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PAGE 2B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 5. 2015
North Georgia Falcons alumni game Feb. 7
Pictured is 2014 Alumni game players.
On Saturday, February 7, at 7 p.m. at Pickens
County Recreation Department, the North Georgia
Falcons will hold the annual Alumni game between
the current Falcon basketball team and the former
players - Young Guns vs Old Guys.
At half time, the Falcons will honor the 2015
seniors and their parents. Admission is $2 per per
son and open to the public.
Smith 12th in first Pro Late Model race
MCS Motorsports racer
Chandler Smith of Jasper ran his
first Pro Late Model race at the
SpeedFest 2015 at the Water
melon Capital Speedway in
Cordele, Ga., bringing home a
12th place finish.
Practice went well on Satur
day after racers didn’t get any
practice in on Friday because of
the rain. Chandler Qualified 16th
on Saturday then they didn’t get
to touch the car until the race on
Sunday. Chandler finished 12th
out of the 27 cars that started the
race. He ran all 125 laps. He did
a great job for his first Pro Late
Model race.
Thanks to Rusty Clanton,
Murry Timm and all the crew for
all their hard work.
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Mountain City Soccer Club partners with The Championship League,
Charlton Athletic Football Club from the United Kingdom
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Mountain City Soccer kids pictured with Charlton Athletic FC logo. Front row (kneeling):
Chloe Young, Kota Crowe,; back row (l-r): Bella Crowe, Pete Bryant, James Carlan, Ellie
Halko, Oliver Shaw, Peyton Johnson, Caleb Bryant.
Mountain City Soccer Club
(MCSC) is excited to announce
that it has entered into a partner
ship with Charlton Athletic Foot
ball Club UK, a professional
soccer club which plays in The
Championship, the second tier of
professional soccer in UK.
MCSC’s relationship with Charl
ton Athletic will enhance the fur
ther development of player skills
and coaching techniques through
the use of resources available
from a professional soccer club’s
youth development programs.
Players from MCSC will also
have an opportunity to visit the
Charlton Athletic FC ground and
academy training facilities in the
UK as part of this partnership.
MCSC will host a summer
soccer camp which will be
staffed and run by the academy
coaches of Charlton Athletic FC
with the hope of finding a “dia
mond in the rough” here in Pick
ens County.
MCSC was founded in 2011
with the purpose of promoting
and advancing the sport of soccer
for the youth in Pickens County.
Since that time the club has
grown to more than 20 teams in
the age group U6 through U19,
including academy level teams.
MCSC has participated in many
tournaments in the state of Geor
gia, making it to the finals nu
merous times. The mission of
MCSC is to provide an instruc
tional and competitive youth soc
cer program that builds character
and instills self-confidence, self
esteem and respect for self and
others while incorporating all the
inherent benefits of physical ex
ercise.
MCSC encourages all young
people to come out and try soccer
as we will continue to enhance
the standards and profile of soc
cer in Pickens County and we
look forward to seeing as many
new players as possible for our
spring and fall seasons.
Support the PHS Dragon Baseball Team
and do something nice for that special valentine.
Buy a $5 Valentine's Day Raffle ticket from any
PHS baseball player and you could win:
A Dozen Roses
Movie Tickets
Facial for Her • Dinner
Sweets • and MORE
Winners will be drawn
Friday, February 13 th
at the Dragons Black/Green Scrimmage.
Racing Views
Twelve year old racing
By Jumper Cable Man
In the world of racing each
year we welcome the rookies to
our beloved sport. We realize
that without rookies our sport
would soon wither and become
extinct. But note that we only
look at drivers, car owners and
new sponsors this way, not new
fans in most cases.
As we start a new season we
are reminded of the role rookies
and veterans play in the sport.
This past weekend, the NeSmith
Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Rac
ing Series opened their 2015 sea
son a Bubba Raceway Park in
Ocala, FI. Two of the veterans
racing that would appear to be
threats to win or at least be in the
top 10 each night were Ronnie
Johnson of Chattanooga, Tn.,
and Johnny Stokes of Columbus,
Ms. Both of these drivers have
been following this series for a
number of years. Both drivers
were accomplished dirt Late
Model racers before the birth of
this series.
On the first night of racing
last Wednesday night, Stokes
took 7th and Johnson took 12th
in the feature event. But the big
news was that in the 6th spot and
in the 8th position were rookies.
Stokes, at 61 years old, was the
oldest driver in the field but the
driver in front of him in the 6th
slot was 12 years old. That’s
right, 12-year-old Tyler Clem
was wheeling a Late Model race
car with the best of them and
was taking sixth place.
Clem might be a rookie in the
NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late
Model Racing Series, but he is
not a rookie to racing all types of
race cars. Tyler has been racing
Dirt Late Models, Winged Sprint
cars and Mini Sprints since 2013
at his dad’s race track. His father,
Bubba “The Love Sponge”
Clem, owns Bubba Raceway
Park and is a “shock jock” on the
satellite radio system.
