Newton, NC.........With all six regular Hickory Motor Speedway racing
divisions up for their final NASCAR Whelen All American Series points races
of the 2007 Racing Season, Saturday night featured a full house both in the
pits and in the grandstands. HMS's Feature Division Bojangles' Late Model Stocks went into the race with defending Track Champion #29 Andy Loden holding a pretty comfortable 40 point lead over #31 Kyle Grissom. With 19 cars making the starting grid, Grissom could only gain 38 points in his attempt to gain the Championship. So both drivers were more focused on the win than the points chase.
Loden started strong, taking his 10th WynnCom Pole Award of the year, and Grissom quickly moved up from outside Pole to battle for the win. The two raced side-by-side for 49 of the scheduled 50 lap feature, with Grissom
leading 30 laps and Loden leading 19....at the line. Betweens Turns 1 & 4, the lead changed almost every lap. The two drivers put on one of the most skillful battles seen at the historic track in many years....until Lap #49.
Then, on the white flag lap, Grissom & Loden collided in Turn 3, resulting in Grissom spinning out and both drivers being sent to the back for the green-white-checkers restart.
This mistake between the leaders, moved #07 Chrissy Wallace up to the front
for the green flag, which she used to great advantage to pull out and take
the win from #01 Roger Carter, with #89 David Latour Jr. finishing third, #23 Brian Curry fourth, and #55 Chris Lawson fifth. This was Wallace's fourth win of the season.
The finish did secure the 2007 Track Championship for Loden.
Limited Late Models saw #44 Jarit Johnson in fine form, taking his 8th win of the season, and his fourth WynnCom Pole Award. #55 Waylon Flynn finished second and gained enough points over #29 Andrew Carlsen to secure the
Limited Late Models 2007 Division Championship. Carlsen had troubles
throughout the race and was able to come from the back of the pack twice to
get a very respectable 7th place finish. #77 Mark Goin had his season-best finish for third place, #41 Chris Chapman was fourth, and #4 David Currier Jr. finished fifth.
With a mere 10-points difference between Advance Auto Parts Super Trucks points leader #97 Keith Bumgarner and #3 Dexter Canipe Jr. going into the night's event, hard racing was expected....and delivered! Canipe did what
had to be done, taking his 10th Wynncom Pole Award, and sailing away to his 5th win of the season. #10 Andy Mercer finished the event in 2nd place, followed by Bumgarner third, #01 J. R. Allen fourth, and #6 Waylon Flynn
fifth.
Canipe's win secured him the points necessary to lock in the Advance Auto Parts Super Trucks Championship.
Pro-4's action has been "spirited" all season. Saturday night, the cream
again rose to the top, with #57 Grant Wimbish taking his 9th WynnCom Pole
Award, and #21 Todd Harrington scoring his 4th win. Harrington and Wimbish put on a great display of high-intensity racing, but when the checkers flew, it was Harrington in Victory Lane, and Wimbish finishing third and taking the Pro-4's Championship. #16 Randy Freeze put on a great racing show
finishing second, and #4 Adam Beaver was fourth. #55 Walter Hoke was able to come back from an incident early in the event to score a strong Top-Five finish.
Street Stocks final race of the season had the crowd checking the skies for a "full moon", when yellow fever broke out from all the on-track hijinks. #2 Kevin Townsend won the 25-lapper in only his second time in a new race
car, followed by #03 Kevin Eby second, #47 Jeremy Pelfrey third, WynnComm Pole Award winner #7 Jeff Sparks fourth, and #99 Jonathan Smith fifth.
Eby was happy to celebrate his 2007 Street Stocks Championship. Hobby Stocks were the final race of the action-packed evening, and #07 Denver Jones scored his 7th win of the season and his first ever Championship. #90 Ronnie Sims came home second, followed by #00 Dwight
Wyatt third, #98 Paul Wyatt fourth, and #71 Randy Berry fifth.
Additional press release to follow, more closely explaining the 2007 Points Championships and what it took to win them.
Hickory Motor Speedway
Gaston Rentals Night at The Races!!
OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS
9/22/07
16. 21 Monty Cox 
6. 25 Nick Proffit 
18. 94 Josh Wright 
8. 0 Mark Johnson 
6. 66 Scott Wallace 
1. 21 Todd Harrington 
12. 81 Shane Canipe 
8. -1 Ronald Dale McNeil