Mike Boland wins John L. Cliett Memorial from 19th!

 

Columbus, MS (August 4, 2007) - Fans and competitors once again made their way to "The Baddest Bullring in the South" for the second night of the John L. Cliett Tribute weekend presented by Carl Hogan Automotive Group. The Saturday night portion of the two-day event featuring full shows each night brought the O'Reilly SUPR and O'Reilly Southern All Stars head-to-head in an event that also featured holdovers from Friday night's MSCCS vs SRRS as well as others. 41 Super Late Models attended Saturday night for the 59-lap, $5,000-to-win main event.

David Breazeale, who led almost all of Friday night's event only fall short in the final laps, would set fast time in pole qualifying with a 14.30. Breazeale would share the front row with another #54, this one driven by Dane Dacus as the pair would pace the feature field ahead of Friday night winner Chris Wall and Tony Knowles.

Wall would take the lead as the green flag fell, but Breazeale blasted right around as Dacus moved in to challenge Wall for 2nd. The first caution would fall on lap 2, one of many cautions on the night that contrasted with Friday night's event which only logged 2 yellow flags. Breazeale would line up ahead of Wall, Dacus, Knowles, and Anthony Rushing.

Wall immediately began to work under Breazeale as racing resumed, with Dacus also right in the mix until Wall took the point on lap 4. Breazeale would look back low with Dacus outside, the two going door-to-door in close-action racing while 11th-starting David Ashley moved into 4th place. Ashley would clear Dacus on lap 11, just before caution fell on the next lap with Wall leading Breazeale, Ashley, Dacus, and Knowles in the top five.

Ashley would take over second place after green flag racing resumed while Eddie Rickman rocketed into the top five by blasting through turns 1 and 2 on the high side. Ashley would wrestle first place from Wall as Rickman battled Jason Cliburn, then David Breazeale and grabbed third place before another caution set him back with Ashley, Wall, Breazeale, Rickman, and Cliburn lining up to restart.

Rickman moved inside Wall, the two battling side-by-side as Ashley led until Rickman claimed second place on lap 18. Breazeale would also take advantage and jump to 3rd, but Wall went outside and charged hard back around the pair to reclaim second place on lap 21. Ashley had by then moved to comfortable lead running the hub while Wall ran the high side as well as using a "see-saw" line in an effort to reel in the leader. Ashley entered lapped traffic on lap 29, allowing Wall to quickly close ranks and attempt an outside pass in traffic before a lap 31 caution brought about a dramatic change of events up front.

Ashley would set up to lead the field under the green ahead of Wall, Breazeale, Knowles, and Rickman. As the field exited turn 2 under the green, Wall and Ashley would make contact and stay together until the sideways Wall would come off of Ashley's nose and flip over in the infield. Wall would be forced to retire and under the OSAS no-fault rule Ashley would go to the rear of the pack.

Breazeale would find himself once again in the lead over Knowles, Rickman, Dacus, and Cliburn. Rickman would look for the lead and come up short, falling back to battle Knowles side-by-side as 19th-starting Mike Boland - racing with a damaged nose from an early caution - jumped into the top five, moving around Cliburn and Dacus. Dacus rebounded to retake 4th place and Boland fought with Cliburn as Breazeale neared lapped traffic.

Caution once again slowed the action on lap 39 with Breazeale over Rickman, Knowles, Dacus, and Cliburn. Breazeale would continue to lead Rickman while 3rd place was completely up in the air with Knowles, Cliburn, Dacus and Boland shooting off of turn 4 a full 4-wide down the frontstretch. Boland would emerge in third place, and Knowles and Dacus would keep up the pressure going 3-wide with Boland again before a lap 45 caution. brought the field to a crawl behind Breazeale with Rickman, Boland, Knowles, and Cliburn now making up the top five.

Boland would drive outside of Breazeale with action back underway and the two went door-to-door until the next caution on lap 47. Rickman would then jump high at the green flag outside of Boland, now trying to pass Breazeale low without the same measure of success as the middle line had provided him earlier. Rickman then fell to Knowles, and Ashley was seen charging back into the mix after going to the back on lap 31, taking fourth place on lap 50, then third place on lap 54 before spinning to the infield after making the pass.

With only 5 laps remaining, Boland went back to the middle line where he found success against Breazeale earlier, and after two laps of hard-nosed, door-to-door racing Boland would take over the lead. Knowles would also try his hand at Breazeale for second place as Rickman and Cliburn raced for 5th, but time and laps finally ran out with Boland taking his #222 Jay Dickens-powered Trak-Star to the John L. Cliett Tribute win. Breazeale, falling short of a win in the final laps for the second consecutive night, would hold down second over Knowles while Rickman beat Cliburn across the line to round out the top five.

18th-starting Dion Deason followed up an impressive Friday night run with a 6th-place finish over Bub McCool, who started 5th but went to the rear of the pack after an early trip to the pits. Kenny Merchant turned a SUPR provisional starting spot into a healthy 8th place run followed by Ray Moore and Ashley, who again rebounded to take home a top ten finish despite suffering a night filled with bad luck and numerous trips to the end of the line.

With his win, Boland becomes the first Super Late Model driver to win more than one feature race at Columbus Speedway in 2007. After 14 events, the impressive streak of no repeat winners was finally broken. Boland is also a multiple-event winner in John L. Cliett Tribute races, an event that holds special meaning for the friend of the colorful late dirt racer.

SUPER LATE MODEL JOHN L. CLIETT TRIBUTE
59 Laps - $5,000-to-win
Leaders : Breazeale (1-4, 32-55), Wall (4-14), Ashley (15-31), Boland (56-59)

Pos. # Driver (Started)

1ST 222 MIKE BOLAND (19)
2ND 54 DAVID BREAZEALE (1)
3RD 66 TONY KNOWLES (4)
4TH 68 EDDIE RICKMAN (8)
5TH 888 JASON CLIBURN (13)
6TH D1 DION DEASON (18)
7TH 57J BUB MCCOOL (5)
8TH C28 KENNY MERCHANT (22)
9TH 93 RAY MOORE (14)
10TH 14 DAVID ASHLEY (11)
11TH 71A ALLEN TIPPEN (23)
12TH 6S SCOTT SLAY (26)
13TH H2 STACY HOLMES (24)
14TH 21 IVEDENT LLOYD, JR (20)
15TH W3 JAMES WARD (12)
16TH 54 DANE DACUS (2)
17TH 25 JUSTIN MCREE (15)
18TH 4 MARK VINYARD (21)
19TH 71 CHRIS WALL (3)
20TH 12 JAMIE ELAM (17)
21ST 7 TERRANCE NOWELL (9)
22ND 115 BILLY MAYO (25)
23RD 121 ANTHONY BURROUGHS (10)
24TH 70 1/2 ANTHONY RUSHING (6)
25TH 51 DEAN CARPENTER (16)
26TH 17 BRIAN RICKMAN (7)