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| Memories are made of moments like this!! |
Although weather had shortened the 2nd Annual Emory Stone Memorial into a single day affair, Fan and Racer alike came to Oglethorpe Speedway Park on 3/21 in droves. They were on hand this Beautifully Scripted Day to Pay Tribute to the Stone Family and Memory of a Man who made OSP a HighWater HallMark of Dirt Racing in South Georgia! Graciousness of Emory was widely known throughout the South, driving car counts and calibre of cars through the roof. If you were lucky enough to make it out of a "C" or "B Main" into the "A Main" you accomplished something. Goes without saying the level of driver you were should you take Checkers in the "A Main". In Emory's eyes every weekly racer, no matter which division, at OSP was "His Boy".
Memories like that stand the Test of Time.
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| "Emory's Boys" |
A stout field of CLMs were on hand to run the 30Lap Feature for a Top Prize of $1500. During qualifying, Eddie Jo Morris slung his #44 JCB Georgia/Lakeside Water/MasterSBilt SmackDown around the yawning 1/2mi track to Best All for pole honours with a 18.93.
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| "It's all about the details" says Eddie Jo |
Great Action came to Pooler's Fans throughout the night. In 440s, Cliff Williams drove away from Michael Bruner. Mini Stock's saw Josh Carter over Alan Carter. Pure Stock's watched the Everette Bootle Show over Jimmy Morris. While in Street Stock Jamie Hopkins dealt with Brian Barnes to Muscle out Top Honours.
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| Jamie Hopkins scored his season's 1st Street Stock Feature WIN! |
Wisemen say "Great Things come to those who Wait".
Final Event of the Evening was the CLM Feature Spectacular!! Anxious Racers brought numerous cautions before Delma Cowart was able to flag Lap 1 into the books. The only constant in the sea of cautions was Eddie Jo powering his #44 MasterSBilt through the turns and straightaways on point. He held serve in early laps as the #G4 Swartz of Garrett Shurling sought out P1. It wasn't until the latter stages of the Event that saw the Strongest Challenge come to Eddie Jo in the form of the familiar #48 BWRC. This Machine, driven in Excellence by Robert Diekemper, had been sent to the tail of the field earlier in the feature event after being mixed up in some mayhem. Diekemper cut back through the pack until he charged up to the #44 Machine in runners up position. With 5 to go Diekemper began testing out weak points only to find Eddie Jo's ride handled all aspects of the track extremely well. Diekemper backed off letting his RR cool for a Final Try at the Night's Glory. He applied pressure to Morris down the backstretch into Turn #3 but Diekemper couldn't unnerve the past Track Champion from his post. Rounding Turn #4 Eddie Jo brought the House down as Delma greeted him with a wave of the Checkers!!!
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| Holding off a late charge from Diekemper, Eddie Jo went on to Victory Lane |
"That was a Tremendous Statement for our Team!!" Eddie Jo said. "I'll be honest with you, I thought I was running out of fuel there towards the closing laps. I ran the final 2 circuits somewhere around half throttle. I stayed in my head and simply concentrated on hitting my marks and let the chips fall where they may. This Victory is ALL in 'Thanks' to our off-season work. We updated our front suspension to MasterSBilt's 2015 program and poured over every nook and cranny of the car. We were looking for a good finish tonight. It just doesn't get any better than THIS!!"
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| "Doesn't get any Better Than THIS!" |
Finishing Order for 2nd Annual Emory Stone Memorial
1. Eddie Morris
2. Robert Diekemper
3. Mark Davis
4. Lonnie Brant
*5. Donnie Bazemore
6. Jordan Feider
7. Elliot Snaders
8. Dusty Collins
9. Larry Drawdy
10. Ernie Perry
11. Garrett Shurling
12. Branden Yawn
13. Tom Egner
14. Robbie Cowart
*Bazemore debut in CLM Division riding in a Rayburn*
