WoO Late Models are coming to River Cities Speedway

The Big Boys are coming to town

If you like Racing this is the place to be tomorrow night. Last season's WoO Late Model race went 50 laps green, white checkered, no yellow flags, it was some of the best dirt track racing I have ever seen. These guys are the best of the best in the Super Late Model racing in the country...

No slouches themseleves the NOSA Sprint Cars will be the support class for tomorrow night special. Now cross your fingers and hope that mother nature co-operates.

Grand Forks, ND — By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is headed north – way north – to kick off one of its busiest stretches of competition in history.

River Cities Speedway, a quarter-mile clay oval in Grand Forks, N.Dak., will host a $10,000-to-win, 50-lap A-Main for the nation’s premier dirt Late Model tour on Tues., June 12.

Stops at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. (June 14), Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway (June 15), Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. (June 16) and the Belleville (Kan.) High Banks (June 17) will follow for the series, which has never before contested events on four consecutive calendar days in its six seasons (1988-89, 2004-07).

The visit to River Cities will mark the most northerly event of the 2007 WoO LMS schedule, which sports 48 dates in 22 states. The track’s latitude is just slightly higher than that of Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Que., a Canadian oval located roughly 1,700 miles from Grand Forks that will be graced for the first time by the full-fender Outlaws on June 23.

Most of this year’s WoO LMS regulars are familiar with the fast, high-banked River Cities speedplant, which hosted its first-ever tour program last season. Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., won the track’s caution-free 50-lapper on May 30, 2006, before a very healthy crowd and will lead the traveling clan back for what promises to be another intriguing event.

“Last year’s race was very successful and we felt there was room for more growth,” said River Cities Speedway P.R. representative Monica Evavold. “That’s why we’re doing it again (on June 12).”

There’s a buzz about the race in the Grand Forks area, which is roughly 75 miles south of the Canadian border, and Evavold expects the track’s 6,500 seats to be packed with fans for the mid-week special. The centerpiece of the former Grand Forks Speedway, which has undergone a significant facelift since four partners purchased it in 1991, is an intimate covered grandstand on the homestretch.

Last year’s WoO LMS show drew a quality field of 43 dirt Late Models to River Cities, and a similar turnout is expected again.

A raging WoO LMS points battle will continue at River Cities, with Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., entering the race with a slim 12-point edge over top ’07 winner Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill. Also within 66 points of the top spot is Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and Rick Eckert of York, Pa.

Other WoO LMS travelers expected for the event include Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., Lanigan, 2006 Rookie of the Year Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va., top ’07 rookie contender Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va.

Several top racers from the Upper Midwest region have the event on their schedules, including Terry Casey of New London, Wis., who finished third in last year’s WoO LMS 50 at River Cities, Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., Adam Hensel of Barron, Wis., and Canadian Joel Cryderman.

A strong contingent of River Cities dirt Late Model regulars is also expected to participate, led by defending track champion Mike Balcaen of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Other contenders to watch include Joey Pederson of East Grand Forks, Minn., Brad Seng of Grand Forks, N.Dak., and Troy Olsen of Fargo, N.Dak.