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3/13/99 3 OUT OF 4 - WHO CAN ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE!
Lake City, Fla. - The National Late Model Sportsman Series took their
traveling road to show to the tight 3/8 mile oil treated oval of Lake City
Speedway and after an exciting 100 laps late model action, 4 leaders and 8
cautions the face of the winning driver was a familiar one for fans and
competitors alike. Driving the Hollywood GRIT/Beaver/ Budweiser/Southway
Industrial Services/Piping Services Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1995 NLMS Series
Champion Skip Pannell of Albany, Ga. held off the late race challenge of
Billy Godowns in the Walter Newman/Wynns/Henderson Chevrolet/Godowns Farms
Chevrolet Monte Carlo to take his third win in the last four Southern Dirt
Tour races. Dewayne Johnson of Columbus, Ga. in the W.J. Plemons
Insurance/Truitt Oil Chevrolet came home third.
“This was tough one,” Pannell said afterwards. “The car was not right for
the first third of the race, but then it got really good in the middle but
faded at the end. The car would get loose if I went into the turns too
hard, and if I slowed too much it would tighten up. The crew told me that I
was not shaking Billy (Godowns) so I just did everything I could to hold
him off. This is our third win since Budweiser came on board with us and
Southway Industrial Services and Piping Services have really helped us get
this team where it is now. We certainly could not have done it without
them.”
David Browning of Jacksonville, Fla. in the Russell Brown/Scruggs/Durham
Building Materials Chevrolet set the fast time in qualifying and then won
his heat race to capture the pole for the start of the Pat Mitchum Memorial
100. When the green flag fell on the 25 car starting field, Browning jumped
into the early lead with Ivedent Lloyd in second, Tuck Trentham third,
Pannell fourth and Keith Philman in fifth.
The field wasted little time to start shuffling positions as Toby Justice
took the high line in turn two to pass Steve Lashley on the second lap and
1998 Series Champion Cecil Eunice and Michael Lloyd also went high to pass
Kasey O’Steen on lap 3 along the front straight. Browning and I. Lloyd were
slowly opening a small gap between their two car battle and the rest of the
tightly bunched field led by Trentham, but on lap 7 Billy Godowns dropped
to the low side coming off turn four and passed Keith Philman on the inside
down the front straight.
The first caution of the race came out on lap 15 when Wesley Hood lost his
motor in a big way on the front straight. Tuck Trentham also went to the
pits with was determined to a cracked block at the same time as did Jeff
Gordon who lost his drive shaft. With two of the top ten out of the race
early the order at the front saw Browning still leading I. Lloyd with
Pannell, Godowns, Philman, Johnny Lieupo, Dewayne Johnson, Justice and
Lashley rounding out the top ten.
On the restart both Johnny Collins and Eunice slipped inside Lee Newsome in
turns one and two while the rest of the field were battling hard for
position. Browning and Lloyd began to pull out to a slight lead with Lloyd
glued right to the back bumper of the leader. In third, Godowns was putting
heavy pressure on Pannell and Eunice continued to move through the field as
he passed Bobby Oglesby and Richard Ferry. As the leaders began to work
lapped traffic, the battles to prevent from being lapped intensified at the
rear of the field as Terry Lumley and Lonnie Roberts worked hard to find a
way around Wayne Shugart, and Newsome.
On lap 44 the leaders came up on the slower car of Rance Phillips as they
roared through turns three and four. Phillips, obviously suffering a
problem in keeping his car running attempted to make an entrance to pit
road and Browning had to brake hard to avoid him. Lloyd went low, into the
dirt, and slipped by on the inside to take the lead, Browning was able to
get around Phillips and hold second while Pannell went high and almost hit
the wall and Godowns, unable to see much in the dust, hit the rear of
Phillips, hastening his entrance to the pits. All of the leaders were able
to continue, but now with Lloyd leading Browning, Pannell and Godowns.
The next caution came out on lap 49 when Lashley spun to the inside in turn
four, giving everyone a breather. Lieupo had now moved into fifth followed
by Johnson with Philman relegated to seventh. Also making his first
appearance in the top ten was Henry Carter who was ninth with Justice
holding down tenth.
Lloyd, the 1996 Series Champion, was able to pull out to a five car length
lead on the restart and seemed to be cruising easily when, on lap 54 he
slowed on the back straight and coasted around to the pit entrance with an
overheating engine, handing the point back to Browning. By this time Eunice
was working his way through the top ten, after having to make the field
through a consolation race.
On lap 69 as the cars crossed the start finish line and headed into turn
one, Browning continued straight on, and only a hard application of the
brakes kept him from exiting the track over the top of turn one and the
caution was out again. Browning was later found to have broken an upper
control arm, and thus ended his run and Pannell now inherited the lead.
