Mike Boland clams opening night of the 4th Annual Mardi Gras Nationals

Mike Boland claims opening night of 4th Annual Mardi Gras Nationals

McComb , MS ( February 28, 2003 ) - Mike Boland may not have been the fastest car on the track but he just keeps winning at Pike County Speedway. Boland avoided a first lap tangle that eliminated 8 cars including outside front row starter Jay Blair and then held off the challenges of Kennith Crowe and then Tommy Surrett to take the opening night of the Mardi Gras Nationals. In the process, Boland recorded his third straight O’Reilly SUPR victory at Pike County Speedway dating to last year.

Boland took the win in his Keith Craft-powered Ford Mustang GRT despite a car that didn’t really run up to Mike’s expectations. Still the victory proved that Boland is capable of winning even when the circumstances might not merit a victory.

Surrett, who failed to qualify in last year’s opening night, was excited to get his season off to a strong start and it was all the more impressive considering he did it with the same car that nearly totaled at Houston last year. A last minute decision was made to bring the old Rocket when a problem was detected on the new car and while the team had reservations regarding running the car, those fears proved to be unnecessary as the Jay Dickens spec motor package

Ryan Plaisance used a provisional and stormed his way up to third at the finish to earn the Lloyd Wild Jr. Logging Hard Charger award. Plaisance, who switched to a Keith Craft Ford power plant this year, was very happy with the performance from the new package. He was even more excited by the strong as he missing the open test session on Thursday night and didn’t have an opportunity to establish a baseline setup.

Kennith Crowe battled Mike Boland for the lead in the early stages and even pulled under Mike just as a caution waved but Crowe slipped back a bit following the caution as Surrett closed in to battle for second. The pair raced side-by-side for several laps and this allowed Plaisance to close in to make it a 4-car battle for the lead with Boland holding the top-spot, Surrett securing second and Plaisance making the last lap pass for third ahead of Crowe.

Kenny Merchant recovered from his early trouble and stormed back to a top five finish with John Mitchell, rookie of the year contender Butch Jenkins, Randy Cook, Bill Gordon and Jay Blair rounding out the top 10.

36 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand. Curt Lipsey, Kenny Merchant, James Ward, Odie Green and Rodney Wing claimed the five heat race victories while Donald Watson and David Ashley claimed the Last Chance races.

1. Mike Boland

2. Tommy Surrett

3. Ryan Plaisance

4. Kennith Crowe

5. Kenny Merchant

6. Jon Mitchell

7. Butch Jenkins

8. Randy Cook

9. Bill Gordon

10. Jay Blair

11. Ronny Adams

12. Kerry Vicknair

13. Donald Watson

14. David Ashley

15. Curt Lipsey

16. Rodney Wing

17. James Ward

18. Odie Green

19. Keith Craft

20. Chris Wall

21. Robbie Starnes

22. Dave Siegert

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