Several years ago, Bubba was
racing 360 Winged Sprint Cars
at East Bay Raceway Park in
Gibsonton (Tampa), FI. Tyler
seems to have the same desire to
race as he has laid claim to 14
championships including 4 Na
tional championships with his
quarter-midget racing and go-
karts before moving to the big
ger cars.
Tyler’s Late Model career ap
pears to have started in March of
2013. By the end of the 2013
season he had four 1st place fin
ishes and was a regular in the top
10. His first win in a Limited
Late Model came in June of
2013. Then in 2014 Tyler moved
to the Late Model class and
scored his lone win on Septem
ber 20. Even then, his 2013 sea
son was full of top 5 finishes to
go with the win. By the end of
the year Tyler was beginning to
race at other tracks that were not
owned by his dad. His treks to
these tracks were in both his Late
Model car and his Winged Sprint
Car.
The announced intention is to
race for the Rookie of the Year
Award with the NeSmith
Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Se
ries. This endeavor will mean
that the young Clem will have to
travel to his racing venues with
out the aid of a driver’s license.
Don’t expect this to be a problem
for the future racing star.
Clem finished the other races
at Ocala with a 5th place finish
on Thursday night and then a 7th
spot on Friday night. Then on
Saturday night it was the race
that had been postponed from
2014 the 10th Annual Chevrolet
Performance World Champi
onship Race which would pay
$10,000 to the winner. Tyler did
n’t win but he did finish 7th and
took home $ 1,300 for his efforts.
Not a bad racing start for any
racer but especially not for a 12-
year-old. Tyler is now 3rd in the
points for the NeSmith Series
and is in front of Ronnie Johnson
in 4th and Johnny Stokes who is
further back than 5th.
Tyler Clem is a driver who
could go on to be one of the new
drivers in the world of Winged
Sprint Car racing or could even
go on to the ranks of NASCAR.
We could be watching the begin
ning of a new Jeff Gordon,
Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson or
Joey Logano. If you would like
to see this young driver up close
and personal, you only need a
ticket to a dirt track near you. He
will be racing the NeSmith Se
ries for 2015 and there will be
several times when they are
close to were you are.
The real test for Tyler will be
how well he competes when he
is racing on tracks where he has
never been before. His racing at
the Ocala track would allow him
to be more familiar with the way
the track reacts since he would
have been around it all the time.
But the rubber meats the dirt
when he is faced with the prob
lems of hooking his high horse
power car to a track he has never
seen before. Before the end of
the 2015 season, we will know
just how much desire to win this
young driver has.
On February 3-7 Screven
Motorsports Park in Sylvania
will host their Winter Freeze V
featuring the World of Outlaws
Late Models, the Renegades of
Dirt Modifieds and the Screven
Late Models racing feature races
from Thursday night through
Saturday night. Wednesday night
will be a practice night for all
classes. Then it is on to February
6 and 7 where Golden Isles
Speedway in Brunswick will
offer a full racing program fea
turing the Lucas Oil Late Model
Dirt Series and the Southern
Thunder Late Models on both
nights.
The weekend of February 14
will find Swainsboro Raceway
in Swainsboro hosting the 14th
Annual Trade Show, Swap Meet,
Auction and Ride Along at the
race track.
Send us your comments,
questions, answers or corrections
to P.O. Box 1522, Woodstock,
Ga. 30188-1522, or to our e-mail
at Jcableman@aol.com
JYSA Dragons Junior Wrestling Club
Building champions on and off the mat
Mid-season update
It has been a great first half of the season for the
JYSA Dragons Junior Wrestling Club. The journey
began in August and will end March 7 at the state
championship held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The Dragons have had multiple tournament
champions and many tournament placers this sea
son. We have also made some noise on the national
level as well. This success is a direct result of all
of the hard work that our wrestlers and coaches
have put in this season and the support that we have
received from the JYSA Board of directors. Over
the past three years we have seen tremendous
growth in our program.
JYSA Dragons Junior Wrestling now has over
30 members and five Bronze certified coaches in
volved in the program. The Club is a member of
USA Wrestling and chartered by Team Georgia.
The wrestlers and coaches would like to thank
Jasper Mayor John Weaver and the JYSA Board for
providing us a place to call home and the proper
equipment to prepare for success. We could have
not achieved the level of success that we have
achieved this year without your support.
Go Dragons!
JV Wildwood girls bring home 3rd
Wildwood Christian Acad
emy Junior Varsity girls relay
team came in 3rd at the GISA
state championship Saturday,
January 31, at Georgia Tech.
This was one of the most ex
citing races watched during
the day. The girls only missed
2nd place by a few 100th of a
second. The girls also got 5th
place on their free relay.
Varsity swimmer Nadia
Hopkins bought home an 8th
place in the 200 free. Marie
Blackmar took home 4th in
breast stroke, 7th in the 50
yard free and 8th in the 100
yard free. Aubrey Ortman
took home 4th in the 100 yard
IM, 7th in the 50 yard back
stroke and 8 th in the 50 yard
fly. Only the top 8 in each
event got awards. The other
swimmers who represents
Wildwood all improve their
times.
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Shown are relay team (l-r): Ryan Duffy, Libby Womack,
Marie Blackmar and Aubrey Ortman.