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M.J. Anderson
PHOENIX, Ariz. (September 13) - Lonnie Parker Jr held off a hard charge from visiting Anaheim, California driver Mike Kirby to take the $2000 win in the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series 25 lap main event, at Manzanita Speedway Saturday night September 13, 2008. Parker Jr started in the front row with pole winner Mike Tahtinen and jumped into the lead going into turn 1 followed by Tahtinen and Kirby. Battling for the fourth spot was Joey Moriarty, Mark Fowler and Art Lacy followed closely by Keith Noyes, Tommy Hussak and Brad Williams.
Kirby took over the second spot from Tahtinen on lap 5 and began to chase down Parker. The first caution of the night came out on lap 6 as Parker was beginning to lap the slower cars. At the restart on lap 7, Moriarty and Fowler were racing door to door coming out of turn two and Art Lacy made a bold move to squeeze in between the cars as they entered the back stretch. With not enough room for three cars headed into turn 3, Fowler was forced into the infield with Lacy hitting the berm and spinning into the concrete barrier just before turn 3 and Moriarity hitting the outside wall in turn 3. Race night was over for both Moriarity and Lacy. Fowler returned to the pit area and was able to rejoin the field at the back.
At the restart for lap 8, Kirby began to really put the pressure on Parker Jr closing the gap and coming up door to door in turn 4 but wasn't able to get past Parker. Kirby continued to try both the high and the low sides of the track to get past Parker but Parker held the line setting a blistering pace.
Fowler was starting his march back through the pack after the restart and by lap 16 had moved up to the 7th position challenging Jerry Fincher. The yellow came out for Keith Noyes with a flat tire allowing the field to bunch up again behind the leaders. At the restart Parker, Kirby, Tahtinen, Williams, Hussak, Fincher, Fowler, Brigner, James and Hall all jockeyed for position with Parker and Kirby stretching out the lead. Williams took advantage of Tahtinen going a bit too high in turn 4 to shoot past him at the flag stand on lap 18. Fowler got by Fincher and began to work on Hussak for the 5th spot.
Tahtinen retired for the night with engine trouble in lap 20. Fowler was now running in the fourth position trying to catch Williams. Kirby continued to put the pressure on Parker right up to the checkers. They were followed by Williams, Fowler, Hussak, Fincher, Brigner, James, Hall, and Tahtinen rounding out the top ten.
The Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series would like to thank the following sponsors for their continued support: bluemedia.com, Hoosier Tire West, Duralite Racing Wheels, Braswell Carburetion, Hoffman's Dairy Queen, Total Seal, Impact Racing, and Bell Racing. Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series approved Hoosier tires can be purchased through Wayne Noyes at 623-363-9624.
Additional marketing partnership opportunities are still available within the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series. Please contact Kyle Porter: (kyle@powerbandmarketing.com) for information.
The next SWDLMS will be in Tucson, Arizona on September 27 at USA RacePark. See you at the races!
Official Race Results 9/13/08
Manzanita Speedway
Main Event
1. 8 Lonnie Parker Jr (2)
2. 5K Mike Kirby (3)
3. 23 Brad Williams (11)
4. 95 Mark Fowler (6)
5. 16 Tommy Hussak III (10)
6. 29 Jerry Fincher (12)
7. 33 Mike Brigner (13)
8. 90 Keith James (8)
9. 35 Wes Hall (10)
10. 7 Mike Tahtinen (1)
11. 6 Keith McKinney (15)
12. 65 Andy Rudy (14)
13. 37N John Romero (16)
14. 3 Keith Noyes (5)
15. 51 Joey Moriarty (4)
16. 21 Art Lacy (7)
17. 31 John Crow (dns)
Heat 1
Mike Kirby
Mike Tahtinen
Joey Moriarty
Art Lacy
Tommy Hussak
Brad Williams
Mike Brigner
Keith McKinney
John Crow
Heat 2
Lonnie Parker Jr
Mark Fowler
Keith Noyes
Keith James
Wes Hall
Jerry Fincher
Andy Rudy
John Romero
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