Photo Credit - Senoia Raceway Media
Submitted by Ted Austad
(April 10, 2016 - Senoia, GA) Slick racing conditions created a few tense moments at Senoia Raceway on Saturday night, but when the final checkered flag of the night fell there were some new faces in victory lane. Aplin’s Brandon Overton visited the ‘Bull Ring’ for the first time and held off all challenges by defending Craftsman Tools World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Shane Clanton to claim the victory in the Super Late Models. Also, making their first trip to victory lane this season at Senoia Raceway were seventeen-year-old Newnan high schooler Trey Wood in the Crate Late Models and Alabama’s Chris Arnett in the Bombers.
Other winners on Saturday night were Whitesburg’s Austin Horton in the Limited Late Models, Warner-Robins’ Randy Cornwell in the Hobby Stock, JJ Garrett of Monroe in the Mini Stock and Winston’s Michael Page in the B Cadet class.
Overton shot out to the lead from his outside front row starting position in the Super Late Model feature overtaking fast qualifier Chase Junghans of Manhatten, KS. Junghans is currently chasing the points title in the World of Outlaws Series, but their Tennessee event was cancelled due to colder temperatures and the team opted to try the new surface at Senoia Raceway. Fellow series competitor Shane Clanton was able to get under Junghans and drop him one more spot before all settled in on the bottom of the track.
Overton kept all challenges from Clanton closed throughout the 30-lap main event. The battling duo were kept on the edge as they darted in and around lapped traffic through the middle of the race. Clanton would close the gap, but get caught up with a lapped car allowing Overton to continue leading. A late caution eliminated the lapped cars from the race for the lead and Overton pulled away to his first career win at the tough little track. Clanton would settle for runner-up followed by Junghans, Senoia’s Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith and Joe Armistead, Jr.
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| Photo Credit - Senoia Raceway Media |
Knowles overtook Wood on lap 12 as they leaders began to run up against lapped traffic. Page slid past Wood and Lunsford to grab second place behind Knowles.
A caution would come out with five laps remaining that bunched the field for a restart. Page charged into the first turn at the drop of the green with Knowles holding down the low line. As the two raced through turns three and four, Knowles slid up the track a bit squeezing Page towards the upper groove. Page took offense to the action and body slammed Knowles in turn one with both cars crashing into the concrete wall. Page’s car was unable to continue, but Knowles refired to rejoin the race.
The young driver did not agree with the race call to go to the rear of the field for the restart and protested by stopping his race car on the track forcing officials to stop the racing action. The end result was Knowles being disqualified from the event and possibly suspended from racing at Senoia Raceway.
The benefactor of this crazy situation was Trey Wood who inherited the lead for the final four lap dash for the checkers. He would not disappoint his fans quickly moving to lead position while Newnan’s Parrish Duncan slid into the number two spot. Jonathan Harrell, also from Newnan, tangled with Lunsford out of turn two on the restart, but was able to wrestle away third with Lunsford holding on for the next spot. That was how the team’s crossed the finish line as Wood claimed his first Crate Late Model victory at Senoia Raceway.
Alabama’s Chris Arnett also survived a caution-filled race for the Bomber division to claim his first win at Senoia Raceway in a couple of seasons. Arnett purchased a new race car over the two week layoff and was able to bring the car to victory lane. Whitesburg’s Ricky Neill ran a strong race, but had to settle for second ahead of Zebulon’s Jim Jackson, Alabama’s Herbie Donath and Whitesburg’s James Swanger, who sold his primary car to Arnett.
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| Photo Credit - Senoia Raceway Media |
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| Photo Credit - Senoia Raceway Media |
Michael Page distanced himself from the field in the B Cadets as he also went flag to flag for the victory. Great racing behind him saw several three wide battles between Whitesburg’s Blant Duke, LaGrange’s Jake Traylor, Villa Rica’s Matthew Knight and Newnan’s Brandon Bright. Page won for the second time this season ahead of Knight, Duke, Bright and Traylor.
JJ Garrett claimed his third win of the young season, but not without a battle with Griffin’s Marc Leath and Commerce’s Kevin Tullis. After a late race caution, Garrett moved to the lead position setting sail for the winner’s circle over Harold Leath of Hampton and brother Marc finishing in third.
Senoia Raceway cranks up again this Saturday, April 16th with the track’s season points opener. Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith will return to defend his track title in the Super Late Model while young star Joey Armistead will try to double of the championships in the Limited Late Models.
Racing action will include a full slate of competition in the Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Crate Late Models, B Cadets, Hobby Stock and Bomber. The night’s schedule will also include a special series return for the four-cyliner Kajun Mini Stock Association. Drivers from five states are expected to compete for that series win.
The pit gates open at 3pm. Grandstands open at 5pm. Hot laps will begin at 6:30pm with racing at 7pm. Grandstand tickets are $12; ages 5-12 are $5 with four & under admitted for free. Pit passes and trackside parking tickets are $25; ages 5-12 are $20 and four & under are admitted for free.
