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HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK THIS Thursday, Friday & Saturday!!! THREE independent, one-night shows!!!

The battle for the first ever Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes USMTS Southern Series Rookie-of-the-Year award may very well go down to the last race on December 6th at Houston Raceway Park!

The contenders include "John-O", a most improved Okie, a Racin' Cajun, "Mobags", another Okie Skyrocketeer newcomer, a "Tater" and the Original Young Gun!

John Whittington of Vidor, Texas came into last night's race at Texana Raceway Park with a 17-point lead in the RotY standings over Woodward, Oklahoma's rising star, Dereck Ramirez. John-O made the A through a B main and then rallied for a top ten finish (10th) -- 2nd best among the rookies -- in his Bob Pierce Chassis. South Louisiana's Modified version of a Racin' Cajun, Shane Hebert made the A through his heat and ended up 19th in the Express Race Cars entry, just one spot behind Ramirez who drives the Ramirez Chassis house car. Like Whittington, Ramirez had to run a B to make the A in the tough 48-car field. Hebert came into the night, third in rookie points, 38 points behind Whittington's lead. Whittington won $2000 at the Ark-La-Tex Championship on the night that I-30's $5000 to win Topless Nationals rained out. By the way, that USMTS sanctioned event will be made up in March.

Making up the most ground last night though was the red hot east Texas racer, Morgan Bagley who shares the same home town with the late Dustin Duncan -- Longview, Texas. If you'd like to know more about what the Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes Rookie of the Year award is really all about, then visit www.justsayyes.tv . Morgan has had a great year and it really got rolling when he took over the seat of the Stan Roland-owned, Shaw-by-Brooks Chassis #5R. Morgan won the Dustin Duncan Memorial Race and the Texas DIRT Shootout, both at the Texas DIRT Motorplex (the site of next Saturday's Turkey Nationals) to a combined tune of $7000! He also won the pole at the $10,000 to win Fall Nationals in Las Cruces, NM a few weeks back.

Bagley was just 2 points behind Hebert in the rookie points before last night and was therefore, 40 points behind Whittington's lead but won his heat and then finished third behind A-main winner Scott Green of Derby, Kansas and current Southern Series points runner-up, Steve Holzkamper, for the best finish of all the rookie contenders. Congrats to second year USMTS driver Scott Green on the win last night. He travels all over with USMTS, both Southern Series and National, and it was good to see him post a win with his Hughes Chassis #25. Bagley's first USMTS win shouldn't be very far off with the way that team is performing but when you're running against Jason Hughes, Kelly Shryock, Steve Holzkamper and the rest of the USMTS contingent, wins are hard to come by but so well-deserved when you pull one off!

Fifth in rookie points was Okie Bryan Rowland in a Shryock-built Skyrocket while sixth was Texarkana's Dustin "Tater" Hyde in one of Holzkamper's TRE Chassis. Hyde also won a heat last night and ended up 16th in the A. He was 56 points behind John-O so he lost a little bit of ground but there are still 5 big races left! 7th in points was West Monroe, Lousiana's Timothy Culp -- the Orginal Young Gun in these parts -- who used a provisional to make last night's A (his first provisional of the year) and finished 23rd. Culp was just 7 points behind Hyde coming in. Timothy had a Shaw-by-Taylor #C8 and a Hughes at his disposal earlier this year so I'm not sure which chassis he was in.

-- USMTS Southern Series action becomes even more intense as over the next 16 days, 5 races (2 at Texana Raceway Park tonight & tomorrow night & 3 at Houston Raceway Park, Dec 4,5 & 6) will be run for a total of $14,000 to win!

-- We just may have a championship points battle before it's over too! The Southern Series points title has seemed like a cake walk in 2008 for Oklahoma chassis builder Jason Hughes who has 5 wins in the series this year and nobody else has more than one. But a look at the standings reveals that the point lead going into last night was just 72 over Holzkamper -- easily do-able over 5 races. Holzkamper finished 3 spots ahead of Jason last night (2nd vs. 5th) but Jason picked up more passing points so Steve didn't gain much but we'll keep watching to see if he can close in before Houston.

