Monday, March 2, 2009

Travis Evans takes the Texas World Dirt Track Championship

By Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

When you host a race called Texas World Dirt Track Championship with three classes of cars, you would hope that at least one of the champions would be from Texas. Thanks to Travis Evans, the Texas Motor Speedway may have avoided the embarrassment of not having a Texas winner, although I doubt they would have cared. Sporting a large Texas Longhorn on his car, the Bullard, TX native dominated the Limited Modified championship race leading from start to finish of the 30 lap feature.

Evans came from the outside of row five in Heat Race five on Friday night to win his heat. Later that night, in the Limited Modified A Qualifier, Evans finished third securing him a spot in the A Main Feature on Saturday night. On Saturday night, Evans won a pole dash to win the pole position. Evans was never really challenged as he lead all 30 laps to pick up a check for $2,000 a cool cowboy hat. Persistence and patience paid off for Mansfield’s Kyle Nelson as he finished seventeenth. Nelson started twenty-fifth out of twenty-six cars.

In the Modified Feature race, Terry Phillips from Springfield, MO started on the outside of the first row and battled the 00x car of Steve Arpin from Winnipeg, Canada. Phillips and Arpin finished first and third respectively Friday night in the Modified A Qualifier to get the start in the Saturday night A Featrue. The two traded the first place several times before Phillips finally got around Arpin to got the win, a $3,000 check and a cowboy hat. Forney’s Clyde Dunn Jr. battled his way to a nineteenth place finish after starting twenty-third.

In the Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) Late Model championship, Rob Litton of Alexandria, LA led most of the way after starting from the outside pole to pick up his check for $3,500 and a cowboy hat. Litton, the first time in his new car, had to hold off Kurt Kile of Nichols, IA in a heated two-way battle early in the race. Kile tried to get under Litton in turn one of lap thirty-five that resulted in a spin-out for Kile and a caution flag. When the race resumed it was Baytown’s Kevin Sitton, the 2008 SUPR Rookie of the Year, that brought the heat to Litton, but Litton had answer for every pass attempt holding off Sitton the rest of the way. The victory is the second for Litton at the Texas World Dirt Track Championships. Patrick Daniel of nearby Wills Point, TX was able to finish eleventh after starting fifteenth. Tom Earl III of Haslet finished sixteenth.

TMS announced a total entry of 397 cars, the most of any previous Texas World Dirt Track Championships.

Pegasus News content partner - College Football Top Ten

Information courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway

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