For additional information, schedules, rules and more, visit the Senoia Raceway website at www.senoiaraceway.com. The track also offers an e-mail newsletter (sign-up on the website), Facebook page, twitter feed, instagram and snapchat for social media access to news and information. You can also contact the track directly at 770.599.6161.
Official results from Saturday, April 9, 2016
Super Late Models (Feature): 1-Brandon Overton, Aplin 2-Shane Clanton, Zebulon 3-Chase Junghans, Manhatten, KS 4-Clint Smith, Senoia 5-Joe Armistead, Jr., Senoia 6-Jordy Nipper, Gray 7-Mason Massey, Douglasville 8-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 9-Jason Williams, Locust Grove 10-Kenny Collins, Cobert 11-Brian Ligon, Augusta 12-Laddie Fulcher, Thomaston 13-Zach Leonhardi, Cartersville 14-Craig Scott, Newnan 15-Austin Winger, Senoia 16-Ricky Williams, Fayetteville 17-Benji Cole, Alberton 18-Shane Fulcer, Thomaston DNS: Tod Darda, LaGrange; Michael Page, Winston; Dana Eiland, Phenix City, AL Fast Qualifier: Junghans (15.817/85.4 mph)
Limited Late Models (Feature): 1-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 2-Clifton Moran, Carrollton 3-Joey Armistead, Senoia 4-Montana Dudley, Ladonia, AL 5-Clint Smith, Senoia 6-Dustin Elliott, Pine Mountain 7-Matt Larson, Marietta 8-Tyler Thomason, Phenix City, AL 9-Jason Williams, Locust Grove 10-Rucker Orr, Newnan 11-Hunter Worley, Alvaton 12-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 13-Trey White, Jenkinsburg 14-Mark Knight, Villa Rica 15-Jayce Southwell, Brooks 16-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville 17-Jamie Carr, LaGrange DNS: Matt Dooley, Brooks; Aubrey Merritt, Carrollton; Jimmy Thomas, Phenix City, AL; Shane Criswell, Bowden.
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Trey Wood, Newnan 2-Parrish Duncan, Newnan 3-Jonathan Harrell, Newnan 4-Marty Lunsford, Newnan 5-Rob Temples, McDonough 6-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 7-Jamie Maurice, McDonough 8-Bailey Temples, McDonough 9-Dorough Bright, Newnan 10-Kyle Cochran 11-Jamie Brown, Temple 12-Chris Carr, Newnan 13-Mark Page, Winston 14-Corey Payton, Newnan DQ-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL (disobeying officials) DNS: Tim Dixon, Manchester; Kyle Clifton, Ranburne, AL
B Cadet (Feature): 1-Michael Page, Winston 2-Matthew Knight, Villa Rica 3-Blant Duke, Carrollton 4-Brandon Bright, Newnan 5-Jake Traylor, LaGrange 6-Roger Arnett, Lannett, AL 7-Dakota Weeks, Douglasville 8-Dennis Lykins, Jr., Sharpsburg 9-Brian Womack, Villa Rica 10-Brian Hester 11-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 12-Bennie Croy, McDonough 13-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove 14-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 15-Clyde Alexander, Locust Grove DNS: Wiley McDaniel, Byron; Richard Goode, Hampton; Luke Pilson, Kennesaw
Hobby Stock (Feature): 1-Randy Cornwell, Warner-Robins 2-Curtis Turner, Brooks 3-Drew Larson, Bremen 4-Chris Steele, Franklin 5-Ryan Ray, Mableton 6-H B Duke, Whitesburg 7-Gary Brand, Hogasnville 8-Chad Foster, Griffin 9-Mike Jenkins, Brooks 10-Steven Parker, Temple 11-Ben Steele, Franklin DNS: Ben Wells, Milner; John Michael Schmear, Auburn, AL; Dustin Perry, Carrollton; John Holder, Milner
Mini Stock (Feature): 1-JJ Garrett, Monroe 2-Harold Leath, Hampton 3-Marc Leath, Griffin 4-Rocky Johnson, Douglasville 5-Kevin Tullis, Commerce 6-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove 7-Denver Stepp, Powder Springs 8-Keith West 9-Brandon Bright, Newnan 10-Russell Teal, Ranburne, AL 11-Ronnie Teal, Lithia Springs DNS: Jamie Nicholson, Sr., Locust Grove; Wesley Patterson, Williamson
Bomber (Feature): 1-Chris Arnett, Lannett, AL 2-Ricky Neill, Whitesburg 3-Jim Jackson, Zebulon 4-Herbie Donath, Phenix City, AL 5-James Swanger, Whitesburg 6-Jody Buckner 7-Tim Harmon, Conyers 8-Bruce Tidwell, Whitesburg 9-Joe Phillips, Hogasnville 10-Michael Couch, Senoia 11-Shane Tidwell, Whitesburg 12-Ted Willingham 13-Blake Harmon, Mansfield 14-Mike Lilly, Lithia Springs 15-Josh Allen, Atlanta 16-Carly Arnett, Lannett, AL 17-Lamar Height
