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John Bolen Wins Neil Bonnett 100 at Birmingham Int’l Raceway

Monday October 6, 2008

 

Alabama Driver Avoids “The Big One” on Talladega Cup Weekend

CONCORD, NC (October 6, 2008) – It’s funny how things work out in the face of adversity. John Bolen was going to load up his car on Saturday and head to Southern National Raceway Park (NC) for the next ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour event. A quick tune-up session at Birmingham Int’l Raceway (AL) changed all of that after the team broke a rear-end. After scrambling to get the car back together to go racing, their racing destination was changed from Kenly, NC, to Birmingham, AL, and when the dust settled, it was John Bolen standing in victory lane. After a crazy couple of hours, he was the winner of the prestigious Neil Bonnett Memorial 100.

“This is a real boost for the team,” said Bolen. “We have really been scratching our heads with this car for a few weeks. Just to figure things out has been huge, and to get a win is even more special.”

It wasn’t a cakewalk for Bolen. Although he won the pole with a new track record for the Super Series cars, a pre-race draw forced him to start eighth. It almost cost him a racecar after a big wreck on the first lap.

“It was like Talladega out there,” added Bolen. “My spotter, Rocky, had to guide me through the mess. We actually got hit in the right-rear quarter panel. We didn’t spin out, even though we had some damage. Normally, the big one happens down the road (at the Talladega Superspeedway) and not at Birmingham.”

After the mess, Bolen focused on saving his stuff for a late-race charge. The packed 20-car field had been thinned out a bit with the early wreck, but Bolen knew that having the best stuff at the end was going to be key in winning the race.

“We got up to second after lap fifty and we were just riding,” said Bolen. “We were just cruising from there. Gary Nix was leading, and after a restart late in the race we got around him with like 11 laps to go and went to win the race.”

For Bolen, running strong at Birmingham is nothing new. He won a race early in the year at the 5/8th-of-a-mile track. Transforming his success to Birmingham is the next step. Bolen has been fast at several tracks this season and looks to be a serious contender in some of the bigger year-end races, such as the All-American 400 and the Snowball Derby.

“We expect to run good there,” added Bolen. “We have a lot of laps at Birmingham, and we run against the best in the Blizzard Series and on the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour. We know we can go to Nashville and run up front if the car’s right.”

John Bolen will be back in action twice this weekend, as he will run his Pro Late Model car at both Five Flags Speedway on Friday, October 10th, and at Mobile International Speedway on Saturday, October 11th.

For more information on John Bolen, please contact Elgin Traylor at (704) 788-2134 (x 4) and be sure to check out his website.

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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