-- It appears that Hughes Chassis driver and third place points man (-158 before last night), Tommy Weder, Jr. and his Boom Drilling #02 had to use his third provisonal of the year but rallied for a respectable 13th place finish anyway. His lead over 4th place Whittington in the standings was a comfortable 167 coming in.

-- Scott Green's win continued another trend...sort of.... While Hughes has 5 of the 16 wins, Green was the 11th different winner in the other 11. He was also just the third points chaser to win a feature as the non-regulars are about tied with the regulars in wins. Check it out: the other winners were Mike Bowers & Jack Sullivan (I-30), Duke Whiseant (Ark-La-Tex), Eddie Martin (Tri-State), Howard Willis (Golden Triangle), Chris Brown (105), Johnny Bone, Jr. (Fast Trax), David Mitchell (Champion Park), George White (Cowtown) and Steve Holzkamper (Gator). No less than seven of those guys have had a least some seat time in a Dirt Late Model. Mitchell was a regular the first half of the year but other than Hughes, Green and Holzkamper, none of the others are so it's 7 1/2 wins for the points chasers, 8 and 1/2 for the other side.

all stats come from USMTS.com!

Here's how the Rookie points look after Texana and going into HRP, just 11 days from now!:

1 1 -- 5w John O Whittington Vidor, TX 336
2 2 -- 4r Dereck Ramirez Woodward, OK 307
3 3 -- 5r Morgan Bagley Longview, TX 285
4 4 -- 9 Shane Hebert Scott, LA 276
5 5 -- 8j Dustin Hyde Texarkana, TX 266
6 6 -- C8 Timothy Culp West Monroe, LA 234


Thursday results, (rookies in bold):

HOLLEY “A” MAIN (25 laps):
1. 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (2)
2. 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (3)
3. 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX (4)
4. 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (7)
5. 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK (14)
6. 51 - Eddie Martin -- Stilwell, OK (5)
7. 89 - Steven Whiteaker Jr. -- Corpus Christi, TX (12)
8. 18 - Jack Sullivan -- Greenbrier, AR (9)
9. 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (8 )
10. 5w - John O Whittington -- Vidor, TX (15)
11. 9 - Ken Schrader -- Concord, NC (17)
12. 71a - Ryan Aho -- Chisholm, MN (20)
13. 02 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (23)
14. 2w - Paul White -- Temple, TX (6)
15. 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (21)
16. 8j - Dustin Hyde -- Texarkana, TX (1)
17. 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX (16)
18. 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (22)
19. 9 - Shane Hebert -- Lafayette, LA (10)
20. 26x - Allen Chickering -- Okarche, OK (19)
21. 4m - Bobby Malchus -- Red Oak, TX (18 )
22. 91b - Shawn Brassfield -- Ada, OK (11)
23. C8 - Timothy Culp -- West Monroe, LA (24)
24. 19 - Jamie Burford -- Keatchie, LA (13)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
8. 54 - Dena Wilson -- Coweta, OK (7)
9. 39 - Jed Rollins -- Corpus Christi, TX (9)
10. 57 - Dale Flanagan -- Corpus Christi, TX (13)
11. 12t - Tyler Townsend -- Longview, TX (12)
12. 174 - Mickey Helms -- Victoria, TX (15)
13. 1 - Adan Arambula -- Harlingen, TX (11)
14. 156 - Steve Pugh -- Willis, TX (18 )
15. 51p - Benny Perry -- Liberty, TX (14)
16. B29 - Tammy Mitchell -- Pea Ridge, AR (16)
17. 37 - Brian Spindelman -- Brookshire, TX (10)
18. 39t - Derrick Flora -- Ingram, TX (17)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
6. 8 - Steve Miller -- Georgetown, TX (7)
7. 38 - David Schury -- Corpus Christi, TX (8 )
8. 561 - David Horner -- Houston, TX (18 )
9. 94 - Nick Hardcastle -- Corpus Christi, TX (10)
10. 31 - Elias Anderson -- Austin, TX (16)
11. 55 - Christopher Brown -- Corpus Christi, TX (9)
12. 95 - Kevin Pratt -- Houston, TX (14)
13. 17 - Brad Lasater -- Garland, TX (17)
14. 117 - Brennan Poole -- The Woodlands, TX (15)
15. L1 - Larry Clevenger -- Greenwood, LA (4)
16. 88d - Matt Dotson -- Sturgeon, MO (6)
17. 13 - Ken Hobbs -- Corpus Christi, TX (11)
18. 14x - Chad Wilson -- Lubbock, TX (12)



