Chatsworth, Ga. ö On a great repaired racetrack Saturday night, David Payne, established a new track record at North Georgia Speedway. The new record, 12.86 sec., took down the old record of 13.06 that was set by Shannon Bearden during the late 1980âs. Following his blistering lap Payne was summoned to the front stretch for a brief interview over the trackâs loud speakers.

"I just stuck it in the corners and it stuck," Payne said of his record lap. "They told me over the radio that we needed to push it and I did."

During the feature, Payne set out like a rocket on the first lap. After a daring move on the initial lap to take the lead coming out of turn one, Payne left the field in his tracks for the first 16 laps. As the motor began to smoke during the next lap, the caution flew for the #8 Monte Carlo. The crew soon went to work during the next caution to change the valve cover gaskets that were apparently leaking. After the work was completed, Payne then was sent to the back of the field. Once in the back of the pack Payne was involved in a wreck that tore the front-end of his car nearly off. On the next restart and with his front-end flapping from the damage, the car once again began to smoke. Payne and his crew decided that the best thing to do was bring the car in the pits.

In what seemed to be a recording breaking night, Payne fell short of his third straight win of the season by finishing back in the field several laps down.