DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709120848

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE:    - BRIAN J. FRENCH

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

AUTO RACING REPORT

The winner's circle

will be expanding

Oct. 11 at Langley

If you're the betting type, then consider this the four-star lock of the year: Every winner at Langley Speedway on Oct. 11 will have won for the first time this season.

The Hampton track is hosting a new winners' exhibition on that date, one week after the points season officially ends. Races in the Late Model Stock, Grand Stock, Mini Stock, Pure Stock and Legends series will feature only drivers who did not win during the regular season.

There should still be a decent pool of racers eligible. Only seven of the 59 drivers to start a Late Model race have at least one win. Seven Grand Stock drivers have wins, as have six in Mini Stock, four in Pure Stock, six in Mini Trucks and only three in Legends.

With four race weekends left in the points season, only one series title is likely to be decided in the finale. Eight points separate the top four Mini Truck drivers, with Bobby Montgomery six points ahead of Doug Warren. Sean Hess and Randy Ross are tied for third, two behind Warren.

Paul Lubno will likely clinch the Grand Stock title Saturday; he holds a 152-point lead over second-place Beau Broyles. Denny Hamlin (106-point lead in Mini Stock) and Jimmy Adkins (84-point lead in Pure Stock) are on pace to clinch titles Sept. 19. DRAG RACING

Area drivers post wins

Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie did what few other tracks of any sort in Virginia wanted to do: run a program on Richmond's NASCAR weekend.

Virginia Beach's Todd Haskell won the Street B division race Sept. 5; Mike Blevens of Norfolk won the Street C race and Chesapeake's Chris Daniels was second in the Street A race. Ryan Anspach, also from Chesapeake, won the Junior Dragster contest Sept. 6.

Norfolk's Brian Murphy and Chesapeake's Timothy Hale went 1-2 in the Aug. 29 Street A race, Ed Cherry of Norfolk was first in the Sportsman race Aug. 30 and Meghan Anspach of Chesapeake won the Junior Dragster race that day. SOUTHAMPTON

A double dip tonight

Southampton Motor Speedway returns to action with a Late Model Twin 75 race tonight. The two races will run back-to-back, with a brief intermission after the first 75-lapper.

With three points-race weekends remaining at the Capron track, two of the four division titles are still up for grabs. Kevin Goe leads Wilson Jones by 14 points in the Grand Stock division and Keith Edwards has a six-point lead over Bobby Spivey in the SMS Dash series. Phil Warren (Late Model) and Mark Wertz (Limited Stock) have already clinched the top spot in their respective divisions.

Lug nuts

David Pearce of Chesapeake wrapped up the Budweiser All-Stars crown at Dixieland Speedway on Aug. 29. Pearce has four wins at the South Mills, N.C., dirt track. Dixieland will run a normal program tonight after taking last weekend off. . . . Chip Joyner of Suffolk is still in first place in the Super Street division at Mid-Bay Raceway. Norfolk's Brad Rigdon is second in Late Model points. . . . Sunday racing and football don't usually mix. When Langley moved its Saturday night program to Sunday afternoon last week to avoid a direct conflict with the Richmond races, it walked into a conflict with the second Sunday of NFL games. As a result, attendance was at one of its lowest levels all season.

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