(St. Louis, MO - April 11th, 2006) -- Tri-City Speedway would host the season opener for the Walters Motorsports Dirt program in 2006. This would also be the season opener for the track itself. We had planned to run 3 or so other dirt races before this race, they have all been rained out. We were hoping for a good run in our first night out. Our goal was a top 10 for the A-Main.

We started out dead last in our heat race (10th). They were only taking the top 6 to the feature. Shane would have to race past four other cars to grab the transfer spot. He did just that, grabbing 6th place by the end of the race. This would give him a 18th place starting spot in the feature.

In the feature, we were starting 18th with a goal of a top 10. In only 20 laps Shane would search for a top 10 run. He battled side by side with many cars on his way through the field. Around lap 10, going into turn 3, the car in front of us would get on the brakes a lot harder then expected. Shane would jab his front bumper into the 41 car. This would rip the right front fender off the car. However, both cars would continue to race.

As the race went on Shane would find himself stuck on the bottom. There was a slower car in front of him that was holding him up pretty good. He tried to make a pass on the high side after many laps of attempting the pass on the bottom, the track was just too dry-slick compared to the tacky bottom groove. Even though he had a faster car he would have problems getting around the other competitor. After a great run going into turn 1 he would finally get around him and take over the 12th position and begin working on the 97 of John Goodson for 11th.

John and Shane would battle hard for the last 2-3 laps. They were racing clean but at the same time as hard as they could. On the last lap they were touching in turns one and two. One the final corner, we would get a push from behind while racing side by side with Goodson. The car jumped sideways but he was able to save it. Coming to the finish line Shane would get passed by the car that bumped him pushing him back to 13th.

It was not as good as we wanted but it was pretty close. Our plans for the upcoming weekend are not final. We are thinking about dropping the kart practice this Saturday and going to either I-55 Raceway or Highland Speedway in the DIRT car. On Sunday, the plan is to again run Tri-City Speedway if we don't have bad damage from the night before. Stay tuned to the website as the weekend gets closer.

Walters Motorsports would like to thank all our sponsors for there continued support to the team and racing in general. Those include; Caribbean Creme, Champion Racing, Intrepid Kart Technology, Walters Web Design, WMS Race Parts, Home Service Oil Co., Shane Walters Photography, Impressive Race Cars, Hovis Racing Engines, and Mayhem Motorgraphixx.

Media Contact: Walters Motorsports -
Shane@WaltersMotorsports.com
www.WaltersMotorsports.com