Columbus” Johnny Stokes clinched the 2010 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series West Region Championship on Friday night at Hattiesburg Motorsports Park in Hattiesburg.
The championship boiled down to Stokes, Lucky Keeton, of Toomsuba, and Justin McRee, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., on final weekend of the season.
McRee grabbed the second spot in the NeSmith Chevrolet WRS West Region standings Saturday night at Greenville Speedway in Greenville, while Keeton, the three-time West Region Champion, took third.
The rest of the positions in the West Region will be determined after the results come in from Jackson Motor Speedway.
Stokes finished the season with 945 points based on his best 16 finishes in 33 starts. He had 13 wins, 28 top-five finishes, and 30 top-10 finishes driving the TJC Mortgage/Maximum Signs and Graphics Mastersbilt. He also made appearances at eight of the nine West Region tracks, and posted wins at five of those tracks.
Going into the double feature event Friday night at Hattiesburg Motorsports Park, Stokes held a five-point lead against Keeton. Stokes finished fifth and Keeton finished third, but neither driver netted any points. McRee finished second and netted eight points to bring him to within six points of Keeton.
Cliff Williams, of Star, won the first feature in the Ware Construction Trak-Star, his eighth win of the season. The top four finishers were inverted for the second feature, which put Shannon Lee, of Lumberton, on the pole with Keeton starting on the outside of the front row. McRee and Williams started in row two.
McRee stepped to the outside with eight laps to go and passed Keeton for the lead. J-Mac went on to take his ninth win of the season in the Century Dedicated, Inc. Trak-Star and that sealed the deal for Stokes to win the championship. Keeton finished second, but he couldn”t net enough points with two wins the following night at Greenville Speedway to pass Stokes.
With the win in the second feature, McRee netted another six points to move him to within one point of Keeton in the battle for the second spot that would move on to Greenville Speedway. Keeton netted one point with his second-place finish in the Boland Performance Trak-Star.
Keeton was a no-show for the Saturday night double feature races at Greenville Speedway, and McRee finished second in the first feature to net three points that clinched the runner-up spot in the West Region final point standings.
Mike Palasini Jr., of Leland, won both feature races at Greenville Speedway in the Medicaid Planning Specialists Trak-Star for his sixth and seventh wins of the season.
McRee ended the season with 943 points based on his best 16 finishes in 21 starts. He had nine wins, 18 top fives, and 19 top 10s. Keeton had 941 points based on his best 16 finishes in 33 starts with 11 wins, 28 top fives, and 31 top 10s.
For winning the 2010 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series West Region Championship, Stokes will receive $1,500 from the point fund and a new GM Performance 604 Crate Engine. McRee will win $1,000 from the point fund and a new Trak-Star chassis from Boland Performance, of Cuba, Ala., for taking the second spot. Keeton will receive $500 from the point fund for third.
For more information about the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series visit the series web site at www.nesmithracing.com, or visit the series on Facebook at NeSmith Racing.
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