"I didn't

even realize how close he was, but everyone said it was a good show there

at the end," said Smith, who had a fourth-place finish and a seventh-place

finish at Rome this year. "I usually just come here for the for the

real big races, but our Southern All-Stars race got rained out and here

I am. It was fun."

The fifth and

final caution flag came out with four laps left, setting up a four-lap

dash to the finish. Martin lined up for the restart in fourth place behind

Smith, but jumped around Ingram and into second place almost as soon as

the green flag fell.

Smith held

his line on the bottom as Martin crept closer with every lap. The cars

were side by side when they hit the backstretch on the final lap, but

Smith held on to win with Martin alongside his rear fender.

"If we

had one more lap, we'd have won the thing," said Martin. "It's

real hard to pass on the bottom, and that's why we stay on the high side

every week. All we needed was one more lap."

After starting

the race on the outside of the front row, Smith battled alongside Wayne

Echols of Hiram for almost a full lap. But the outside groove gave Smith

enough momentum to put him around Echols and into the lead for good coming

out of turn 4.

Martin, though,

didn't have it so easy. The Cartersville driver started the race in 14th

place, needing the first 20 laps just to crack the top five.

Ingram came

in third, with Rodney Dixon of Fayetteville finishing fourth and Echols

in fifth.

The rivalry

between Scott Howard of Stockbridge and Danny Carter of Woodstock continued

in the 'A' Sportsman division. Howard won for the third time this season,

but it wasn't enough to keep Carter from winning the first-leg points

championship. Chad Smith of Cedartown came in second, as Carter finished

third, Kenneth Westmorelan of Cartersville placed fourth and Chuck Padgett

of Jasper came in fifth.

Jake Knowles

of Tyrone won his third consecutive 'B' Sportsman feature at Dixie Speedway,

but it wasn't enough to lock up a first-leg points title. Jeffrey Johnson

of Cumming finished seventh in the race and won the title by two points

over Knowles. Bo Stanley Jr. of Ellijay came in second, Richard Yeomans

of Austell finished third, Steve Vowell of Monticello was fourth and David

Barrentine of Booger Hollow was fifth.

Ricky Lathem

of Acworth clinched the first-leg Super Bombers championship with a third-place

finish Saturday night. Randy McConnell of Woodstock won the race, as Tony

McDowell of Woodstock finished second, Chad Kimbral of Dawsonville took

fourth and Chris Castillo of Cartersville came in fifth.

Kenneth Burns

of Woodstock clinched the Economy Bombers first-leg points title with

a third-place finish. Michael Brewer of Avondale Estates won the race,

as Ray McNeese of Waleska came in second, Jacob Johnson of Cumming took

fourth and Lee Sutton of Taylorsville finished fifth.

Joe Trantham

and Ross Childs of Kennesaw teamed up to win the Cruisers feature, and

Paul McAbee of Acworth won the Spectator Racing event in a Pontiac.

Back

to the Top of the Page Back

to the Sports Home Page