SPORTSMAN SET FOR 50 LAPS SATURDAY NIGHT AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY - SPECTATOR
RACES ON TAP ALSO
MICHAEL LIRA PICKED FOR NASCAR DRIVE FOR DIVERSITY PROGRAM
The Sportsman Division gets a second crack at 50 laps of racing this Saturday
night at New Smyrna Speedway. Other NASCAR Whelen All American Racing Series
classes in action will be the Pro Late Models, E-Modifieds, Super Stocks and
Strictly Stocks plus Spectator Races are scheduled during intermission.
Brandon Morris of Mulberry took home the win in the only Sportsman 50 lap
event run so far this year back in April (another scheduled 50-lapper was
rained out). That race attracted a field of 16 cars but 15 showed up last
week in a tune-up 25-lapper won decisively by Todd Allen and a field of 20 or
more could be expected this week.
Allen is looking for back to back victories but he’ll face a host of top
challengers including points leader Donny Williams, three-time feature winner
Junior Beckner, Chris Brannon, Patrick Thomas, Derrick Wood, Daniel Conlin,
Jr., Austin Carr, D. J. Farr, Garrett Hill, Ron Gustafson, Phillip Bessette,
Mike Soukup, Richard Fiore, Jr. and more.
The Pro Late Models have not seen action since August 23rd and Deland’s Rich
Clouser has had the upper hand recently winning four of the last six features.
Clouser got too late of a start on the season to be a factor in the point
battle that is still led by Australian rookie Will Carroll by eight points
over fellow rookie driver Ricky Anderson of Wildwood.
Jarrett Korpi continues to lead the E-Modified points by 24 markers over Jim
Higginbotham while young Matthew Green is just five points back of
Higginbotham in third. Shannon Kelly and Jimmy “Spaceman” Barron continue to
hold decent-sized point leads respectively in their Super Stock and Strictly
Stock classes.
Pit gates open Saturday afternoon at 3 pm with division practice from 4-5:40
pm. Grandstand gates open at 6 pm with qualifying for the Sportsman cars at
6:15 pm. Racing starts at 7:30 pm with eight lap heats for the Super Stocks,
E-Modifieds and Strictly Stocks. During intermission Spectator Races will be
held featuring street legal cars and trucks competing in a series of
one-on-one “oval drags” followed by a five lap race. All competitors must
sign in before intermission and must have (or borrow) a crash helmet.
After intermission the Super Stocks will run their 25-lap feature followed by
the 50-lap run for the Sportsman Cars. Pro Late Models will then go for 25
laps as will the E-Modifieds. The evening wraps up with a 20-lap event for
the Strictly Stocks.
Adult admission is $15 with all seniors (65+) and military members with valid
ID being admitted for $13. Kids 11 and under are free.
In other news, New Smyrna Speedway Super and Pro Late Model driver Michael
Lira, a seventeen-year-old high school student from Port Orange, has been
selected to compete for a spot in NASCAR through the NASCAR Drive for
Diversity (D4D) program. In recent years, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity
program has been a hotbed for some of the most promising young talent in the
sport. Drivers like NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle
Larson and three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race winner Darrell
Wallace Jr. are both products of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, and
Lira hopes to follow in their footsteps.
?This is such an amazing opportunity,? Lira said. ?I?ve seen how Kyle
Larson and Darrell Wallace Jr. have progressed and what they?ve achieved and
I really aspire to make it to that level.? Lira, a Peruvian-American driver,
has done the majority of his professional racing here at New Smyrna Speedway
and recently in the ARCA Racing Series where has shown a great deal of promise
running for Kimmel Racing, notching a string of top-10 finishes in his rookie
campaign. The highlight of his 2014 ARCA season came in his superspeedway
debut at Pocono Raceway where Lira surprised everyone by qualifying fourth
before going on to score a ninth-place finish in the ModSpace 125.
