Rome Speedway
Title-winning Pearson grabs $10,000 at Rome
From series reports
Car owner Bobby Labonte joined the winner. (mikessportsimages.com)
ROME, Ga. (Oct. 3) — Earl Pearson Jr. headed to Georgia for the season's final Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series weekend assured of his fourth consecutive championship, but don't think he's slacking off. | Slideshow
The Jacksonville, Fla., driver took the lead for good on the eighth lap at Rome International Speedway and led the rest of the 50-lap Rome Rumble for a $10,000 victory, his fourth of the season on the 2008 tour. Ninth-starting Dale McDowell of Rossville, Ga., piloting the Warrior Race Cars house car, won a tight duel for second over the last half of the race while Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., was third. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who started 16th, finished fourth while alternate starter Justin Rattliff of Campbellsville, Ky., rallied from his 24th starting spot to finish fifth as polesitter Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., faded from second to sixth in the final five laps.
The third-starting Pearson swapped the lead with Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., in the early laps at Rome before going ahead for good on the eighth lap. Madden was running third when a flat tire knocked him from contention, and Pearson was solidly in control most of the rest of the way in a race slowed by five cautions.
Moyer, Owens, McDowell and Smith were among drivers mixing it up for the second spot with Moyer eventually fading after the final caution appeared on lap 46 for a slowing Steve Casebolt. McDowell, Owens, Smith and Rattliff — who was only able to start the race because provisional starter Terry Casey scratched — all got past Moyer in the race's final laps.
The series moves to nearby Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., on Saturday for a $15,000-to-win event, the final Lucas Oil Series event of the season.
Notes: Pearson's Bobby Labonte Motorsports MasterSbilt Race Car has a Larry Wallace Racing Engine and sponsorship from LifeLong Locks, Lucas Oil Products, Sunoco Race Fuels and Ohlins. ... Pearson's previous series victory came Aug. 1 at Winchester (Va.) Speedway. ... Don O'Neal drove the No. 16 driven most of the season by Justin Rattliff, while Rattliff drove Michael England's No. 5 Bloomquist Race Car, as he's done the past month.
Lucas Oil @ Rome: (1) Earl Pearson Jr., (2) Dale McDowell, (3) Jimmy Owens, (4) Clint Smith, (5) Justin Rattliff, (6) Billy Moyer, (7) Brian Shirley, (8) Shannon Babb, (9) Billy Drake, (10) Eric Jacobsen, (11) Casey Roberts, (12) Scott James, (13) Aaron Ridley, (14) Chris Madden, (15) Steve Casebolt, (16) Billy Ogle Jr., (17) Bart Hartman, (18) Scott Bloomquist, (19) Travis Pennington, (20) Tommy Kerr, (21) Josh McGuire, (22) Wayne Chinn, (23) Wendell Wallace, (24) Shane Clanton. Fast qualifier (among 55 cars): Moyer, 12.789 seconds. Heat race winners: Moyer, Clanton, Madden, Pearson. Consolation winners: Ridley, McGuire. Provisional starters: James, Rattliff.