Friday results:

HOLLEY “A” MAIN (30 laps):
1. 51 - Eddie Martin -- Stilwell, OK (1)
2. 18 - Jack Sullivan -- Greenbrier, AR (2)
3. 21c - Chris Brown -- Cleveland, TX (3)
4. 02 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (4)
5. 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (5)
6. 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX (7)
7. 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (8 )
8. 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (11)
9. 5w - John O Whittington -- Vidor, TX (12)
10. 89 - Steven Whiteaker Jr. -- Corpus Christi, TX (9)
11. 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK (15)
12. 19 - Jamie Burford -- Keatchie, LA (17)
13. 55 - Christopher Brown -- Corpus Christi, TX (13)
14. 9 - Ken Schrader -- Concord, NC (16)
15. 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (19)
16. 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX (21)
17. 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (22)
18. 2w - Paul White -- Temple, TX (23)
19. 4m - Bobby Malchus -- Red Oak, TX (20)
20. 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (18 )
21. 8j - Dustin Hyde -- Texarkana, TX (24)
22. 9 - Shane Hebert -- Lafayette, LA (6)
23. 91b - Shawn Brassfield -- Ada, OK (14)
24. 71a - Ryan Aho -- Chisholm, MN (10)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

4. 8 - Steve Miller -- Georgetown, TX (7)
5. 26x - Allen Chickering -- Okarche, OK (9)
6. 148 - Russell Moore -- Conroe, TX (13)
7. 71k - Kevin Sustaire -- Emery, TX (11)
8. 88d - Matt Dotson -- Sturgeon, MO (8 )
9. C8 - Timothy Culp -- West Monroe, LA (12)
10. 57 - Dale Flanagan -- Corpus Christi, TX (4)
11. 174 - Max Helms -- Victoria, TX (15)
12. 54 - Dena Wilson -- Coweta, OK (2)
13. L1 - Larry Clevenger -- Greenwood, LA (6)
14. B29 - Tammy Mitchell -- Pea Ridge, AR (14)
15. 95 - Kevin Pratt -- Houston, TX (10)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

5. 117 - Brennan Poole -- The Woodlands, TX (5)
6. 88b - Brian Boram -- Orange, TX (6)
7. 12t - Tyler Townsend -- Longview, TX (13)
8. 87 - Lawrence Mikuleneak -- Corpus Christi, TX (15)
9. 1 - Adan Arambula -- Harlingen, TX (14)
10. 38 - David Schury -- Corpus Christi, TX (12)
11. 14x - Chad Wilson -- Lubbock, TX (4)
12. 97j - Jeff Hoegh -- New Caney, TX (9)
13. 66x - Mike Dillard -- Allen, TX (10)
14. 31 - Elias Anderson -- Austin, TX (8 )
15. 13 - Ken Hobbs -- Corpus Christi, TX (11)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #3 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

4. E - Howard Willis -- Dayton, TX (8 )
6. 39 - Jed Rollins -- Corpus Christi, TX (10)
7. 51p - Benny Perry -- Liberty, TX (15)
8. 76 - Jesse Manning -- Brazoria, TX (14)
9. 94 - Nick Hardcastle -- Corpus Christi, TX (12)
10. 17 - Brad Lasater -- Garland, TX (13)
11. 91 - Robert Metz Jr. -- Lumberton, TX (11)
12. 12x - Corey Babbitt -- Channelview, TX (5)
13. 156 - Steve Pugh -- Willis, TX (2)
14. 561 - David Horner -- Houston, TX (6)
15. 37 - Brian Spindelman -- Brookshire, TX (9)


Saturday results:
(Check out the starting spots vs. finishing spots in his one!)

