Bristol Motor Speedway
Notebook: Bonus put up for North Georgia-Cleveland
From series and track reports
The inclement weather that postponed the March 8 O'Reilly Southern All Star event at North Georgia comes with a nice byproduct for series racers. When the race is made up this weekend as a Friday night event as a companion to Saturday's action at Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway, a $2,500 bonus is on the line for any driver who can sweep both events.
North Georgia's Ernest Young Memorial, reset for March 14, pays $5,000 to the winner and the March 15 Shamrock special at Cleveland pays $7,500 to the winner.
"If a driver has a good weekend and wins both events he will win $15,000, and that's a good payday in anyone's book," said Monty Morrow, who promotes both tracks. "You know that will bring the cars out and there will be some good hard racing."
The $2,500 in bonus money has been put up by Car Smart of Cleveland. If no driver wins both races, Car Smart will pay $500 to the driver with the best combined finishes. — Bob Appleget
IRS RACES TO BE CO-SANCTIONED BY BoB: Aug. 1-2 events at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Ky., and Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky., were originally scheduled with the second-year Independent Racing Series, but the O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series announced it will co-sanction the events. Ponderosa's sixth annual John Bradshaw Memorial and the Old Kentucky Home Shootout at Bluegrass will both pay $5,000 to the winner. The events will utilize the IRS race format (which includes a change in the dash from 2007) and the BoB tire rule. — Michael Despain
AAPTS ADDS EVENT AT BOYD'S: The Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series beefed up its Memorial Day Weekend schedule with the addition of a $4,000-to-win event on May 23 at Boyd's Speedway in Ringold, Ga. The race precedes the already scheduled May 24 event at Tri-County Racetrack in Brasstown, N.C. Boyd's, now owned by Richard and Robert Harvey, has named veteran Late Model driver Gar Dickson as general manager. — Brad Byrd
WEEKS AIMING FOR FIFTH CLASH TITLE: Four-time Carolina Clash Late Model Series champion Ricky Weeks of Rutherfordton, N.C., isn't worried about the format change with a NASCAR-style playoff system of five races at the conclusion of the season. The drivers qualifying for the playoffs will all be reset with 3,000 points. "Who(ever) has the best equipment and the best luck in them five races is gonna be the champion," said Weeks, who won a series-high seven races in 2007. "I plan on that being me." — Devon Holder
