21-Tombo Callahan 22-David Breazeale 23-Joey McKinney 24-Steve Russell
The Mississippi Modified Winter Championship action also saw incredible action on the wide-open race track in the 20-lap main event with a $1,000 on the line for the winner as a strong field of 35 “Modified Marauders” took to the Columbus high banks. Two B-Mains were needed to complete the field after the heat races with Ben Stephens and Tim White taking the B-Main checkers.
"The Wanted Man" Lee Ray grabbed the early lead, but quickly yielded to the #4 machine of Kalif Sellier. After mayhem marked the first several laps of the race, the drivers finally settled down and got to business. Sellier, Ray, and "Flyin’'" Brian Rickman went 3-wide lap after lap, with "Mr. Untouchable" Jason Hollis often joining the fray and battling with Ray and Rickman. Battles raged for position all over the speedway as the Modified division continues to put on amazing displays of racing in the rapid growth class.
As the hot action unfolded up front the #98 machine of Eric Hickerson picked his way to the front, and was soon right in the challenge for the top spot. Sellier of Pass Christina, Mississippi flatly refused give up the point, and was rewarded with victory. Eric Hickerson from Tennessee finished second with Columbus’ Rickman completing the podium. Locals Jason Hollis and Lee Ray would follow closely across the line to complete the top five.
Official Mississippi Modified Winter Classic Finish:
1-Kalif Sellier 2-Eric Hickerson 3-Brian Rickman 4-Jason Hollis 5-Lee Ray 6-Bill Sudduth 7-Scooter Scruggs 8-Micheal Pickette 9-Bobee Palasini 10-Shay Knight 11-Chad Winkles 12-Tim White 13-Jamey Wynn 14-Greg Fanning 15-Dennis Pickard 16-Matt Pickette 17-Greg Campanova 18-David Frederick 19-Jimmy Dixon 20-Ben Stephens 21-James Dean 22-Cass Huff 23-Brock Otts 24-Andy Brown
"Hardcore Heavy Metal" local division action was, as always, as tough and as good as it gets. The Pro Street feature saw 2002 Track Champ Jeremy Shaw annihilate the field from the outside of the front row in the flag to flag romp that was without caution and take an easy win as the growing confidence the young Millport driver is quite evident. The battle for the podium was a good one as Bobby Nickoles, Mike Shaw, and Mike Langford put on a great show for the second position right up to the finish and finished in that order at the stripe with Tommy Gore completing the top five.
The Street Stock division saw big-race dominator David Honeycutt of Columbus put his #15 machine out front to stay for the flag to flag win In front of the “Thundering Heard”, while Terry King thrilled fans throwing repeated “slide job” attempts lap after lap in the battle for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, which was closely decided at the finish line. As Honeycutt cruised to take the checkers it was “Slow Hand” Scott Stripling making a move to just take the second place position at the line over Terry Kelley who had held second for much of the race. Terry King threw enough “sliders” to become a “Cy Young Award” winner and took fourth place with Harold Trimm finishing fifth in the 25-car field.
The Mini Stock gang laid claim to having their winner come from dead last to first to take the win. Mike Minor of Jenna worked his way to the front from the tail of the field and took the lead from heat winner Ron “Rebel Yell” Wyers on lap 6 and motored on to take the Mini Stock checkers. Wyers of Tuscaloosa finished a strong second with Jenna’s Robert Sanders rounding out the podium finishers. Nick Deese was fourth with Robert Yeates taking the fifth place honors.
Jeremy Glasgow and Buddy Glover, who lost the Cruiser World Championship by refusing the claim on their #24 two-person cruiser, found victory lane once again and made it stick ahead of second place finishers 2002 Track Champs Craig Murray and Kenneth Roach. Third place went to the team of Benji Jones and Curt Smith as the battle for second and third place was a good one. Brad Fortner and Jamie Sudduth were fourth and the guys on the move were the team of Josh Edwards and Brady Sanders who worked their way up from 15th starting position to earn a fifth place finish.
Only Steve Lowe and Joe Sudduth would survive to finish the Pro 4 feature, with Lowe taking the win.
Columbus Speedway would like to heartily thank the drivers and fans who braved the frigid weather to come out and be part of a simply extraordinary day of all-out racing action.
Columbus Speedway will host two test and tune sessions during the end of February with practice sessions on Saturday February 15th and 22nd at 1pm.
Racing action cranks back up on March 1st at the Columbus Speedway Weekly Racing Series season opening "Golden Triangle 30" presented by Boland Performance. The next special event will be on March 7th and 8th with the 2nd Annual Rebel Challenge that is expected to draw a talent laden field of Super Late Model drivers to compete for the $8000 top prize as well as all local divisions in full-fledged, hardcore racing action. Visit the Columbus Speedway Official Website hosted at www.MidsouthRacing.com for the 2003 Columbus Speedway schedule as well as rules and other information. Additional Columbus Speedway information can be obtained by calling Johnny Stokes at 662-574-2572 during the day or 662-327-3047 evenings or by calling the Columbus Speedway event hotline at 662-241-5004 for upcoming event and ticket information.