HOLLEY “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK (4)
2. 9 - Ken Schrader -- Concord, NC (7)
3. 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (2)
4. 5w - John O Whittington -- Vidor, TX (5)
5. 02 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (18 )
6. 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (9)
7. 19 - Jamie Burford -- Keatchie, LA (10)
8. E - Howard Willis -- Dayton, TX (16)
9. 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (15)
10. 21c - Chris Brown -- Cleveland, TX (17)
11. 2w - Paul White -- Temple, TX (22)
12. 8j - Dustin Hyde -- Texarkana, TX (19)
13. 9 - Shane Hebert -- Lafayette, LA (6)
14. 12t - Tyler Townsend -- Longview, TX (21)
15. 26x - Allen Chickering -- Okarche, OK (1)
16. 88 - Brian Boram -- Orange, TX (12)
17. 17 - Brad Lasater -- Garland, TX (13)
18. 8 - Steve Miller -- Georgetown, TX (3)
19. C8 - Timothy Culp -- West Monroe, LA (24)
20. 66x - Mike Dillard -- Allen, TX (20)
21. 89 - Steven Whiteaker Jr. -- Corpus Christi, TX (23)
22. 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (8 )
23. 561 - David Horner -- Houston, TX (14)
24. 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (11)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

4. L1 - Larry Clevenger -- Greenwood, LA (7)
5. 71k - Kevin Sustaire -- Emery, TX (4)
7. 71a - Ryan Aho -- Chisholm, MN (12)
8. 57 - Dale Flanagan -- Corpus Christi, TX (10)
9. 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (14)
10. 51 - Eddie Martin -- Stilwell, OK (5)
11. 4$ - Kalif Sellier -- Katy, TX (9)
12. 94 - Nick Hardcastle -- Corpus Christi, TX (11)
13. 13 - Ken Hobbs -- Corpus Christi, TX (8 )
14. 98 - Markus Elder -- New Waverly, TX (13)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

5. 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX (8 )
6. 51p - Benny Perry -- Liberty, TX (7)
7. 8g - Greg Dinsmore -- Kerrville, TX (12)
8. 117 - Brennan Poole -- The Woodlands, TX (4)
9. 37 - Brian Spindelman -- Brookshire, TX (14)
10. 39 - Jed Rollins -- Corpus Christi, TX (2)
11. 91b - Shawn Brassfield -- Ada, OK (10)
12. 76 - Jesse Manning -- Brazoria, TX (5)
13. 55 - Danny Brown -- Corpus Christi, TX (13)
14. 18 - Jack Sullivan -- Greenbrier, AR (9)

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #3 (15 laps, top 3 advance):

4. 31 - Elias Anderson -- Austin, TX (11)
5. 54 - Dena Wilson -- Coweta, OK (2)
6. 87 - Lawrence Mikuleneak -- Corpus Christi, TX (9)
7. 148 - Russell Moore -- Conroe, TX (4)
8. 174 - Max Helms -- Victoria, TX (13)
9. 91 - Robert Metz Jr. -- Lumberton, TX (6)
10. 38 - David Schury -- Corpus Christi, TX (10)
11. B29 - Tammy Mitchell -- Pea Ridge, AR (12)
12. 4m - Bobby Malchus -- Red Oak, TX (3)
13. 88d - Matt Dotson -- Sturgeon, MO (7)
14. 95 - Kevin Pratt -- Houston, TX (14)

Saturday night was just what John-O needed and what Bagley didn't. Missing that A Saturday cost Morgan the points he had made up the first two nights. And with the final 3 races in John's backyard, he needed all he could take out of Texana with him. 3 races is still a lot though and anything can happen.

Ramirez didn't need a provisional all weekend and stays solidly in 2nd place in the Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes Rookie-of-the-Year point standings. Shane Hebert qualified well all weekend but couldn't get the top finishes he needed to close enough on John-O. Hebert, Tater Hyde and Timmy Culp are the only ones left in contention going into HRP.


On the Southern Series points, Hughes's big win came when he passed Holzkamper on lap 28 of the 40-lap race -- the only other leader in the race and with Steve finishing 3rd behind Scharder, he now has a real uphill battle if he's going to make a points race of this. Hughes has a 90-point lead so Holzkamper has to close by an average of 30 points at each HRP race or it's over. You can make up, up to 74 points a race with passing points, leader lap bonuses and finishing spots. That could be more except Hughes has yet to use any provisionals this year while Holzkamper has used 3. Hughes is going to be in all 3 A-mains.

