Lakeland, FL (October 4, 2006) –
Officials from the Midwest-based Champion Racing Association (CRA)
Super Series, the Southern-based FASCAR/Sunbelt Super Series and USA
International Speedway
in
Lakeland, Florida have combined to announce the dates for "SpeedFest
2007" at the beautiful central Florida facility. Super Late Model
teams and fans will gather for the third annual event, January 25-27,
2007.
In January of 2006 57 teams took part in the 2nd
annual "SpeedFest" that brought the countries top teams together. The
North and South had their own 100-lap qualifying features on Friday,
which transferred teams to Saturday’s 200-lap main event. "Super
Mario" Gosselin won the South qualifier, while Eddie Van Meter won the
North qualifier, taking his first ever super late model victory of any
kind. The following night, 41 cars took the green flag for the
SpeedFest 200, and when the dust settled it, was one of Florida’s
toughest competitors, Mike Fritts, standing in victory lane and
$10,000 richer.
"SpeedFest
has been a great event for our facility and fans as well as the Late
Model teams," noted USA International Speedway promoter Bill Martino.
"It has been a true battle of North vs. South, with each side claiming
a victory in the first two events (Wisconsin’s Charlie Menard won the
inaugural event in 2005). It is definitely something we look forward
to each year now."
The event will be under the direction of CRA’s
Glenn Luckett and R. J. Scott and FASCAR’s Don Nerone. The series’
will also be co-promoting the event with the speedway. While these
sanctioning bodies will direct the on-track activities, officials want
to be very clear that this is an "open" event.
"We welcome teams from all over the country
and different organizations to be part of
this
weekend," commented CRA managing partner R. J. Scott. "Only four of
the 36 starting spots are reserved for provisionals for the two
sanctioning series, the other 32 spots are open to all comers, making
it a truly ‘OPEN’ event."
Series officials have also announced that the
tire for the event will be the new generation Goodyear 10" slick with
the yellow sidewall lettering. Don Nerone from FASCAR commented,
"Tires are no longer a concern for this event. We will be running the
latest generation Goodyear Short Track Eagle, from fresh inventory
with plenty of size selection. We thank the racers for being patient,
while we brought the event to this point."
The format and schedule are identical to last
year’s, with open practice and technical inspection on Thursday
January 25th. On Friday the 26th, teams will practice,
qualify by region, and race in one of the North or South 100-lap
qualifying features, with the top 10 from each transferring to
Saturday’s SpeedFest 200. The SpeedFest 200 winner’s check will once
again be a minimum of $10,000.
Entry forms, rules, and a schedule of
activities can all be found at any of the following sites:
www.craracing.net, www.fascar.org,
or www.usaspeedway.com.
