Tuesday, March 29, 2005 As the Southern Series sets up camp at Daytona all this week for the Southern Series finale, yes, the Championship Class title is a done deal — again, congrats to Matt Varsha — but the battle for P2 should be hot and heavy. Especially on the high banks of “The World Center of Racing,” where the R/T 2000 drafts like you read about. You could be in fifth place on one lap, and the leader next time around! Chris Hill is just 36 tallies ahead of David “P” Libby for second overall, so that will be fun to watch.

The Sportsman title is wide open: Murray Marden is just 3 up on Mike Gomez, 137 to 134. Third through 10th in the standings are far from settled, so the racing should be really good.

Five-time winner Murray Marden (shown here with fellow racer and wife Michele) is having a great year, and heads to Daytona three points up on Mike Gomez (below), who’s taken home the big hardware four times.

Gomez hopes to unseat Marden from the top spot in the battle for the Sportsman honors.

The Skip Barber Masters National is also at Daytona, for rounds five and six. It’s up to Dick Lippert, John Mayes, Peter Tucker, John Peterson and Jimmy Locke to pull the reins on Chris Willcox, who has three wins and a second. These two races are going to be epic, we can assure you.

John Mayes (l.) and Peter Tucker (r.) will be chasing down Masters National points leader Chris Willcox.

The season-wrap awards banquet is at “Daytona U.S.A.,” the 60,000-square-foot interactive motorsports attraction that is a world-class showplace. The “ceremonies” will be huge fun, hosted by the world’s second-best MC, Mr. Terry Lee Earwood.

Rick Roso