Here's the points:

Rank Prev +/- Car # Driver Points Races Wins Top 5's Top 10's Prov Earnings
1 1 -- 12 Jason Hughes 1626 18 6 12 13 0 $21,575
2 2 -- 5 Steve Holzkamper 1536 18 1 10 15 3 $14,575
3 3 -- 02 Tommy Weder Jr. 1447 18 0 10 12 3 $11,980
4 4 -- 5w John O Whittington 1272 18 0 2 9 3 $7,000
5 5 -- 2w Paul White 1229 18 0 3 4 1 $6,310
6 6 -- 4r Dereck Ramirez 1188 18 0 1 8 0 $6,015
7 7 -- 5r Morgan Bagley 1147 18 0 4 6 3 $7,005
8 8 -- 9 Shane Hebert 1129 18 0 1 3 2 $6,210
9 8 -1 25 Scott Green 1115 18 1 4 4 1 $6,190
10 12 +2 8j Dustin Hyde 1079 18 0 1 3 3 $5,105
11 10 -1 89 Steven Whiteaker Jr. 1065 18 0 0 7 1 $4,645
12 13 +1 19 Jamie Burford 1047 17 0 1 3 2 $5,110
13 11 -2 20 Rodney Sanders 1008 17 0 3 4 0 $5,565
14 14 -- C8 Timothy Culp 996 18 0 1 3 2 $4,450

unless something drastically unforseen happens, this years southern series point champion is......JASON HUGHES

Jayson Ellis

Early forecasts for the USMTS Texas Winter Nationals look great! Sunny days, clear, cool nights. We have a 40% chance of scattered showers on Wednesday, then clear the next 4 days! One thing that looks better than last year's weather even??? Wind. It looks like there will be a lot LESS of it this year!!!

Baytown, Texas, Dec 4th, 5th & 6th:
Thursday - High 59 Low 39 No Rain
Friday - High 60 Low 40 No Rain
Saturday - High 70 Low 43 No Rain

On the gas price front, the news is still good! No big Thanksgiving bump-up. In fact, our test station (just because I pass it everyday!) is the Haughton, Louisiana Pilot Travel Center at I-20, exit 33. This morning, Sunday, Nov 30th, regular unleaded dropped to $1.59.9. That means someone around Shreveport will break below the $1.50 mark soon. Sherwood, Arkansas reportedly had it as low as $1.49.9 already.

Diesel was still at $2.49.9 at the Pilot. While it makes no sense for diesel to be 90 cents more than unleaded regular, that's still more than 2 dollars off the peak this summer so we'll take it for sure.

Remember these HRP shows pay real well! $2000 to win on Thursday, $3000 to win on Friday and $4000 to win on Saturday for USMTS Modifieds. Limited Modified purse info to be released soon!

Okay, anybody from OKC want to take a trip down there Friday morning and take me with you? I will chip in $50 for gas and take care of my own motel room - of course. I would like to leave after Saturday nights races and will help drive home if need be. If we can find three or four also willing to go then expenses going and coming won't be so bad.

Any takers? I would drive my own car but front end is messed up and really don't want to do that.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

And race fans,

Another good thing about this being a USMTS/HRP run show is they don't play around. They keep the show moving along fast. Last year, we never raced past 11PM on any of the 3 shows and that's with 120 to 130 cars in two classes each night. 12 or 13 heats, 5 or 6 B mains and 2 features EVERY NIGHT!!! At Edna the week before last, they had 90 cars or so each night and never raced past 10:30!! On Thursday night, you will probably see some 40s before it's over but that will be the breeziest and coolest of the 3nights. On Friday, it'll be calm winds and you may not see it get below 50 before it ends. On Saturday, it'll be a really pleasant December night for racing at it starts an hour earlier at 6:30 while the other 2 nights start at 7:30.

Can Dereck Ramirez over take John Whittington and win the first Dustin Duncan-JustSayYes Rookie of the Year award?

The last races are being held in John-O's back yard but I still think Dereck has a shot!

David, I would be more then happy to. But me and the family are of to the OU game. Its the only one we could get into since they sell out every home game. But the tickets are still expensive, you can go with us to that if you like. If not I hope you make it to the race. Everybody drive careful were ever you go.

JIMMY MINTER 'AKA'dirtrack234                  
Yesterday 
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