The weather was indeed cold, but the Johnny Stokes prepped track was in incredible condition, allowing drivers to take their machines "high, low, anywhere you want to go" all day long. Heat races in all divisions and B-Mains for Super Late Models and Mississippi Modifieds provided some of the best racing possible, as it seemed every race went down to the wire. The faithful race fans who braved the weather could have walked away satisfied before the features even lined up. They did not, and they were rewarded in grandiose fashion.
Locust Grove, GA driver Shane Clanton's resume is quickly getting longer as he is “en fuego”. One week after winning the 12th Annual Ice Bowl at Talladega Short Track, Clanton piloted his American Racer-shod, RSD Enterprises-sponsored Custom Racing Engines Rocket racecar from 12th place to victory lane at the 3rd Annual Jim's Used Cars Mississippi Winter Classic at Columbus Speedway. Even more impressive was that in his first ever Columbus Speedway appearance Clanton topped the field that was as good as it gets for a regional event with a “who’s who” roster including reigning 2002 Dirt Track World Champion Shannon Babb, 2002 SUPR Series Champion Rodney Wing, 2002 Southern All Star Champion Duayne Hommel, reigning and 7 time Mississippi State Champion Mike Boland, reigning and 7 time Magnolia State 100 Champion Billy Moyer, Rushing, Russell, plus many of the best the region has to offer.
Action got underway during Midsouthracing.com Pole Qualifying with "Mr. Smooth" Billy Moyer setting his Jay Dickens powered machine on the pole with a 14.26-second lap as he was the first driver to take to the track, with teammate Shannon Babb earning the outside front row with14.30-second elapsed time in the 43-car field. Two B-Main were required to fill out the 24-car starting field with Randy Little and Mike Boland taking the B-Main wins. Some notable drivers missing the show included 2001 Winter Classic Champions James Dean who incurred heavy damage in one of the B-Mains and Duayne Hommel who tagged the wall in qualifying and was done for the day.
The 40-lap frenzy would get underway with Moyer grabbing the lead from Babb after a struggle, and David Earl Gentry quickly moved up from his 6th-place starting spot to pull inside Babb for what would be a 29-lap, side-by-side heated battle for the runner-up spot. Moyer never separated himself from the two, and the three drivers often went 3-wide in the solid black and rubbered over high-banked turns.
Behind the battle up front, Darin Dorsey and James Cline battled side-by-side for the 4th spot for the duration of the event, while 2003 Ice Bowl champ Shane Clanton and the popular #222 of Mike Boland began to pick off cars on their way to the front using the middle and top of the track as Boland started deep in the field after winning a B-Main. By lap 17, Clanton had moved up to fifth, and four laps later, he had moved the yellow #25 machine into fourth place ahead of the still-battling Cline and Dorsey. Meanwhile, the intervals between the leaders would expand and contract regularly as made quick work of lapped traffic, running fast anywhere their cars would take them.
Misfortune struck on lap 29 after over 20 laps of green-flag racing as "The WeirWolf" Tombo Callahan blew an engine and attempted to exit the track. Babb piled into Callahan and Gentry into Babb as Moyer escaped harm, and the three damaged rides came to a stop at the top of and over the 3rd turn. Neither Babb nor Gentry were able to continue, but Clanton who was already quickly catching the front-running trio, would now inherit the 2nd spot.
After fending off a challenge from James Cline, Clanton set off after Moyer, catching the #21 machine on lap 32 with only 8 laps to go. Moyer continued to work the middle and upper grooves as he had all day. Clanton drove under Moyer on the bottom of the track on the next lap, and then began to distance himself as the race wound to a close. A jubilant Clanton would take the victory in his first visit to Columbus and take the victory back to Georgia with Moyer, Oxford Alabama’s James Cline, Pearl’s Darin Dorsey, and Mike Boland up from 18th, rounding out the top five.
Completing a top ten that saw hand to hand combat for position all day included Clanton’s teammate of Fayetteville, Georgia’s Rickey Williams sixth followed by Columbus’ Mark Stokes with a strong run with Meridian’s Rodney Wing eighth. Finishing the top ten were Talladega’s Ross Martin up from 16th and Berry, Alabama’s Scott Shepherd in tenth after posting an impressive third place qualifying effort.
Official Winter Classic Finish:
1-Shane Clanton 2-Billy Moyer 3-James Cline 4-Darin Dorsey 5-Mike Boland 6-Rickey Williams 7-Mark Stokes 8-Rodney Wing 9-Ross Martin 10-Scott Shepherd 11-Randy Little 12-Shawn Edwards 13-Jason Smith 14-Dennis Duncan 15-Marcus Minga 16-Jason McMahon 17-Skip Freeman 18-Anthony Rushing 19-Shannon Babb 20-David Gentry 21-Tombo Callahan 22-David Breazeale 23-Joey McKinney 24-Steve Russell
The Mississippi Modified Winter Championship action also saw incredible action on the wide-open race track in the 20-lap main event with a $1,000 on the line for the winner as a strong field of 35 “Modified Marauders” took to the Columbus high banks. Two B-Mains were needed to complete the field after the heat races with Ben Stephens and Tim White taking the B-Main checkers.
