Jamaica, VA — By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director
Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway is already considered one of the country’s top dirt-track facilities.
In 2010, the gorgeous half-mile oval in Virginia’s Tidewater Region will also boast a dirt Late Model mega-event to match its stature.
The inaugural World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Commonwealth 100’ will be contested on April 16-17, 2010, at VMS, track and series officials announced on Monday.
A $25,000 prize is earmarked for the winner of the two-day blockbuster, which will offer a cash purse totaling over $125,000. The Commonwealth 100 will pay $2,000 to start, and a 30-lap Non-Qualifiers’ Race will boast a $3,000 first-place award from a purse of nearly $16,000.
Time trials and heat races will be run on Fri., April 16, with last-chance races and the headline Commonwealth 100 dominating the program on Sat., April 17. A raindate of Sun., April 18, has been established for the event.
“We feel it’s time for us to step up to the plate and offer to run the biggest show in the history of Virginia Motor Speedway,” said track owner Bill Sawyer, who is in his 10th season at the helm of the dirt-track showplace. “We have a premier facility and we want to create a premier event that showcases our track to fans and race teams from across the country.
“We’re very excited about building the Commonwealth 100 into a marquee event that everyone automatically puts on their calendars every season. After running various touring events and seeing what’s going on in the short-track world, it’s become clear that a major event like this is what we need to do to get the fans and racers excited.”
Sawyer said plans are in the works to make the Commonwealth 100 weekend “more than just a race.” Details will be announced in the future, but he indicated that there will be plenty of auxiliary fun for attendees, including a giant driver autograph session, post-race entertainment following Friday’s action and ear-splitting festivities prior to the 100-lap A-Main (think the Civil War-themed pre- and post-race activities during April’s WoO LMS event at VMS that included multiple cannon and pistol shots by costumed re-enactors).
“I can’t think of a better place to host a huge new World of Outlaws Late Model Series event than Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway,” said World Racing Group Chief Operating Officer Tom Deery. “Bill Sawyer and has staff have built a beautiful racetrack that deserves a signature race like the Commonwealth 100 on its schedule. With the facilities available at Virginia Motor and the great racing that the track is known for, the sky’s the limit for the Commonwealth 100.”
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VMS has been a staple track on the WoO LMS, presenting at least one tour event each season since 2005. The Commonwealth 100 will bring all the WoO LMS stars – plus dozens more national and regional standouts – to the facility for a race that will go down in VMS and series history.
“We’ve been talking to Bill Sawyer about running a major event at Virginia Motor Speedway for a couple years so we’re thrilled that he’s decided to go all-out in 2010,” said WoO LMS director Tim Christman. “The Commonwealth 100 is going to be one of the centerpieces of the 2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule. I’m sure it will generate the same sort of excitement that we’ve seen for events like the Firecracker 100 (at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway) and Illini 100 (at Illinois’s Farmer City Raceway) that have become part of the World of Outlaws tour in recent years.”
More information on the Commonwealth 100 weekend – including ticket prices, camping info and a complete weekend schedule – will soon be released by VMS management.
Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway is a half-mile dirt oval located on U.S. Route 17 in Jamaica, Va., eight miles north of Saluda and 25 miles south of Tappahannock. The speedway, which boasts spacious 8,000-seat aluminum grandstand, beautiful sponsor suites, MUSCO lighting, a pit area treated with a tar-and-gravel mixture and over 20 acres of parking, is just a short drive from the Richmond, Fredericksburg, southern Maryland and Hampton Roads areas.
For more information about Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway, visit
www.vamotorspeedway.com or call the speedway office at 804-758-1VMS.
The Commonwealth 100 will be one of the major events highlighting the 2010 WoO LMS schedule, which is being formulated for release later this year.
Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to
www.worldofoutlaws.com.
