Smith And Cornwell Double Up Wins At Senoia Raceway

Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credits: Francis Hauke

(May 22, 2016 - Senoia, GA)  Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith led every lap Saturday night to claim his second Super Late Model feature victory of the season at Senoia Raceway.  The veteran driver also went flag to flag in the Limited Late Model main event to win his fourth of the year while Randy Cornwell clean swept the Hobby Stock twins.  The duo dominated their features at the tough 3/8ths mile ‘bull ring’.

The winner’s circle did welcome a couple of newcomers as Dustin Ogletree won the Mini Stock main in his first visit to Senoia Raceway and Jody Knowles topped the B Cadet feature for a first time trip.  Bubba Pollard returned to dirt racing this weekend and won the battle for the checkers in the Crate Late Model division while Tim Harmon notched the victory for the second straight week in the Bomber class.

‘Cat Daddy’ started his dominating performance by jumping out to the lead over fast qualifier and pole sitter Tod Darda of LaGrange in the Super Late Model show.  Smith left the racing to the battle for second through fifth as Darda fought off the challenges of 20-year-old Whitesburg hot shoe Austin Horton.  Horton wrestled away the second place position on lap 10.

The driver on the move was Senoia veteran Joe Armistead, Jr.  He started a little further back in the pack after missing the set-up in single lap qualifying.  Armistead was able to get his car rolling on the top side of the speedway moving to fifth past Douglasville’s Lamar Haygood before the halfway mark.  He continued his climb up the leaderboard on lap 18 when he passed 15-year-old young gun Austin Winger and then Darda two laps later to snare third place.  The last change for position came with only a couple of laps left as Winger slipped past Darda.

Smith won the race followed by Horton and Armistead.  Winger was fourth ahead of Darda while Haygood, Cartersville’s Zach Leonhardi, Thomaston’s Laddie and Shane Fulcher and Sharpsburg’s ‘Flyin’ Brian Reese rounded out the top ten.

Clint Smith went flag to flag in the Limited Late Model feature.  The second generation Senoia veteran was never challenged as Fayetteville’s Glenn Morris ran second ahead of Douglasville newcomer Cory Hillman was third.  Fayetteville teenager Bailey Williams came home fourth ahead of Brooks’ Jayce Southwell.

Warner-Robins’ Randy Cornwell worked to the inside of Villa Rica’s Joe Hillman on lap six of the Hobby Stock’s first feature.  The Hobbies were making up the race that was scheduled for the week prior after being postponed due to the curfew.  Cornwell never looked back posting the win ahead of Hillman, Brooks’ Curtis Turner, Franklin’s Chris Steele and the defending points champion in the Hobby Stock, Ben Wells of Milner.

In the second go around for the Hobby Stock, Cornwell drew the outside pole grabbing the lead at the drop of the green.  The current points leader did not waver leading the entire race and winning for the sixth time this season ahead of Hillman and Turner again.  Whitesburg’s HB Duke came home fourth in the night cap while Carrollton’s Dustin Smith completed the first five finishers.

Seventeen-year-old Trey Wood was the initial leader in the Crate Late Model tilt, but the wily veteran Bubba Pollard used an early race restart to slip past.  Once in the lead, Pollard used hit his marks building on the lead over Wood while Alabama’s Chase Edge, Cord Dodgen and ‘Wild’ Will Herrington of Cochran entertained with an intense battle for third through fifth.  The ‘gumbo clay’ allowed for the drivers to race side by side and sometimes three wide as they raced from the top to the bottom of the slick racing surface.

“The gumbo clay surface allows drivers to drive the track and race each other,” said promoter Mayes Massey.  “The horsepower is equaled in a hurry and the track brings out the best in driving ability creating some of the best racing seen in this part of the country.”

Pollard won his third race of the season as he jumps back and forth between racing on the clay at Senoia and asphalt racing around the nation.  Trey Wood ended up as the runner-up while Chase Edge finished third in his first race on the tricky racing surface.  Herrington won the battle for fourth with Dodgen fifth.

Sharpsburg’s Jody Knowles ran side by side with Alabama’s Roger Arnett to open the racing action in the B Cadet feature.  Knowles would secure the top spot a few laps later before setting the cruise control for best photo spot at the track.  Arnett would be left to scrap for second with McDnough’s Josh Copeland and Locust Grove’s Billy ‘The Kid’ Stevenson.  Just behind this great race was another group of hard chargers with Newnan’s Bobby ‘Wild Child’ Arnold, Milledgeville’s Cory Dunn and points leader Parrish Duncan of Newnan swapping positions.

