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Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Drivers Prepare For Bedford And Hagerstown

CORONA, CA (April 18, 2008) – After this weekend off the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series returns to action on Friday Night, April 25th with a first ever visit to Bedford Speedway in Bedford, PA and the first of two visits this year to the Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, MD on Saturday Night, April 26th.

Off to an excellent start this season the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has seen seven different winners in the first 11 races in 2008. The series in the midst of a 44-race schedule in 17 states this season has had 200 different drivers enter at least one event in ’08. Three-time and reigning LOLMDS National Champion Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, FL coming off of a fifth place finish at K-C Raceway in his Bobby Labonte Racing #44 is the current series points after last weekend’s show. Pearson leads Terry Casey of New London, WI by just five points heading into Bedford and Hagerstown. Casey the driver of the Arnie Ranta Motorsports #42, who is tied with Billy Moyer of Batesville, AR for the most series wins this year (3 apiece), holds a 45-point margin over third place driver Steve Casebolt of Richmond, IN. Bart Hartman of Zanesville, OH who is in his first season traveling with the Lucas Oil Series is fourth in points followed by last year’s series “Rookie of the Year’ Justin Rattliff of Campbellsville, KY.

The rest of the top ten in the current national standings and who will be making the trip East this weekend are Donnie Moran of Dresden, OH, Dan Schlieper of Sullivan, WI, Scott James of Lawrenceburg, IN, Billy Drake of Bloomington, IL and Wayne Chinn of Bradford, OH.

Casey and Chinn are the top two Quarter Master “Rookie of the Year” contenders at the present time with third place K-C runner, John Blankenship of Williamson, WV in third.

Bedford Co-Promoter J.R. Keifer is pumped up about the first ever visit by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series to Bedford Speedway on April 25th for the Bedford Valley Petroleum sponsored “Paul Beamer Memorial” paying $7,000 to win.

After the conclusion of the 2007 racing season 600 tri-axle loads of shifted red clay was put on the track, the first time that the entire speedway has been re-clayed in nearly 20 years. Keifer along with Jim Maybury and Dr. David Horne, who make up the promoting team at Bedford Speedway, have installed new walls and re-cabled all of their catch fences around the fairgrounds facility.

“We want to thank Bedford Valley Petroleum and Bob Salathe for their sponsorship of this event, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has been great to work with and we are really looking forward to their appearance at Bedford this Friday.” said Keifer, who first took over the promoting duties at Bedford in 2002.

The next night the series comes to Frank Plessinger’s Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, MD for the 27th Annual “Stanley Schetrompf Memorial” paying $10,000 to win. This will be third consecutive year the series has sanctioned this special event with reigning Dirt Track World Champion Chub Frank of Bear Lake, PA and LOLMDS regular Scott James winning last year’s race after starting 16th.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will visit Hagerstown later in the year, (August 2nd), but the April 26th show should draw most of the top competitors in dirt late model racing to Hagerstown which is celebrating its 61st year of racing. The historic racing facility hosted the first ever $50,000 to win payoff for dirt late models back in 1983. Jeff Purvis of Clarksville, TN was the winner of the “Free State 100” which was sanctioned by the National Dirt Racing Association (NDRA), which at that time was the top touring series for late models. LOLMDS competitor Freddy Smith of Seymour, TN finished second in the race followed by Larry Moore, Tom Peck and Gary Stuhler, who is still active and is the all-time winningest driver in Hagerstown Speedway history.

The series trip to Bedford and Hagerstown featuring the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be the next events that 20 drivers will be eligible for the “Winners Circle Program” and the “Jasper Engines Road to Wheatland bonus monies. This is an incentive program that will pay the top ten drivers in the 2008 Championship Points an extra $600 each with perfect attendance throughout 2008. The “Jasper Engines Road to Wheatland” Program will also pay an additional $600 to each of the ten highest points drivers from the final 2007 Championship Points standings that follow the Road to Wheatland with perfect attendance but are not in the current top ten in points. The SuperClean “Diamond Nationals” at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO is slated for May 9th and 10th and will pay $40,000 to win this year.

For more information on the next two tracks on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule you can visit www.bedfordspeedway.com and www.hagerstownspeedway.com where you can find a wealth of information and history on both facilities.

For the latest info on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series you can log onto www.lucasdirt.com or call the series office at (951) 532-2503.

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