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New York, New York: Hall Captures Night 2 of The Gator Championship

Barberville,FL - February 7, 2009 - The Empire State scored big on Saturday night during the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park.

Randy Hall of Olean, N.Y., tailed early leader Jeff Taylor until a lap 15 caution. On the restart, Hall capitalized on Taylor’s weakening engine and drove around him into the lead. Hall, 38, captured his second win this February after a UMP DIRTcar Modified win at Ocala Speedway last week.

“There are so many good guys down here that both fields have good cars,” Hall said. “We drew a good number started up front, the guy got the jump and I really didn’t have anything for him.”

Hall bested a strong field for the victory using an outside pole starting spot, and when the time came to make his move he pounced.

“The longer the run the better we kept getting,” Hall said. “I saw the door open and stuck it in there. I didn’t know if it was going to work or not.”

Hall’s victory netted him $700 but could mean much more by February 28th. Hall is entered into the Alltel All-Star contest, where the grand prize is $10,000 for the top vote-getter at AlltelAllStar.com. Hall pleaded his case in Alltel Wireless Victory Lane. “We came down here from New York on sort of a shoestring budget. Tonight it wasn’t the biggest paying night tonight but maybe down the road it is the biggest paying night.”

After struggling earlier in the week, Midwesterner Mike Spatola rebounded Saturday with a runner-up finish. Spatola started the evening off with qualifying effort that placed him fourth in his group. He then used an outside pole starting position to take the lead on the first lap and claim victory in his heat race.

Spatola redrew the third starting position for the feature and swapped positions with Hall early on. The driver affectionately nicknamed “Opie” was happy with his efforts on the night. “Second place, we’ll take it. Second place is like a win for us right now.” said Spatola, of Manhattan, Ill. “I knew something went wrong with Taylor there (on the last lap). I was having trouble turning. I thought to give it one run and try to get them.”

Jeff Taylor, who has been filling in for driver Chris Smith, had another top-three run as he came home third after leading a majority of the event. “We’ve been struggling all night to get the engine to run. I was doing all I could.” said Taylor. “Just couldn’t run much hard that I was.”

55 UMP DIRTcar Modifieds took qualifying laps for the 2nd night of the 3 night The Gator Championship. 11 new cars signed in at the gate to claim their spot in the qualifying event. Tommie Seets Jr. of Alton, Ill., paced the field with a lap of 19.791, as he was one of only two competitiors to test the 19 second waters.

Spatola led off heat race action with a dominant win. The second heat race saw another Illinois driver in Mike Long claim victory in the same fashion running away from Eddie Martin and Dave Groves who battled for second with Martin claiming it at the line.

Taylor put his own chassis to the front and never looked back in heat three. Three cars battled behind him with Wayne Hammond, Jeff Matthews and Kent Robinson dicing it out. Heat 4 and 5 action saw winners from colder climates as Corky Thomas of Fargo, N.D., nabbed heat four while former Alltel All-Star Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y., claimed heat six.

The Gator Championship Night 2 Qualifier A-Main Finish - 20 Laps Pos No. Name 1 10H Randy Hall 2 89 Mike Spatola 3 88 Jeff Taylor 4 6T Corky Thomas 5 182 Randle Sweeney 6 71A Ryan Aho 7 12H Jason Hughes 8 48 Wayne Hammond 9 70 Matt Aber 10 T3 Dave Groves 11 44N Darrell Nelson 12 O7 Jeff Thomas 13 3L Jeff Leka 14 7R Kent Robinson 15 26H Justin Houston 16 17JE J.E. Stalder 17 33 Jeff Matthews 18 55H Scott Hansen 19 17X Rich Michael 20 4 Stormy Scott 21 51M Eddie Martin 22 1s Tommie Seets Jr 23 2J Blake Jegtvig 24 *222 Mike Knight

UMP DIRTcar Modified action continues Sunday with the finale of The Gator Championship. Action starts at 6 p.m. For information on tickets call (386) 985-4402 or visit Volusia Speedway Park online at: www.volusiaspeedwaypark.net

For more on the 38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH please visit: www.dirtcarnationals.com



Through the fifth night of competition at the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals By UNOH, the Alltel All?Star contenders and their text message Letter Codes include:



Sprint Cars - Donny Schatz (b); Stevie Smith (d); Joey Saldana (f)



UMP DIRTcar Modifieds - Jared Landers, Batesville, Ark. (a). Austin Dillon Lewisville,NC (c), Randy Hall Olean, NY (e)



Fans can vote by visiting www.AlltelAllStar.com or texting their drivers code to 247253.

Complete raw results can be viewed by visiting MyLaps.com<http://mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=386861>.