Chris Wall claims first SUPR victory at the 6th Annual Ival Cooper Memorial

Chris Wall claims first SUPR victory at the 6th Annual Ival Cooper Memorial

Byram, Mississippi (May 8, 2004) – Chris Wall cuts his teeth running with the O’Reilly SUPR Late Models but he’s focused his efforts on running the Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series this year so it was only fitting that he claimed his first major Dirt Late Model victory at a SUPR race held in Mississippi. Wall started on the pole and recovered from a slow start to grab the lead once and for all on lap 10 and he never looked back in topping the 6^th Annual Ival Cooper Memorial at Jackson Motor Speedway. Wall took the win despite running on seven cylinders over the last 15 laps, pulling away from Rob Litton and Rodney Wing on a lap 40 restart as Litton and Wing were left to battle for second.

Wall, the gator farmer from Springfield , Louisiana started on the pole after starting the night with a heat race victory from the fourth starting spot. Wall slipped a bit on the race start and slid back to fourth place after one lap but it didn’t take long for Wall to recover. Wall was back to second by lap eight in the C&M Gator Farms/GVS Racing/Wall2Wall Racing Engines/Rocket and he moved by Rob Litton for the lead on lap 10. Litton would remain in stalking distance thanks in part to a high number of yellows but on a long run, Wall established a substantial lead, a lead that in the end allowed Wall to charge ahead to the victory despite being down a cylinder.

Wall credits his race crew for his success this season. “We got off to a strong start and then we slipped off pace a little but I left it to the crew to pick the setup and we’ve won three races since that point. We’re all in sync and that the key to our success.”

Litton felt his car was strong but his tire selection hurt him in a race with too many cautions. Litton was running a pair of S-55 Hoosiers and he felt the short runs didn’t play to their strength. We were running Chris down on that long green but that last caution hurt us. The last caution waved on lap 40 when Kenny Merchant slowed in turn 2 with a flat left rear. Merchant had been battling to the outside of Doug Ingalls when the tire was cut down. Merchant brought out the first caution on the original start when he spun off of turn two and ended up facing the oncoming traffic. With two cautions, Merchant’s night ended early and this allowed Rob Litton to make a sizeable cut into Merchant’s lead in the 2004 O’Reilly SUPR Late Model Championship Point Standings.

Rodney Wing started eight but moved into the top three early and as the race wore on, he may have had the quickest car on the track, but he was unable to get by Litton on the narrow racing line. Wing, like Wall, had elected to run an uncommon tire selection with a Hoosier S-11 on the left rear and an American Racer MD56 on the right rear.

Doug Ingalls turned in a solid top five finish and may well have been the only driver on the track to appreciate the cautions as he was fighting a bad reaction to allergies that had Doug struggling to breathe normally so the cautions brought him a welcome respite.

Jay Blair was another driver that welcomed a return to the top five as the 2000-01 SUPR Champion was running the Larry Shaw Chassis he picked up last year but hadn’t run much this year. Blair was running a motor borrowed from the Sandridge Construction team while he awaits the delivery of a new Tony Barker spec motor.

27 O’Reilly SUPR Late Models were on hand for the 6^th Annual Ival Cooper Memorial. Chris Wall, Rob Litton, Dennis Duncan and Scott Slay topped the heat races with George Paul topping the Last Chance race. Ryan Plaisance earned the Creel Brothers Hard Charger award as he started 21^st and passed 12 cars to finish 9^th, the last car on the lead lap. In addition to the $50 posted by Creel Brothers, Plasiance also earned $200 posted by Timber Wolf.

Official Results:
1.   Chris Wall
2.   Rob Litton
3.   Rodney Wing
4.   Doug Ingalls
5.   Jay Blair
6.   Jon Mitchell
7.   David Ashley
8.   Ray Moore
9.   Ryan Plaisance
10. Gary Cooper
11. Steve Bynum
12. Kenny Merchant
13. Darin Dorsey
14. Brock Wester
15. Dennis Duncan
16. Jason Cliburn
17. Scott Slay
18. Marlon Wild
19. George Paul
20. Davy Easterling
21. Danny Mahan
22. David Molphus
23. Danny Alford

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