Riverside Int'l Speedway
Jamie Dacus triumphs after Breazeale falters
By Ben Shelton
Mid-South Racing
Jamie Dacus heads for victory at Riverside. (Phil Bowden)
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (Nov. 14) — Taking advantage when race-long leader David Breazeale tangled with a lapped car, former track champion Jamie Dacus of Lakeland, Tenn., led the last half of a 40-lap feature Sunday at Riverside International Speedway for his first PRO Dirt Car Series victory. | Slideshow
Dacus, who started outside the front row, earned $2,000 for the victory in an event postponed Saturday by rain.
Rick Rickman of Columbus, Miss., finished second followed by Dean Carpenter of Coldwater, Miss. Mark Stephens of Arlington, Tenn., and Jerry Buck of Paragould, Ark., rounded out the top five at the quarter-mile gumbo clay oval.
Breazeale, of Four Corners, Miss., started on the pole and appeared to be on his way to victory, but contact with a lapped car on the 21st lap resulted in a hole in Breazeale's radiator, knocking the PRO points leader out of the race. He wasn't the only contender to fall by the wayside.
Third-starting Kyle Beard of Truman, Ark., was up to second after 10 laps when mechanical problems forced him out. Brian Rickman of Columbus, Miss., restarted on the tail after causing an early caution and rallied back to fourth, but he wrecked with a car departing the track on lap 29, heavily damaging his car. He wasn't injured.
Notes: Dacus drives a GRT Race Car powered by an RPM Racing Engine and sponsored by Pro-Tec Fire Systems and O.H. Hendricks. ... The 27-car field represented six states. ... Seven cautions slowed the feature. ... Mark Stephens won the American Racer Tires Hard Charger with his 15th-to-fourth run. ... The event was co-sanctioned by the NeSmith Super Dirt Car Super Late Model Series. ... Drivers failing to make the feature lineup: Ross Camponovo, Dillon Knight, Wade Douglas, Thomas Dacus, Ashton McLeod. ... The PRO tour wraps up its first season Nov. 26-27 with $2,000- and $3,000-to-win events. The race at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., was originally scheduled scheduled across town at Columbus Speedway.
PRO @ Riverside: (1) Jamie Dacus, (2) Rick Rickman, (3) Dean Carpenter, (4) Mark Stephens, (5) Jerry Buck, (6) Jason Milam, (7) Nathan Brown, (8) Dave Weitholder, (9) Robert Lovette, (10) Jake Griffin, (11) Brian Rickman, (12) Cody Gentry, (13) Joey Mack, (14) David Breazeale, (15) Henry Pullen, (16) Chad Williams, (17) Dalton Alexander, (18) Mark Dodson, (19) Kyle Beard, (20) Gary Christian, (21) Joseph Long, (22) Terry Gray. Fast qualifier (among 27 cars): Breazeale. Consolation race winners: R. Rickman, Milam.
