FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Dale Howard led wire-to-wire to win the 15th Annual USCS Randy Helton Memorial Race and Dixie Sprint Car Nationals for the United Sprint Car Series on Saturday night at Rome Speedway.
The victory was the second USCS win of the season for Howard. Eric Riggins Jr. took the second spot, 1.280 seconds behind Howard.
Lance Moss finished third and Chase Howard was fourth. Jeff Oliver drove to a fifth-place finish.
When the green bulb was lit up, Dale Howard pulled out to a full straightaway over Terry Gray, Chase Howard, Riggins and Moss by the eighth lap. Dale Howard began to encounter heavy lapped traffic by lap 11, and Gray closed to within a few car-lengths of the leader.
Once Dale Howard cleared the heavy lapped traffic on lap 15, he began to pull away and opened up another big lead on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee Gray. While the leaders worked lapped traffic, Riggins and Moss passed Chase Howard to take over third and fourth spots, respectively.
The pace of the race and the top five changed dramatically on lap 26 when Joe Larkin hit the inside guard rail coming off the fourth turn to bring out the caution flag. As the field slowed in turn two, the lapped car of D.L. Brashier spun and collected Gray under caution.
The USCS point leader (Gray) had to give up the second spot with a damaged race car and was towed to the pits. Dale Howard was able to pull away once again on the restart for the green, white, checkered finish.
Feature Finish (27 Laps)
1. (1) Dale Howard, Byhalia, MS; 2. (4) Eric Riggins Jr., Charlotte, NC; 3. (6) Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC; 4. (2) Chase Howard, Nesbitt, MS; 5. (8) Jeff Oliver, Pendergrass, GA; 6. (7) Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS; 7. (12) Danny Burke, Crosby, TX; 8. (9) Brandon Grubaugh, Ocala, FL; 9. (5) Wade Buttrey, Fairview, TN; 10. (11) Jake Brashier, Denham Springs, LA; 11. (16) Scott Baldwin, Jupiter, FL; 12. (14) Brian Thomas, Pendergrass, GA; 13. (3) Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN; 14. (13) Joe Larkin, Suwanee, GA; 15. (17) D.L. Brashier, Ethel, LA; 16. (15) Jackson Wellman, Belmont, NC; 17. (10) Bob Auld, Largo, FL; 18. (18) Eric Gunderson, Canton, GA DNS.