October 21, 2006 (St. Johns, PA) - A beautiful day greeted fans and competitors alike at Mountain Speedway for the inaugural race of NELMA, the iTRADEdirect Late Model Challenge.  Jarrod Hayes would provide the storyline of the day, as he would prove to be the upset victor, winning the first-ever NELMA race.

2006 Mountain Speedway champion, Mike Coll in the #75 iTRADEdirect Pontiac proved that home track advantage helped out, with a blazingly fast lap of 14.522.  Upon the redraw, he would find himself starting on the outside row with fellow Long Islander, the #08 Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Long Island Pontiac of Jarrod Hayes.

At the green, Hayes would get the early lead, but fast time taker, Mike Coll would grab the lead on lap 21.  Soon thereafter another former Mountain Speedway Champion, the 2005 Champion, Larry Fisher would take the lead on lap 36.  The race for the lead for the next 63 laps would be between two old rivals, Larry Fisher in the #19 Plum Air Ford and the #07 Tom’s Garage Chevrolet of Tommy Spencer, Jr.  Spencer tried his best to find a way around his arch-rival, but couldn’t manage a pass.  On lap 99, Spencer would try to make his move, but the two competitors would tangle, while #08 Jarrod Hayes dove down low to take the lead.  Hayes would manage to keep the lead for one more lap to become the first-ever NELMA winner.  Hayes, whom merely hours before the race was considering not attending, got badly needed sponsorship from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Long Island to make the trip to Pennsylvania from his hometown of Calverton, Long Island, NY.  Hayes only managed a few laps of practice, but drove like a true veteran, outwitting other drivers with twenty-years or more of experience for the win.

In an exciting finish for second, Mike Coll would manage to beat the #7A Dave’s Flemington Collision Chevrolet of 2000 Flemington Late Model Champion, Jimmy Wismer by only .014 seconds.  Finishing fourth would be the #11A Display Transportation Chevrolet of Tony Volpe and rounding out the top five would be Riverhead Raceway’s winningest driver, Roger Maynor in the #74 Daniels Family Resort Dodge.

NELMA, the North East Late Model Association, plans to run a six-race series in 2007.  For more information please visit NELMA’s website at www.nelmaracing.com.  If the inaugural race is any indication of the future, expect some exciting things to come for NELMA.

Results iTRADEdirect Late Model Challenge @ Mountain Speedway (100 laps):  Jarrod Hayes, Mike Coll, Jimmy Wismer, Tony Volpe, Roger Maynor, Buzzy Eriksen, Jim Lamoreaux, Ryan Russo, Roger Oxee, Scott Kulesa, Mitch Hawk, Joe Brown, Tommy Spencer Jr., Larry Fisher, Frank Hughes, Geno Steigerwalt, Kevin Metzger, Mike Radocha Jr., Joe Oliver, Joey McMurtie, Eric Lutz, Tom Scales, Bill Catania, Phil DeFranco, Richard Petey