February 2, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben Shelton (901) 335-3037
February 3rd, 2008

McCool & Johnson Top Columbus Speedway Action

Columbus, Mississippi (2/2/08) – Beautiful weather and a pit area full of race cars set the perfect stage on Saturday, February 2nd for the 8th Annual Carl Hogan Honda Winter Classic at Columbus Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi.

Action got underway with the Super Late Model division qualifying, and it was Cleveland, Tennessee’s Lamar Scoggins, who set quick time with a 15.29 second lap around the 1/3 mile bullring, which earned him the pole position for the 40 lap event.  Starting alongside Scoggins was Bub McCool, who set quick time for his qualifying group.  At the drop of the green flag McCool shot to the top spot with Scoggins and Ronnie Johnson in pursuit.  The race’s early stages would endure several caution flags with McCool maintaining the top spot. 

As the race progressed into its mid stages, McCool continued to work the high side of the track as Scoggins started to make up ground on the leader by working the low side.  Riley Hickman had also begun his march to the front and challenged 3rd place runner, Ronnie Johnson by lap 28.  A lap 29 caution set up an eleven lap dash to the checkers, and on the restart McCool moved to the low side to hold his pursuers at bay.  McCool would motor away to the win, which was his first ever win at Columbus Speedway in 16 years of trying.  Riley Hickman came away with a 2nd place finish with Ronnie Johnson, Lamar Scoggins, and Dane Dacus rounding out the top five.

The NeSmith Late Model Series saw 49 entries sign in to battle for the $2,500 top prize.  Don Farmer and Brian Rickman set on the front row for the 40 lap affair with Farmer taking the initial lead before third starting, Ronnie Johnson from Chattanooga, Tennessee, motored past him on the second lap to take a lead that he would never relinquish.  Following Johnson across the line were Brian Rickman, Jason Hiett, Jeff Smith, and Chris Tays.

In the Open Wheel Modified division, 38 competitors were on hand, and when the smoke cleared it was Lobelville, Tennessee’s, Eric Hickerson taking the win over Chad Winkles, Tony Gray, Casey Findley, and Jon Stinson.

Twenty-two drivers signed in to do battle in the Street Stock division, and Jackson, Mississippi area driver, Kevin Whittington took the convincing win in the main event.  As Whittington motored away from the field, a great battle was being held for the second position.  When the checkered flag fell it was David Easterling finishing in the second position with Ben Williams, Chris McDaniel, and Jeff Duncan rounding out the top five.

Complete results for all divisions can be found at www.ColumbusSpeedway.net .

Columbus Speedway will return to action on Saturday, March 1st at 7pm with the 2008 Season Opener featuring the Golden Triangle Championship.  RCWRS Super Late Models PLUS a full compliment of Weekly Racing Series divisions will all be in action.  For more information, please visit www.ColumbusSpeedway.net .

Upcoming Columbus Speedway 2008 Events:
March 1st – 2008 Season Opener Featuring the Golden Triangle Championships
March 7th-8th: 7th Annual Brown Engineering Rebel Challenge

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 2 AT COLUMBUS SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS, MS ON 2/2/08:

POS       STRT     CAR #    DRIVER                                HOMETOWN                      LAPS     $ WON 
1.             3              5              Ronnie Johnson                   Chattanooga, TN  40           $2,500
2.             2              68           Brian Rickman                    Columbus, MS                     40           $1,250
3.             5              1h           Jason Hiett (R)                     Lincoln, AL                          40           $850
4.             15           00           Jeff Smith                             Rocky Face, GA                   40           $800
5.             9              8              Chris Tays                            Corinth, MS                         40           $650
6.             7              5e            Shawn Edwards                    Louisville, MS                      40           $550
7.             6              86           Rick Rickman                     Columbus, MS                     40           $500
8.             8              F22         Carlton Freeman Eastaboga, AL                      40           $450
9.             17           1              Johnny Stokes                     Columbus, MS                     40           $400
10.          20           4              Ted Lackey                           Munford, AL                         40           $375
11.          14           2x            Jay Blair                               Angie, LA                             40           $350
12.          10           16           Jeff Fields                             Aragon, GA                          40           $300
13.          18           M42        Josh Morrow                        Murphy, NC                          40           $280
14.          21           04           Blake Stewart                      Centre, AL                            40           $260
15.          16           14           Steve Godsey (R)  Bedford, IN                           40           $250
16.          22           58           Larry Boutwell                    Baker, FL                             40           $240
17.          24           66k         Scott Knowles (R)                Lanett, AL                             40           $220
18.          1              F33         Don Farmer                          Springville, AL                    40           $200
19.          11           222         Mike Boland                         Cuba, AL                               40           $200
20.          23           10           Matthew Turner                  Dawsonville, GA                  40           $200
21.          19           02           Stephen Brantley                Monroeville, AL                   40           $200
22.          13           38c         Chip Brindle                        Chatsworth, GA                   37           $200
23.          4              00s         Richard Stephens (R)         Phenix City, AL                   27           $200
24.          12           48           John Ownbey                        Cleveland, TN                       27           $200

ENTRIES:  49
FAST QUALIFIER:  Farmer, 15.170 Seconds
PROVISIONAL:  Turner
LEAD CHANGES:  1
LAP LEADERS:  Farmer, 1; Johnson, 2-40
LAPS LED:  Johnson, 39; Farmer, 1
HARD CHARGER:  Smith (started 15th and finished 4th)
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Hiett
DOMINATOR HARD LUCK AWARD:  Stephens
MAXIMUM SIGNS 9TH-PLACE AWARD:  Stokes
OLD 29 GOLF CARTS 10TH-PLACE AWARD:  Lackey
CAUTIONS:  5

QUALIFYING (Top 10 Transfer To Main Event):

B-MAINS (10 Laps – Top 4 Transfer To Main Event):

                1ST B-MAIN:  1. Boland; 2. Blair; 3. Stokes; 4. Lackey; 5. Knowles (R); 6. Minga (R); 7. Thomas; 8. Wallace (R); 9. Shelton; 10. Wilson (R); 11. Dixon; 12. Shirley; 13. Sims.

