Mike Marlar Scores Prelim Win at Knoxville; Dixie & Rome Next

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben Shelton (msrmafia@gmail.com)
October 3rd, 2012

Mike Marlar Scores Prelim Win at Knoxville; Dixie & Rome Up Next

Winfield, Tennessee (10/03/12) – Mike Marlar claimed another milestone achievement in his racing career on Friday night by powering his #5b Bryson Motorsports/Rocket Chassis/Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model to a $7,000 feature win at the famed, Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa) during the 9th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals.

On Thursday night the opening round of the 9th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals was held at Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa), and it would prove to not be the best of night's for Mike and the team. With eighty of the nation's best competitors in action Marlar started the night on a high note by qualifying fifth fastest. However, with the top fifty cars inverted for heat race action Mike was forced to start tenth in the fifth heat race. He would find passing to be difficult as he only managed to advance to a ninth place finish. With only the top four cars transferring to the feature Marlar was forced to run a c-main, where he started in the fifth position. His luck in the c-main would not be much better as contact from another competitor resulted in left front damage, which brought his night to an early end.
Friday night was a huge outing for Mike as he claimed his first-ever win at the famed Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa) with a triumph in the 9th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals! With seventy-nine Super Late Models on hand for the event Marlar qualified twelfth fastest, and with the top fifty cars inverted for heat race action that resulted in him starting eighth on the grid in the second heat race. Heat race action found him quickly working his way forward through the field to a second place finish, which rewarded him with the third starting spot for the $7,000-to-win, 25 lap finale.
As the main event went green Marlar aggressively headed to the low side and would race past Morgan Bagley to claim the lead as the field completed the first lap. Early in the event Mike would battle a hard-charging Steve Francis before pulling away late in the race to score the big win. He was followed across the line by Francis, Brady Smith, Jimmy Owens, and Jonathan Davenport. The win was his sixth of the season.
The final night of the 9th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals was held at Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa) on Saturday evening as a $40,000-to-win/$2,500-to-start purse was posted. After his great performance in Friday night's preliminary event Mike locked into the sixth starting spot in the thirty-three car grid for the 100 lap finale at the state-of-the-art facility. For the first half of the race Mike raced in the top five, reaching as high as the third position. However, as the race progressed the handle began to go away slightly on his entry, and he would ultimately cross the finish line in the sixth position behind race winner, Steve Francis, Brady Smith, Brian Birkhofer, Scott Bloomquist, and Jimmy Owens.

“It’s really a historical racetrack, and there’s only a couple of these tracks in the country, or the world even,” said Marlar, who maintained a cushion of lapped cars most of the second half of the race. "Really it’s an honor to win here, and with all the sprint car guys that welcome us into their track, we really appreciate that, they’ve got an awesome racetrack.”

Full results from all three nights of the 9th Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals are available at www.LucasDirt.com .

This weekend, October 6th-7th, will find Mike and Bryson Motorsports invading Georgia for a pair of $10,000-to-win, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events. On Saturday night the action will open at Dixie Speedway (Woodstock, Georgia) with the annual Dixie Shootout before moving to Rome Speedway (Rome, Georgia) on Sunday evening. For more information on the events, please visit www.LucasDirt.com .

Mike Marlar would like to thank his sponsors and marketing partners including Bryson Motorsports, ASI Racewear, Convenient Lube, Currin Construction, CJ Rayburn Race Cars, FK Rod Ends, FK Bearings, CV Products, DT52 Photos, DWT Racing, GW Performance, Midwest Sheet Metal, Hawk Performance, Hoosier by Pup, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Outerwears, Peterson Fluid Systems, Rhino Wraps, SEG, Sweet Manufacturing, VP Racing Fuels, R2C Performance Products, Wiles Driveshafts, and MSRMafia.com Marketing Services

For the latest information on Mike Marlar please visit www.MikeMarlar.net .