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Norris Enjoys Birmingham Success

BIRMINGHAM, AL--J.R. Norris is just one of the up and coming drivers on the Southern All Star circuit. Norris has won 3 Upfront Carburetion/ Garrison Racing Equipment Pole Awards and had several Top 5 finishes this season. But he had yet to score that first win.

Saturday night, the series invaded Birmingham International Raceway for a 100-lap event, the sixteenth race on the series schedule. Norris was the tracks Late Model Champion in 2000, and had scored several wins at the historic oval this year. Norris had skipped the series' last race at Lanier National Speedway to regroup and repair cars after crashing in the two prior events. When the car was rolled out of the trailer Saturday night, a new, plain white body covered the Bobby Ray Jones chassis. But as always, it was fast, and Norris' confidence was up. Norris led 32 cars in Upfront Carburetion Pole Qualifying with a time of 19.713. His expertise in rolling a die is not as good, however, as he rolled a six, putting veteran Dave Mader III on the pole.

Mader made a quick getaway as the green flag dropped, leading outside pole sitter Gary Nix to turn one. The field spread out and seemed satisfied getting laps under their belts before actually getting down to business. John Wilkinson III, Ronnie Sanders, and Rodney Landrum were about the only ones making real efforts to move forward. The drivers were trying to position themselves for a lap 65 competition caution. However, the race took a different complexion from laps 40-46. First, Sanders, who had moved from ninth to sixth, dropped off of the pace and pulled into the pits, his night over. Then on lap 46, Wilkinson was making a bid for the lead, getting inside of Mader. The two touched in turn three, sending Mader into the wall, along with Wilkinson. Wilkinson avoided the wall, but lost a lap in the melee. Also involved in the wreck were Landrum, Dan Beddingfield, and Roger Reuse. All three, along with Mader, were done for the evening.

Norris emerged with the lead, followed by Nix, Johnny Brazier, Ricky Turner, and David Hole. After a red flag period to clean up the wreck, Brazier got by Nix for second as Norris led the field to the planned caution on lap 65.

After the caution period, Norris was able to pull pout to a 5-car length lead. It appeared the race would go caution free after the restart. Norris was still leading Brazier, Nix, Turner and Hole when Brazier spun in turn four with 10 laps to go, bringing out the last of six cautions. Hole got shuffled back on the restart, as Gary Helton, Brazier, and Mark Singleton got by for 4th - 6th.

As Norris was headed to the checkered flag with a 6 car length lead, Brazier was coming back through the pack and Helton and Singleton were having a spirited battle for fifth. Norris took his first win over Turner, while Brazier came back to third with Nix fourth. Singleton finally got by Helton for fifth. Sixth through tenth went to Helton, Hole, Sidney Minton, Justin Smith, and Glenn Andrews.

The next stop for the series is September 1 at Senoia Speedway for a 125-lap event.

Results

1. J.R. Norris
2. Ricky Turner
3. Johnny Brazier
4. Gary Nix
5. Mark Singleton
6. Gary Helton
7. David Hole
8. Sidney Minton
9. Justin Smith
10. Glenn Andrews
11. Barry Shipman
12. John Wilkinson III
13. Lane Morrow
14. Jason Hogan
15. Mike Langston
16. Rodney Landrum
17. Dave Mader
18. Dan Beddingfield
19. Roger Reuse
20. Ronnie Sanders
21. J.R. Dudley
22. Heath Hindman
23. Jackie McGuire
24. Darrell Brown
25. Ken McFarland
26. Jonathan Buckner
27. Terry Mason Jr
28. Billy Melvin
29. David Harvey
30. Roger Belter
31. Tim Fryar
DNS Jack Collier