
DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030893

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BRIAN J. FRENCH

                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

AUTO RACING REPORT

Big payday awaits Late Model drivers at Southampton

Saturday night's program at Southampton Motor Speedway promises to be special for three reasons:

It's the only Saturday night program of the season.

It's the last program of the season.

The winner of the Late Model Stock race can pick up as much as $7,000.

The Franklin Fall Festival 250 is the main draw of the three races at Capron that night. A guaranteed $5,500 goes to the winner.

The race will be split into two segments. The first will be 200 laps, after which a yet-to-be-determined number of cars at the head of the field will be inverted for the final 50 laps.

Warren closing in on series title at Langley

One driver who won't be at Southampton on Saturday is Phil Warren.

Warren, who won the track's Late Model title and was thinking of running there Saturday, instead will try to put the finishing touches on another track title - this one at Langley Speedway.

Warren holds a 48-point lead over Greg Edwards heading into the final race. All Warren has to do to win an unprecedented fifth Late Model title at the Hampton track is finish no lower than 23rd.

The Pure Stock title is the only other track crown still undecided, and it likely will take all 25 laps of the race for a champion to emerge.

Robbie Paul and Jimmy Adkins are tied with 1,050 points each, with Danny Harrell 18 points behind. Harrell must finish ahead of both Paul and Adkins to claim the title, as both hold the tiebreaker advantage over him.

The Mini Stock (Denny Hamlin), Grand Stock (Paul Lubno), Mini Trucks (Doug Warren) and Legends (Dale Lemonds) titles already have been won.

Lug nuts

Dexter Canipe is the 1997 Winston Racing Series national champion. Canipe, who runs at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, won 17 of 22 races to score a national cumulative performance index (CPI) rating of .8193 for the series points season, which ended Sept. 17. Phil Warren finished fifth in the Atlantic Seaboard standings with a CPI of .6993. . . . Joe Gaita missed a spot in last Saturday's NASCAR truck race at Martinsville, but he probably considers himself mighty lucky. Gaita was involved in an accident en route to Martinsville on Sept. 25 when his truck's brakes locked, forcing it to hit a stopped tractor-trailer on U.S. Route 58 in Suffolk. The impact destroyed the front end of the truck, and the trailing car carrier drove into the back of the truck, inches away from the cab. Gaita and crew chief Jamie Mosley escaped serious injury. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WEEKEND RACING

SATURDAY

Langley Speedway: Gates open at 3 p.m.; qualifying begins at 5

and racing at 7. Events: Late Model Stock (100 laps), Grand Stock

(40), Pure Stock (25), Mini Stock (25) and Legends (25). Tickets:

Adults $13, active-duty military and senior citizens $10, children

6-12 $4, children under 6 free.

Southampton Motor Speedway: Gates open at noon; qualifying begins

at 5 and racing at 7. Events: Late Model Stock (250 laps), Grand

Stock (40) and Open-Wheeled Modifieds (50). Tickets: Adults $12,

children 6-12 $3, children under 6 free.