Texas Speedzone - Davidson Wins USRA SLM Feature and USRA Championship at Spectacular

For Immediate Release – October 29, 2006

Contact: Nick Holt, USRA Media Director
cnholt@sbcglobal.net
(210) 690-8564 (office)
(210) 415-1251 (cell)

Davidson Wins USRA SLM Feature and USRA Championship at Spectacular

Kyle, TX (October 29, 2006) – It was billed as a 125-lap shootout between the seasoned veteran - Chris Davidson - and the up-and-coming rookie - Matt Merrell - for the United States Racing Association Super Late Model Championship. But after the dust settled at Thunder Hill Raceway Saturday night it was it was the veteran who not only stood in the winner’s circle but also wore the 2006 USRA SLM crown.

Davidson, the 2002 Super Late Model champion and a veteran of Super Late Model racing throughout the South, and Merrell, last season’s Rookie of the Year in the USRA Modified Series, started on the pole at the three-eighth-mile, D-shaped paved oval.

But it wasn’t long before Merrell was in trouble and down three laps.

Davidson got the jump at the start with front-runner Casey Smith right on Davidson’s rear bumper. That left Merrell on the outside and no room between Davidson and Smith to get to the preferred inside lane. Merrell tried to dive down in turn one on the second lap and made contact with Smith.

Merrell and Smith again made contact in turn three, with Merrell getting sideways and falling back. Later on that same lap, Merrell and 2005 USRA Super Late Model Champion Heath Stewart got tangled up and slid down the front straight with Stewart’s nose stuck in Merrell’s left side door to bring out the first caution of the race.

The action wasn’t quite over yet as Danny Pike got into the front stretch wall coming to the caution while Tommy Grothues lost all the right-side body panels from the contact. All cars were able to continue, but now both Merrell and Stewart were three laps down to the leaders.

As the race went back to green, Davidson, Smith and fast qualifier Todd McLemore continued to pace the field with Smith glued to Davidson’s rear bumper while McLemore wisely watched a few car lengths back until the next yellow flag which came out on lap 18 for John Kelly’s disabled car perched on the entrance to turn three.

Kelly, who announced his retirement earlier in the evening and who was honored with a pre-race recognition ceremony celebrating his decades-long and highly-successful racing career, sat in his race car and waved to the crowd as the tow truck brought his legendary green Super Late Model around in front of the grandstands on its way to the pits.

Once back to green Davidson was able to gain a slight lead on Smith, who soon found McLemore filling his mirror. McLemore continued to put the heat on Smith while Stewart and Merrell, both still three laps down, found each other once again on lap 43 when they tangled on the back stretch, sending Merrell around in turn 3 and bringing out the yellow flag once again.

On the lap 48 restart, the top three of Davidson, Smith and McLemore stayed nose to tail with Smith tapping on Davidson’s rear bumper.

Three laps later Smith and Davidson made solid contact coming out of turn 4 causing Davidson to get hard on the brakes to keep from spinning. This caused the field to bunch up behind Davidson, who was then able to gun away from the pack after he got the car straightened out.

At the half-way point it was Davidson with a good lead on Smith, McLemore, Davis and Jonathan Beason.

Smith and McLemore continued to battle for second, with McLemore seeming to have the advantage coming off the turns. The skirmish came to a head on lap 67 when McLemore appeared to look high, then go low in turn 1, and got into Smith out of turn 2 sending Smith around. McLemore was sent to the rear of the lead lap for the contact while Smith pitted for repairs. Unfortunately, Smith was observed by Thunder Hill Raceway officials speeding in the pits and was parked for the remainder of the race.

When the race resumed, Davidson quickly got two car-lengths on Davis, and by lap 80 was increasing his lead. Meanwhile, McLemore was able to get by Beason for third with 43 laps remaining after Beason slid up in the second turn.

With 25 to go Davidson had a ten car-length lead on Davis, who had a big gap to McLemore and Beason. Davidson continued to inch away and took the checkered flag with 2.5 seconds to spare.

The only other cars on the lead lap were Davis, McLemore and Beason, who finished in that order.

“It feels good,” said Davidson. “I’m just happy for car owners, Steve and Sandra Turner. They’re the ones that make this all possible for us. I’m more happy for them than us. We’re kind of relieved that it’s over with now. “

“This championship is the most gratifying. We had to battle for it all year. Through the year, we had some trouble, they had some trouble and we were the only ones to show up for all the races. That took at least one other car out of the hunt. I kind of wish Matt (Merrell) would have been there to battle for the win, but I’m not going to complain about the results. I saw him shoot across my mirror, so I knew whatever was going with wasn’t good and he was a lap or two down. He was still there near the finish, so if we had any problems he’d be the champion right now.”

“I didn’t change my driving after that. I was more worried about everyone else. They knew the guy that racing me wasn’t there anymore and maybe race me harder. Casey (Smith) and I got together in turns 3-4, but he let me up. I really have to thank him for that.”

“Yea, I’m surely disappointed,” said Merrell. “We had a chance to win and had a guy come out for one race that decided the points. It was good year all-in-all. We took Rookie of the Year so I’m happy with that. After that (the early wreck with Stewart), we went back out to see how things would go. Something bad would have had to happen to Chris, but he had a good car and did what he needed to do. With five to go, there was nothing that would help so we just pulled off. “

Results of the USRA Super Late Model “TexasSpeedZone.Com 125” at the 10th Annual Stock Car Spectacular at San Thunder Hill Raceway, 10/28/06

Position, Car Number, Name, Hometown, Qualifying Time, Laps Completed

1. (41) Chris Davidson, Pearland, TX, 14.582, 125 Laps
2. (35) Greg Davis, Waxahachie, TX, 14.775,125
3. (54) Todd McLemore, Austin, TX, 14.420, 125
4. (36) Jonathan Beason, Broken Arrow, OK, 14.930, 125
5. (14) Heath Stewart, Austin, TX, 14.658, 122
6. (03) Matt Merrell, Portland, TX, 14.657, 116
7. (9) Casey Smith, Austin, TX, 14.817, 69
8. (04) Cory Roper, Vernon, TX, 15.059, 48
9. (11) Tommy Grothues, San Antonio, TX, 15.354, 31
10. (57) John Kelly, La Vernia, TX, 15.330, 17
11. (16) Danny Pike, Red Oak, TX, 15.816, 3

Lap Leaders: Davidson led 1-125

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