Greenville Speedway
Stokes tops Turner, Tice to win Greenville opener
GREENVILLE, Miss. (Oct. 7) — Veteran racer and promoter Johnny Stokes of Columbus, Miss., led all 40 laps Friday to capture the Delta Nationals 40 for the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series at Greenville Speedway. Stokes held off Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, Ga., and Mark Tice of Avon, Miss.
The top three cars came off the fourth turn for the checkered flag three-wide with Stokes taking his second career series victory.
“I was running the bottom of the track during the first half of the race, but I moved up to the middle groove to see how my car ran there,” Stokes said. “Late in the race I saw Matthew stick his nose underneath me, so I got my butt back down on the bottom of the racetrack. They could have all of that outside groove they wanted.”
Chase Edge of Lafayette, Ala., was fourth and Bo Gordon of Shaw, Miss., was fifth. Two-time series champion David Gentry of Lewisburg, Tenn., was sixth and cut Dan Breuer's points lead to just 10 points. Breuer, of Troutman, N.C., spun on the second lap and then stalled on the 27th lap, forcing him out of the race with a 19th-place finish.
The Crate Late Model tour continues Saturday night at Greenville with a $2,500-to-win event.
Delta Nationals 40: (1) Johnny Stokes, (2) Matthew Turner, (3) Mark Tice, (4) Chase Edge, (5) Bo Gordon, (6) David Gentry, (7) Neil Baggett, (8) Chase Washington, (9) Ashley Newman, (10) Jeremy Shaw, (11) John Polasini, (12) Steve Cooke, (13) Chance Inmon, (14) Billy Tedford, (15) Jake Knight, (16) Bubba Harrison, (17) Duke Palasini, (18) Bobby Jordan, (19) Dan Breuer, (20) Travis Mosley, (21) Shannon Lee, (22) Brent Barrett, (23) Greg Fore, (24) Lamar Furr. Fast qualifier (among 45 cars): Shaw, 14.882 seconds. Heat race winners: Edge, Jordan, Fore, Gordon. Consolation winners: Washingotn, Knight. Provisional starters: Breuer, Lee.
