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2001
NEWS ARCHIVE
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| Wild Night Coming To DeSoto Speedway | Sportsman Shoot-out and Super Late Model Action
By Jack Smith
When the colorful Sportsman division rolls from the staging area and onto the high-banked pavement at DeSoto Speedway on Saturday night the air will be charged with electricity running through every fan. It won't matter if there are 5 cars or 15, the energy level in the grandstands will be elevated to new heights.
Theses cars are fast, without a doubt the fastest sportsman cars in the state, and the men who drive them are all tough racers. They look like late models, sound like late models and some of them are competitive with SARA type Late Model machines.
Current points leader Steve Black will have to battle a field full of track champions, including Lonnie Miller, Gus Coorssen and Wallace 'Body Damage' Ramsey, with contenders Johnny Casady and Jimmie Cook.
The last time out Miller brought out a brand new car and came very close to destroying it several time as he barreled his way to the front, never quite making it with Coorssen doing everything he could to take the win from Johnny Casady in his number 3 race car, and he too couldn't quite get it done, Casady holding on for the checkers.
This race will be different though, as the field full of rockets will be going 50 laps and with 5 different winners this year it will go down to wire and there will be some sheet metal left on the track, probably a lot of it.
Current Points standings are as follows:
8 STEVE BLACK 210
3 JOHNNY CASADY 198
89 JIMMY COOK 186
38 WALLACE RAMSEY 180
72 JAMES CASADY 176
12 CLIFF BIFARO 166
67 DUANE BEST 139
62 BUDDY BROWN 124
86 JEFF ANDERSON 116
41 GUS COORSSEN 98
5 DALE REIGLE 74
21 JAMES CARTER 58
23 JOHN ERB R 22
96 BILL ANDERSON 17
23 JAMES KNIGHT 17
35 CALVIN FILLINGAME R 1
But in this race points won't matter a bit. Miller will take whatever chances he has to, in order to get the first place trophy, at least a few three-wide off the corner moments will have the fans holding their breaths.
Coorssen and Ramsey both are scary competitors, fully capable of getting by anybody when the laps narrow to one digit numbers. They don't call him "Body Damage" Ramsey for nothing.
Coorssen, one of the toughest competitors in the state at any level, has long been a huge fan favorite at DeSoto, but these days all the racers in this division have their cheering sections. Look for the 50 laps to be interrupted with a few cautions, but at the end look for Coorssen or Ramsey in the winner's circle with Miller close behind.
This race alone would be worth the price of admission but it will be followed with the ground-pounding Super Late Models of the All American Challenge Series which sets up to be another down to the final lap shoot-out between Cope, Pletcher, Drawdy and McLeod.
There is a good chance Dick Anderson will be in the field, but last year's nearly unbeatable racer hasn't been as dominant this year, and will have his hands full Saturday night.
Jimmy Cope currently is atop the points race with back to back wins in the month of May. The last race was as fierce a contest as any fan could expect to see with Cope having to fend off Justin Drawdy and Joe Boyd, barely nosing out Drawdy for the win.
Nobody in the grandstands was sitting when the checkered flag waved for Mr Excitement. The race before that Cope had to pit under caution, getting some new rubber, and came from dead last to pass Dave Pletcher's number 75 for the win, leading to some rule changes on pit stops.
In April B.J. McLeod took back-to-back wins, winning on March 30 wire to wire and really never had a challenge.
John Jackson has lead a lot of laps and if he can get his car to stay up front at the end, has a shot at his first AACS victory.
Joe Boyd has been getting better with each race, contending for the win last time out in his black number 5.
The All American Challenge Series runs a 15-race schedule this year with a $30,000 points fund. Justin Drawdy and Jeff Scofield are very close to Cope in the points race with McLeod in fourth followed by another local favorite Lee Collins. Collins won several Open Wheel Modified Championships at DeSoto in 1990s.
All of the AACS races are 125 laps except the Seafest 200 lap race on October 26th.
Also on the schedule for this Saturday are the Open Wheel Modifieds, Legends, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks. DeSoto Speedway is located on State Road 64 nine miles east of I-75.
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