GOLDEN ISLES SUPER BOWL OF RACING NIGHT 3

BRUNSWICK, GA - 1-30-10 - After heavy rain early Saturday morning, the track was a whole different scenario than the two previous nights. Again trying to qualify for the inversion, William qualified 9th with a 17.19. With the disqualification of Hunter Peacock, William was the 8th fastest qualifier which put him on the outside pole of heat number four right where he wanted to be. Tyler Ivey led and won the heat placing William in the 8th position for the feature line up. Stratigically manuvering between cars, William was headed to the front. Half way through around lap 23 the restart had William in 3rd position and coming around to turns 1-2, William got above the cushion and clipped the wall with the right side. This unfortunatley ended his Night 3 for the Super Bowl with damage to the rear end suspension. Several late model drivers including Josh Richards, Chris Ferguson (fast qualifier) and Randy Weaver also had the same incident in turns 1-2 clipping the wall during their heat races. Great weekend over all for William at Golden Isles. Next up will be the NeSmith race @ Whynot.

GOLDEN ISLES SUPER BOWL OF RACING NIGHT 2

BRUNSWICK, GA - 1-29-10 - Trying to position himself for the inversion, William attempted to qualify 4th tonight. As luck had it, after Davenport was disqualified, William did indeed qualify 4th out of 33 cars with a 16.69. Starting on the front row of heat number 4, William led all 8 laps to the checkers. After the inversion of the top 4 heat winners, William started the feature event from the POLE position. Leading all 40 laps William came home with his 3rd win of the season and second NLMS victory.

GOLDEN ISLES SUPER BOWL OF RACING NIGHT 1

BRUNSWICK, GA - 1-28-10 - William qualified 2nd out of 33 cars with a time of 16.800. Started on the pole of Heat Race #2. Finished 2nd in the heat behind Jonathan Davenport. Top 4 locked into the feature were inverted. William started 6th in the feature event and finished with a strong 2nd place behind Tyler Ivey.

THOMAS TAKES NeSMITH CHEVROLET DLMS SEASON OPENER AT COLUMBUS

COLUMBUS, MS - 1-23-10 – William Thomas of Phenix City, AL took the lead on lap 35 and went on to win the 40-lap NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Touring season opener on Saturday night at Columbus Speedway driving the J.W. Miller Land and Timber Scorpion. The victory was the fourth series career win for the third-generation driver. Thomas started on the outside of the front row and battled for most of the event with early race leader polesitter Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, TN in the Miller Brothers Coal Warrior. Johnson held the bottom groove of the ¼-mile clay oval to keep the point for the first 34 laps of the race, while Thomas cruised the high side. A lap 34 restart saw Thomas get a run on Johnson, and lead pair raced side-by-side for a lap until Thomas took the lead going down the backstretch on lap 35. Once at the head of the field, Thomas was able to drive on to the win. “I went a little soft on tires tonight, and I thought I had worn it out by the halfway point,” Thomas said. “I dropped back to the third spot, but the caution flags we had in the second half of the race cooled off my right-rear tire and brought it back to life.” Johnson had to settle for second in his quest for his second-straight, and fourth Winter Classic win with the series at Columbus Speedway. Even with a runner-up finish, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Inductee was still upbeat after the race. “We’ve won a lot of Winter Classics here at Columbus Speedway, and we won here last November, but we got outrun tonight and finished second,” Johnson said. “William drove a good clean race, so finishing second isn’t the end of the world, and it was still a good night.” Justin McRee of Cuba, AL took the third spot in the Century Carriers Trak-Star, and Chris Ragan of Ramer, TN finished fourth in the Southeastern Ag Transport Trak-Star. The defending NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Champion Eric Cooley of Fulton, MS took the Racecar Engineering Fifth-Place Award in the 78 Towing and Recovery Victory Circle. Dan Breuer of Troutman, NC drove the AES, Inc. Barry Wright to the KRC Sixth-Place Award, and Jason Wilson of Margaret, AL was seventh in the Tommy Pope Construction Warrior. Mike Palasini Jr. of Leland, MS started 17th and finished eighth in the Medicaid Planning Specialist Trak-Star to earn the Hard Charger of the Race Award and the Racecar Engineering Eighth-Place Award. Nick Lyons of Centrailia, IL picked up the Maximum Sign Ninth-Place Award in the Marv’s Race Place Nightmover, and Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, GA competed in his 87th consecutive NeSmith Chevrolet DLMS National event, and took home the KRC Tenth-Place Award in the Turner Excavating DWB. Johnson was the Fast Qualifier of the Race by out-timing the 38 entrants with a lap in 14.469 seconds. Pete Cochran of Villa Rica, GA finished 15th in the CT Transport Rocket and captured the Rookie of the Race Award. At the start of the race, Johnson took the lead from the pole position followed by Thomas, Cooley, Brian Smith of Cedar Bluff, AL in the Patriot Performance JC-3, and McRee. Jamie Elam of Senatobia, MS brought out the first of six caution flag on lap 10 when he spun the Frank Millington Racing GRT down the backstretch. Johnson led the double file restart back to the green flag followed by Thomas, Cooley, and McRee. Cooley got hung out to dry on the restart, and dropped back to the ninth spot, while Smith charged up to the third. Johnson began lapping cars on lap 20, and by lap 26 had put three lapped cars between himself and Thomas. McRee passed Smith for the third spot in lapped traffic, and quickly closed in on Thomas to battle for the second position on lap 27. McRee drove by Thomas for second on lap 28, and then began to look for Johnson, who was a half a straightaway in front of him. Cochran hit the backstretch wall on lap 30 to bring out the caution flag. Johnson led McRee, Thomas, Smith, Wilson, and Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS in the TJC Mortgage Mastersbilt down for the double-file restart. When the field went green, Smith and Stokes tangled on the front stretch to relight the caution bulb. Stokes was able to continue, but Smith was out for the evening and earned the Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award. When the field went back to green, Thomas passed McRee for the second spot, and Ragan advanced from seventh to fifth. Evan Ellis of Plantersville, MS in the Ellis Certified Welders Trak-Star and Chris O’Connor of Cantonment, FL in the Dean’s Solid Surfacing Warrior tangled in turn two to bring out a caution flag on lap 34. Up to this point in the race, Johnson worked the bottom of the track while Thomas rode the high side. Thomas seemed to keep gaining on Johnson, but couldn’t quite gain enough momentum to grab the point, as the leader would slide up in front of him coming off the corners. On the restart, Johnson held Thomas off for another lap, but coming off the fourth turn on lap 35, Thomas got along side Johnson and made the winning pass for the lead going down the backstretch.