Green Valley Speedway
Cook grabs the pole for Sunday's Bama Bash
GLENCOE, Ala. (Feb. 21) — Fast qualifier Ray Cook of Brasstown, N.C., is poised to start on the pole position of Sunday's 12th annual Bama Bash at Green Valley Speedway following Saturday's preliminaries at Alabama's 3/8-mile oval near Gadsden.
Cook, last year's fourth-place finisher and a two-time race winner in 2009, will be gunning for a $7,500 winner's purse at the unsanctioned event while Jeff Smith of Rocky Face, Ga., will start alongside Cook on the front row for the 75-lap feature.
Among other drivers locked into the Super Late Model feature lineup are last year's Bama Bash winner Dale McDowell of Rossville, Ga., former race winner Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., last year's runner-up Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Randy Weaver of Crossville, Tenn.
Top Alabama drivers in the lineup are Bo Shirley of Gadsden, James Cline of Oxford, Ala., and former track champion Robert Gant of Flat Rock, Ala. Some of the traveling drivers in the lineup are Eric Turner of Creighton, Mo., Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Texas, and Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss.
Sunday's action also includes Limited Late Model and Crate Late Model races paying $3,000-to-win apiece. Johnson, competing in three divisions, is scheduled to start on the front row of those 50-lap features.
Sunday's consolation races are scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
Notes: The Super Late Models are sponsored by Continental Coin Laundries. ... Hampton Inn sponsors the Limited Late Models and MasterSbilt Race Cars sponsors the Crates. ... Besides Johnson, among other drivers starting up front in the Limited Late Model feature are Brandon Williams, Mark Haddon and Jason Hiett. ... Other drivers starting up front in the Crate feature are Cook, Don Farmer, McDowell and Billy Mayo of Cleveland, Tenn. ... Also competing in the Crate division is former NASCAR driver Steve Grissom of Gadsden. ... Another NASCAR racer, Ken Schrader of Fenton, Mo., is competing in the modified division.
