| MATT BOWERS GETS THE JOB DONE AT LOWE'S SUMMER SHOOTOUT | By Dave Westerman
 It had been a bit of a rough week for young Matt Bowers of Mount Dora, but that all changed Tuesday night during week nine of the Summer Shootout at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, NC.
Bowers entered the previous week of the Shootout as the Semi-Pro Division Point leader only to see that lead slip to just one point over fellow Floridian Paddy Rodenbeck after a huge scoring snafu that was still being appealed before racing this week.
Bowers was scored 17th during week eight's A-Main even though he actually finished 16th. The car shown in 16th was Lake Worth, FL driver Bryan Silas... interesting, because Silas did not qualify for the A-Main. If fact, Silas wasn't even at the race track. The problem had actually been traced to a transponder that Silas had used earlier during the Shootout Series. However, making matters even crazier, the car using the suspect transponder didn't make the A-Main either.
Bowers' week didn't get any better at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. After starting on the outside pole, he got shuffled back to fourth before a tangle with Chelsea Schillig put him at the rear of the field for the restart. Bowers methodically worked his way back up to a sixth place finish and set his sights on the next to last week of the Summer Shootout.
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Bowers put the scoring frustrations of the week before behind him and went to work Tuesday night. At the end of the Semi-Pro A-Main, everyone knew Bowers was serious about winning the points title as he came home with his first win of the Summer Shootout and solidified his title hopes as Odessa, FL's Rodenbeck finished five spots behind him in 6th just ahead of Port Charlotte's Josh Williams in seventh. To make the win even sweeter, it was double-points night as well, giving Bowers a decent cushion over Rodenbeck going into the final week of the Shootout next Tuesday. There is a good possibility that it will be a 1-2 Florida sweep in the Semi-Pro class that has seen well over 75 drivers take part so far.
The best finish of any of the other Florida drivers taking part at the Summer Shootout this week came in the Bandelero Bandits as Maxx Bennett of Zephyrhills came home fourth in the A-Main.
St. Cloud's Brandon Thomson had another rough night in the slam-bang Legends Pro Division A-Main, being scored 19th at the finish. Kara Clarke of Palm Beach Gardens was 12th in the Bandelero Outlaws A-Main and Ryan Rust of Port St. Lucie took 15th in the Bandelero Young Guns feature race.
Bowers' win was the fifth for a Florida driver at this years Summer Shootout as Rodenbeck has two wins and Thomson has two Pro Division wins also. Bowers and Thomson are expected to be among the regulars racing this Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld.
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