The order, as the race went back to green, was Pannell, closely pursued by
Godowns, Johnson, Philman, Eunice, Carter, Lieupo, Justice, Oglesby and
Ferry. On lap 70 Eunice made the pass on Philman in turn four and closed in
on Johnson. Johnson now was under heavy pressure while Pannell had managed
to open a two car length lead over Godowns.
Two quick cautions, on lap 81 when Terry Lumley and Justice got together on
the back straight, ending Justice’s race, and when Philman spun in turn two
collecting both Carter and Lieupo, slowed the race, but while Carter had to
make a quick visit to the pits for repairs to his nose, all three were able
to continue. As the field returned to full speed racing, Oglesby went
inside Ferry in turn two on lap 83 only to slow one lap later and retire to
the pits with rear suspension problems.
As the race moved into the final ten laps, Godowns was right on the rear
bumper of Pannell, and this time Pannell was unable to pull away. Godowns
tried the high side and tried the low side, but could not get alongside the
leader. Carter meanwhile, was charging back through the field after his pit
stop and passed Lieupo, Philman and Newsome in short order.
With two laps left Pannell and Godowns roared down the front straight with
Godowns nose firmly under the rear bumper of Pannell’s car, bringing the
large crowd to its feet, but Godowns backed off as the two entered turn
one and again tried to make a move coming out of turn two. Although he was
able to get his nose up to the rear wheel of Pannell, Godowns smartly
backed off as they entered turn three. The duel continued as the white flag
flew, and again Godowns tried to make a pass down the inside on the front
straight, but Pannell was protecting his spot and countered the move as
they headed into turn one for the final time. Godowns final gasp was made
down the back straight, but Pannell was able to get a good bite coming out
of two and Godowns had to settle for second place at the checkered flag.
Johnson was able to fend of Eunice and take third, while Wayne Shugart had
quietly worked his way through the field to nab fifth. Carter’s charge
netted him a sixth place finish. Lieupo, Philman, Newsome and Lumley
rounded out the top ten.
There were 36 cars on hand for the event with David Browning’s lap of 17.49
leading the qualifying. Browning, Trentham, Pannell and Ivedent Lloyd won
the heat races while Lee Newsome and Johnny Collins won the two Consolation
races. Cecil Eunice was the race’s Hard Charger as he advanced from 22nd
starting position to a fourth place finish. The next event for the National
Late Models Sportsman Series will be March 26 and 27 at Waycross (Ga.)
Motor Speedway.
Lake City Speedway - RIS - Provisional results for the
National Late Model Sportsman Series,
Pat Mitchum Memorial 100:
Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps Notes
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- -------
1 P1 Skip Pannell, Albany, GA Southway Industrial ServChev 100
2 20 Billy Godowns, Louisville GA Godowns Farm Chev 100
3 45 Dewayne Johnson, Columbus GA WJ Plemons InsuranceChev 100
4 22 Cecil Eunice, Blackshear GA Norman Pont/Ace Pole Chev 100
5 1 Wayne Shugart, St Augustine FL Shugart Oyster HseChev 100
6 28 Henry Carter, Swainsboro GA Mimbs Farm Chev 100
7 12 Johnny Lieupo, Valdosta GA Lieupo Motorsports Chev 100
8 83 Keith Philman, Bell FL Philman Silage Harvesting Chev 100
9 07 Lee Newsome, Valdosta GA Azalea City Pressure WshChev 100
10 4 Terry Lumley, Swainsboro GA Rhino Linings Chev 98
11 19 Kasey O'Steen, Waycross GA Satilla Motors/KFC Chev 97
12 3 Steve Lashley, Americus GA C&J Pallett/WISK 98.7 Chev 86
13 17 Richard Ferry, Lake City, FL Chev 85
14 37 Bobby Oglesby, Bloomingdale GA TE Hughes/D. TutenChev 84
15 91 Toby Justice, Waycross GA Big River Oil Chev 81
16 7 David Browning, Jacksonville FL Durham Chev 67
17 21 Ivedent Lloyd, Ocala FL Koury/Snow Brothers Chev 53
18 46 Everett Phillips, Lake City FL Everett Custon SerChev 48
19 27 Rance Phillips, Branford FL Columbia Title Loan Chev 43
20 O Johnny Collins, Jacksonville, FL Danny Clanton Chev 37
21 81 Lonnie Roberts Chev 37
22 18 Michael Lloyd, Jacksonville FL Lumber Unlimited Chev 29
23 54 Tuck Trentham, Deland FL Koury/Kar House Chev 15
24 57 Wesley Hood, Cowpens SC Clary Hood Inc. Chev 15
25 114 Jeff Gordon, Alabany GA RV Specialties Chev 15
Track Length : 0.3750 Miles
John Kaiser |
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