"The Wanted Man" Lee Ray grabbed the early lead, but quickly yielded to the #4 machine of Kalif Sellier. After mayhem marked the first several laps of the race, the drivers finally settled down and got to business. Sellier, Ray, and "Flyin’'" Brian Rickman went 3-wide lap after lap, with "Mr. Untouchable" Jason Hollis often joining the fray and battling with Ray and Rickman. Battles raged for position all over the speedway as the Modified division continues to put on amazing displays of racing in the rapid growth class.
As the hot action unfolded up front the #98 machine of Eric Hickerson picked his way to the front, and was soon right in the challenge for the top spot. Sellier of Pass Christina, Mississippi flatly refused give up the point, and was rewarded with victory. Eric Hickerson from Tennessee finished second with Columbus’ Rickman completing the podium. Locals Jason Hollis and Lee Ray would follow closely across the line to complete the top five.
Official Mississippi Modified Winter Classic Finish:
1-Kalif Sellier 2-Eric Hickerson 3-Brian Rickman 4-Jason Hollis 5-Lee Ray 6-Bill Sudduth 7-Scooter Scruggs 8-Micheal Pickette 9-Bobee Palasini 10-Shay Knight 11-Chad Winkles 12-Tim White 13-Jamey Wynn 14-Greg Fanning 15-Dennis Pickard 16-Matt Pickette 17-Greg Campanova 18-David Frederick 19-Jimmy Dixon 20-Ben Stephens 21-James Dean 22-Cass Huff 23-Brock Otts 24-Andy Brown
"Hardcore Heavy Metal" local division action was, as always, as tough and as good as it gets. The Pro Street feature saw 2002 Track Champ Jeremy Shaw annihilate the field from the outside of the front row in the flag to flag romp that was without caution and take an easy win as the growing confidence the young Millport driver is quite evident. The battle for the podium was a good one as Bobby Nickoles, Mike Shaw, and Mike Langford put on a great show for the second position right up to the finish and finished in that order at the stripe with Tommy Gore completing the top five.
The Street Stock division saw big-race dominator David Honeycutt of Columbus put his #15 machine out front to stay for the flag to flag win In front of the “Thundering Heard”, while Terry King thrilled fans throwing repeated “slide job” attempts lap after lap in the battle for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, which was closely decided at the finish line. As Honeycutt cruised to take the checkers it was “Slow Hand” Scott Stripling making a move to just take the second place position at the line over Terry Kelley who had held second for much of the race. Terry King threw enough “sliders” to become a “Cy Young Award” winner and took fourth place with Harold Trimm finishing fifth in the 25-car field.
The Mini Stock gang laid claim to having their winner come from dead last to first to take the win. Mike Minor of Jenna worked his way to the front from the tail of the field and took the lead from heat winner Ron “Rebel Yell” Wyers on lap 6 and motored on to take the Mini Stock checkers. Wyers of Tuscaloosa finished a strong second with Jenna’s Robert Sanders rounding out the podium finishers. Nick Deese was fourth with Robert Yeates taking the fifth place honors.
Jeremy Glasgow and Buddy Glover, who lost the Cruiser World Championship by refusing the claim on their #24 two-person cruiser, found victory lane once again and made it stick ahead of second place finishers 2002 Track Champs Craig Murray and Kenneth Roach. Third place went to the team of Benji Jones and Curt Smith as the battle for second and third place was a good one. Brad Fortner and Jamie Sudduth were fourth and the guys on the move were the team of Josh Edwards and Brady Sanders who worked their way up from 15th starting position to earn a fifth place finish.
Only Steve Lowe and Joe Sudduth would survive to finish the Pro 4 feature, with Lowe taking the win.
Columbus Speedway would like to heartily thank the drivers and fans who braved the frigid weather to come out and be part of a simply extraordinary day of all-out racing action.
Columbus Speedway will host two test and tune sessions during the end of February with practice sessions on Saturday February 15th and 22nd at 1pm.
Racing action cranks back up on March 1st at the Columbus Speedway Weekly Racing Series season opening "Golden Triangle 30" presented by Boland Performance. The next special event will be on March 7th and 8th with the 2nd Annual Rebel Challenge that is expected to draw a talent laden field of Super Late Model drivers to compete for the $8000 top prize as well as all local divisions in full-fledged, hardcore racing action. Visit the Columbus Speedway Official Website hosted at www.MidsouthRacing.com for the 2003 Columbus Speedway schedule as well as rules and other information. Additional Columbus Speedway information can be obtained by calling Johnny Stokes at 662-574-2572 during the day or 662-327-3047 evenings or by calling the Columbus Speedway event hotline at 662-241-5004 for upcoming event and ticket information.