                2ND B-MAIN:  1. Ownbey; 2. Smith; 3. Morrow; 4. Stewart; 5. Washington (R); 6. Peacock (R); 7. McCreary; 8. Pickard; 9. Moon (R); 10. Shaw; 11. Guess; 12. Williams; 13. McMahan.

                3RD B-MAIN:  1. Brindle; 2. Godsey (R); 3. Brantley; 4. Boutwell; 5. Carlson; 6. Wimpey; 7. Nye (R); 8. Hill (R); 9. Paul; 10. Davidson; 11. Anderson; 12. Carter; 13. Turner.

SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
1ST 57J BUB MCCOOL
2ND R1 RILEY HICKMAN
3RD 5 RONNIE JOHNSON
4TH 32 LAMAR SCOGGINS
5TH 54 DANE DACUS
6TH 222 MIKE BOLAND
7TH 5 EDDIE RICKMAN
8TH 25 JUSTIN MCREE
9TH C11 CLIFF WILLIAMS
10TH 86 KYLE BEARD
11TH 21 NEIL BAGGETT
12TH 51 DEAN CARPENTER
13TH 65 DEWAINE HOTTINGER
14TH 9 HERMAN REYNOLDS
15TH 13 GEORGE MASHBURN
16TH 8 HUNTER CARROLL
17TH 44 VIRGIL TAYLOR
18TH 10 BRANDON ROBERTS
19TH 19 NICK HOWELL
20TH 12 JASON SMITH
21ST 20 TOMBO CALLAHAN
22ND 57 ROGER SHIRLEY
23RD 1 RONALD DUNN
24TH 28 BRADLEY PRICE

B Main Non Qualifier F44 HEATH JOHNSON

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED FEATURE
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
1ST 98 ERIC HICKERSON
2ND 12 CHAD WINKLES
3RD 35 TONY GRAY
4TH 17F CASEY FINDLEY
5TH 26S JON STINSON
6TH 15 HENRY HANGER
7TH 9 BRADLEY QUALLS
8TH 2 LEE RAY
9TH 2 GREG FANNING
10TH 06 JONATHAN RUSSELL
11TH 48 DJ PURVIS
12TH 11 JIMMY BRASFIELD
13TH 54 SHANNON DODSON
14TH 15 GARY BEARD
15TH 008 GREG HOLLINGSWORTH
16TH 93 EDDIE RHINEHART
17TH F80 RAY ALEXANDER
18TH 7 TODD GRAY
19TH 12 LUCAS LEE
20TH X TRINITY WYERS
21ST 25 JAY BURCHFIELD
22ND 76 RANDY ZEIGLER
23RD 55 MICHAEL LEE
24TH H17 STEVEN HOLCOMB

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED BMAIN 1
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
TRANFER 12 LUCAS LEE
TRANFER 48 DJ PURVIS
TRANFER 11 JIMMY BRASFIELD
TRANFER 93 EDDIE RHINEHART
5TH 55 MICHAEL LEE
6TH CB1 ERIC HUGHES
7TH 02 SCOTT RIMMER
8TH U2 JEROME SHEPHERD
9TH 45 JAMES ELFRING
10TH 25 CHARLIE HENDERSON
DNS 29 KALI DELOACH
DNS F5 LAMAR FURR

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED BMAIN 2
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
TRANSFER F80 RAY ALEXANDER
TRANSFER 06 JONATHAN RUSSELL
TRANSFER 76 RANDY ZEIGLER
TRANSFER H17 STEVEN HOLCOMB
5TH 69 JEREMY ROBERTSON
6TH 11 GREG WILKINS
7TH 97 HAROLD TRIMM
DNS 41 BILL SUDDUTH
DNS 56 JONATHAN ROWAN
DNS 05 DERRICK WHITE
DNS 2 LEE EVANS

STREET STOCK FEATURE
FINISHING POSITION CAR #/DRIVER NAME
1ST 711 KEVIN WHITTINGTON
2ND 911 DAVID EASTERLING
3RD 1 BEN WILLIAMS
4TH 15X CHRIS MCDANIEL
5TH 87D JEFF DUNCAN
6TH Q32 QUITERIO AREVALOS
7TH 25 KEVIN ELFRING
8TH 11 JAMIE SUDDUTH
9TH 27 DONNY BEAN
10TH 74 NICK STOOP
11TH 7 JERRY NICKOLES
12TH H5 BRANDON HARDIN
13TH 67 KEVIN MCWILLIAMS
14TH 3 BRENT MITCHELL
15TH 22 JOHN BEARD
16TH 5 TIM CULPEPPER
17TH 65 BO MITCHELL
18TH T28 TERRY THRASH
19TH 26 EDDIE CLANTON
20TH TEN-4 SHANE GIBBS
21ST 20 DANNY REA, SR.
22ND 8X BLAKE HAGAN
DNS 74 SCOTTY VOWELL
DNS -1 JONATHAN EDWARDS
DNS 26 DOUG DODD