By Kelley Carlton

EASTABOGA, AL -January 8, 2007- With questionable weather looming in central and eastern Alabama, another stellar field of eighty-one super late model drivers made the annual trek to Eastaboga, AL for Talladega Short Track's signature January event, The Ice Bowl presented by Sunny King Ford. After dealing with heavy rain and muddy conditions and having the Sunday feature postponed by one day, Billy Mayo etched his name into the record book as winner of the 2007 Ice Bowl.

Mayo, of Cleveland, Tennessee, made the most of an unseasonably warm and dry Saturday afternoon in Alabama by claiming the Ice Pole Award with the only sub-fifteen second lap of the weekend and then taking a dominating heat race win. Mayo led all fifty laps of the 16th Annual Ice Bowl to claim his biggest career win to date. Mayo's lap of 14.951 seconds bested the likes of Lamar Scoggins and two time Ice Bowl winner Shane Clanton.

Six ten lap heat races determined how the first eighteen starters lined up. Mississippi group qualifying put the two fastest qualifiers on the front row of heat one.

Mayo left no doubt that he was the real deal after a dominating heat race win over Scoggins and Tim Day. Heat two saw David Earl Gentry take a hard fought win over Clanton and Randy Weaver. Another two time Ice Bowl Champion, Danny Peoples, took the win in heat three ahead of Paul Tims and Derrick Rainey. Defending Ice Bowl champion Joel Rice proved that 2006 was no fluke when he captured the checkers of heat four besting Royce Bray and 2004 winner Frank Ingram. In heat five, multi-time TST Track Champion, Ross Martin picked up the win ahead of Terry Smith and Doug English. And the final heat had youngster Aaron Ridley take the win over Randall Walker and David Brannon.

The three B-Mains and the fifty lap feature were originally scheduled for Sunday but after a night of heavy rains and continued morning rain officials were forced to postpone the finale until Monday.

Racers arrived on Monday to find bright sunshine and a brisk windy morning had significantly dried out the soggy pit area and grounds at TST.

Super Late Model B-Mains were finally able to roll off around 1 pm CST. B-Main wins went to Larry Boutwell, Stacy Boles and Terrance Nowell. Also transferring to the feature were Jon Miller, Jeff Fortner and Stacy Holmes. A track point provisional start was awarded to Skip Freeman and a long-tow provisional was granted to Joey Mack.

TST track co-owner Alfred Gurley dug into his bag of tricks and struck gold. Generally daytime and racing are two words that don't mix very well at dirt tracks. But on this date Gurley chose to plow and water the top of both sets of turns, creating a cushion that made for two and at times three wide racing in all divisions.

Drivers scrambled to choose the right tire combinations after seeing the track conditions. "We are going to put on some softer tires and try to use the cushion to get to the front." said Shane Clanton before the event. And Clanton nearly did just that.

When Adam Stewart unfurled the green flag over the twenty-six starters for the first time it was readily apparent to those on attendance that they about to witness a barn burner. The first lap was a wild one with drivers two and three wide around the third mile oval. However the mayhem was quelled with an early caution flag. Hopes for a repeat of last year went away when Joel Rice went for a solo spin on the second lap.

Mayo had already moved out to a two car length advantage when the caution waved. Mayo again drove away from David Earl Gentry when the field went back to green. Gentry worked the high groove while Mayo hugged the extreme inside. Gentry appeared to keep pace until he jumped the cushion in turn one and backslid five spots allowing Peoples to take over second with Ross Martin giving chase.

Clanton had found his way to fourth by that point and began to pressure Martin. After several laps of intense racing between the pair Clanton was able to cover the position.

Meanwhile Mayo was deep into traffic and began to lap the back markers. Mayo seemed to pick off a driver per lap as he continued to distance himself from Peoples. As Peoples began to make his way up to lapped traffic Clanton moved up to his outside to challenge for the second spot. Clanton and Peoples traded the position several times over the next few laps. Their battle however allowed Lamar Scoggins to creep into the picture.

Clanton was finally able to move past Peoples just past halfway. Scoggins bypassed Peoples two laps later and began to reel Clanton back in. Mayo's straightaway advantage was soon erased however when Jon Miller rolled to a stop in turn four ending his day. Mayo quickly went back to the bottom and Clanton climbed back up to the top of the track when the green flag flew. But Clanton had to contend with the hard charging Scoggins before he would be able to go after Mayo.

Scoggins dove to the bottom and pulled even with Clanton off turn two. Lap after lap the two battled for the runner-up spot with neither giving an inch. All the while Gentry recovered from his earlier mishap and moved up to challenge Peoples for fourth. With just six laps remaining Peoples mount suddenly slowed entering turn one and rolled to a stop in turn two. Gentry made contact with Peoples but was able to continue, taking over the fourth spot.

Scoggins was ahead of Clanton at the line when the caution waved allowing him to restart second. Mayo, who had just put twelfth place running Doug English a lap down, immediately put three car lengths on the battle for second when the field went back to green. Clanton again moved his way up to challenge Scoggins on the high side. Clanton officially held the fifth spot as the field got the two to go indication. Mayo's lead was now up to six car lengths.

As the white flag waved Clanton and Scoggins were door to door with Clanton officially scored as second on lap forty-nine. Mayo flashed across the line to take the win by seven car lengths. As Clanton drove through turns three and four he slipped ever so slightly which allowed Scoggins to gain the advantage. Scoggins beat Clanton to the line by a nose. Gentry held on to fourth and Terry Smith followed in fifth.

A jubilant Mayo climbed atop the roof of his GRT mount in victory lane with both fists held high in the air. "We have been to this race so many times and something has always bit us. We have always been pretty fast here but we never had any luck. We changed that this weekend. I had a great car all weekend, it was just perfect. I need to thank Rusty and Mike for all their hard work and my step dad Dean too. And if it wasn't for my mom Carolyn I couldn't race so I definitely need to thank her. This is just a huge win for us. It is tough having to spend all this time and money to go racing but a win like this makes it all seem worthwhile." said Mayo in TST's Victory Lane.

Mayo's #115 GRT Race Car by Skip Arp was powered by a Race Engine Design SAS Spec engine and had sponsor support from A&K Transport, Proline Graphics, Hinkle Construction, Word of Life Ministries, Stealth Carburetors and Pro Shocks. Mayo is a weekly racer at Cleveland Speedway in Cleveland, Tennessee.

1 - 115 Billy Mayo
2 - 32 Lamar Scoggins
3 - 25 Shane Clanton
4 - 56 David Earl Gentry
5 - 99 Terry Smith
6 - 15 Randall Walker
7 - 116 Patrick Duggan
8 - 81 Aaron Ridley
9 - 47 Ross Martin
10 - 21 Royce Bray
11 - F9 Frank Ingram
12 - 52 Doug English -1
13 - X15 Skip Freeman -1
14 - H2 Stacy Holmes -1
15 - 87 Derrick Rainey -1
16 - 7 Terrance Nowell -1
17 - 33 David Brannon -1
18 - 58 Larry Boutwell -1
19 - 97m Joey Mack -1
20 - 27 Joey Fortner -2
21 - 13 Joel Rice -3
22 - 11 Danny Peoples (out)
23 - 77 Tim Day (out)
24 - 25J Jon Miller (out)
25 - 11B Stacy Boles (out)
26 - 84 Paul Tims (out)

Caution Flags: 4
Red Flags: 0
Leaders: Billy Mayo (1-50)
Time of Race: 31 minutes 16 seconds

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