ROBERTS LOOKING TO MAKE GPS HISTORY IN NASCAR WHELEN ALL-AMERICAN SERIES

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – David Roberts doesn’t have to look far for motivation.

The South Carolina driver needs only to look around the one-half mile of Greenville-Pickens Speedway, where he races his Late Model on a weekly basis. The outside retaining wall at the historic track bears the name of each of the track’s champions back to Grady Hawkins in 1957. Legendary names like David Pearson and Ralph Earnhardt are there, as are current drivers like two-time champion Randy Porter and four-time champion Marty Ward.

“The biggest thing is the history of the place,” Roberts said. “I’m just an old county boy coming from dirt (racing). Getting to race there is one thing. Getting to win is a whole different thing. If we can get this championship, and pull that off, I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like.”

Not only is Roberts leading the Greenville-Pickens point standings – by 24 over Porter – but is also in the lead to become the first South Carolina state champion since Donnie Bishop in 1981. After a win and a second-place finish last weekend, Roberts also has moved up from 28th to 11th in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national points.

Even more impressive, Roberts is averaging 42.3 points per race. He has 14 starts, with three wins. The only driver in the top 15 with a better per-race average is Steve Carlson of Lacrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway, who is seventh overall with 608 points in 13 starts and a 46.8 average.

Woody Pitkat used a win at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway last week to take over the top spot in the championship standings with 702 points. Guy Jubinville and Jean Francois Bouvrette, both of Autodrome St. Eustache in Quebec, are second and third, respectively, with 656 and 650 points. Jamey Caudill of Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly (N.C.) is fourth with 648 points. Kerry Malone, who like Pitkat runs at Stafford and Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway, is fifth at 644.

Jubinville and Bouvrette both have 17 races. Pitkat, Caudill and Malone have all reached 18, meaning that with each successful finish, they can begin dropping their poorer performances. Only a driver’s top 18 finishes count toward the championship.

Roberts, meanwhile, has four races remaining to reach that limit. But he also doesn’t have any bad finishes to drop. He has finished fourth twice and in the top three the other 12 times.

“My goal at the beginning of the year was to finish in the top three every race, which is a pretty stiff goal,” said the 46-year-old Roberts, who has raced for more than 20 years including on-and-off for nine years at Greenville-Pickens. “We felt we had the car to do it.

“(Winning the championship has) kind of been a dream of mine for a long time. … Being able to have your name on the wall would be really big. Especially this year, with all the past champions running.”

Two weeks ago, Roberts had two of his best runs of the season that produced nothing to show for it. He led the initial 22 laps of the first 50-lap race, but had to settle for second behind Kenneth Headon. In the second feature, he led 45 laps before finishing second to Porter.

“I was trying to forget about that one,” Roberts said. “That’s why winning right out of the box was good this week.”

Saturday night, the Late Models will run a single 50-lap feature at Greenville-Pickens, but points will count double toward the track championship.

“If we can get through this week, and just keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Roberts said, “we’ll be in good shape.”

Under the simplified point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to 25 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 25 cars, the winner receives 50 points, second gets 48 and third 46. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26.

Competitors will count their 18 highest point finishes through Sept. 30. The national champion will earn a reserved spot in the 2007 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in October.

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FEATURE DIVISION

National Top 25 NASCAR Leaders

PosDriver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 Pts

1 WOODY PITKAT STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 18 3 12 15 702

2 GUY JUBINVILLE AUTODROME ST. EUSTACHE 17 6 14 15 656

3 JEAN FRNS BOUVRETTE AUTODROME ST. EUSTACHE 17 4 15 15 650

4 JAMEY CAUDILL SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 20 4 11 17 648

5 KERRY MALONE STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 18 1 7 14 644

6 JOE KOSISKI I-80 SPEEDWAY 20 2 15 16 636

7 STEVE CARLSON LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 13 4 12 13 608

8 DREW HERRING SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 18 1 11 15 604

9 MARTIN MARCOUX AUTODROME ST. EUSTACHE 17 1 9 15 604

10 KEITH ROCCO STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 18 4 9 11 600

11 DAVID ROBERTS GREENVILLE-PICKENS SPEEDWAY 14 3 14 14 592

12 JASON HOBSCHEIDT I-80 SPEEDWAY 19 3 9 13 586

13 AL HUMPHREY I-80 SPEEDWAY 16 4 10 13 582

14 KEVIN NUTTLEMAN LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 14 2 11 12 580

15 DANIEL BELANGER AUTODROME ST. EUSTACHE 17 1 8 15 568

16 DEAC MCCASKILL SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 19 4 9 13 566

17 RANDY PORTER GREENVILLE-PICKENS SPEEDWAY 14 5 13 13 564

18 MARK LAMOREAUX LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 14 3 10 11 564

19 ANDY LODEN HICKORY MOTOR SPEEDWAY 21 7 13 17 558

20 JONATHAN COTE AUTODROME ST. EUSTACHE 17 1 7 14 554

21 ANDY BURGESS LACROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY 13 0 8 12 548

22 JEREMIAH HURST FARLEY SPEEDWAY 24 7 21 23 544

23 JEFF STRUNK GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY 13 3 11 11 540

24 SCOTT YOUNG SOUTHERN NATIONAL RACEWAY PARK 19 0 7 11 538

25 DONNY REUVERS ELKO SPEEDWAY 22 8 17 20 536

For additional information, contact:

Jason Christley, NASCAR Public Relations, (386) 947-6788 or jchristley@nascar.com

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