A number of cautions kept the field from completing all fifteen laps as the race was halted at lap thirteen after yet another yellow flag.  Knowles was declared the winner ahead of Arnett and Copeland.  Stevenson was fourth ahead of Arnold.  Dunn eneded up sixth ahead of Duncan.

In his first appearance at the ‘bull ring’ Dustin Ogletree held off all challenges from the previous week’s race winner Mike ‘Bam Bam’ Younginer in the Mini Stock race.  Ogletree would only be challenged on the couple of restarts posting the first win of his career at Senoia Raceway.  Younginer would come home second ahead of Good Hope’s Grant Roberts.

An early caution in the Bomber feature involved the two front runners in the points race.  McDonough’s Ted Willingham spun in front of the field after contact with Cochran’s Brian Jones. The spin collected the driver he was chasing in the point standings, Jim Jackson of Zebulon.  Willingham was not able to continue while Jackson refired and gained a top five finish.

Senoia’s Michael Couch snared the lead on the restart from pole sitter George Purgason of Hogasville.  Couch would lead until just past the halfway mark when Conyer’s Tim Harmon would gain the edge on the inside.  Harmon slipped past after a great side by side battle with Couch.  He would not look back posting the victory for the second straight week.  Couch was the runner-up for the second week in a row while James Swanger of Whitesburg finished third ahead of Macon’s Brandon McDaniel and Jackson.

Senoia Raceway will honor American military members that lost their lives in past conflicts this upcoming weekend.  The Red, White & Blue Military Tribute will include racing action in the Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Crate Late Models, B Cadets, Hobby Stock, Bombers and Mini Stock.  The night will conclude with a huge fireworks display presented by Turkey Creek Snacks.

The pit gate will open 4pm while the 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, May 21, 2016
Super Late Models (Feature):  1-Clint Smith, Senoia  2-Austin Horton, Whitesburg  3-Joe Armistead, Jr., Senoia  4-Ashton Winger, Senoia  5-Tod Darda, LaGrange  6-Lamar Haygood, Douglasville  7-Zach Leonhardi, Cartersville  8-Laddie Fulcher, Thomaston  9-Shane Fulcher, Thomaston  10-Brian Reese, Sharpsburg  11-Joey Armistead, Senoia  12-Mason Massey, Douglasville  13-Ricky Williams, Fayetteville  14-Steven Bloodworth, McIntyre  15-Chad Marchman, LaGrange  Fast Qualifier: Darda (16.318/82.7 mph)
Limited Late Models (Feature):  1-Clint Smith, Senoia  2-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville  3-Cory Hillman, Douglasville  4-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville  5-Jayce Southwell, Brooks  6-Brandon Bright, Newnan  7-Jamie Carr, LaGrange  Fast Qualifier: Smith (16.483 seconds/81.9 mph)
Crate Late Models (Feature):  1-Bubba Pollard, Senoia  2-Trey Wood, Newnan  3-Chase Edge, Penton, AL  4-Will Herrington, Cochran  5-Cord Dodgen, Lafayette, AL  6-Dylan Knowles, Lanett, AL  7-Pearson Williams  8-Bobby Mills, Griffin  9-Marty Lunsford, Newnan  10-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg  11-Tim Dixon, Manchester  12-Richard Dale, Winston  13-Jamie Brown, Temple  14-Bailey Temples, McDonough  15-Mike Bruner, Dallas  DNS: Dorough Bright, Newnan  Fast Qualifier: Pollard (16.301/82.8 mph)
B Cadet (Feature):  1-Jody Knowles, Sharpsburg  2-Roger Arnett, Lanett, AL  3-Josh Copeland, McDonough  4-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove  5-Bobby Arnold, Newnan  6-Cory Dunn, Milledgeville  7-Parrish Duncan, Newnan  8-Monte Vaughn, Phenix City, AL  9-Caleb Gay, Dublin  10-Dustin Elliott, Pine Mountain  11-Cameron Hall  12-Brandon Pijnenburg, Five Points, AL  13-William Blair, Whitesburg  14-Wiley McDaniel, Macon  15-Scott Gaddy, Newnan  16-Benny Croy, McDonough  DNS: Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan; Bubba Gorman, Phenix City, AL  Heat Winners: Stevenson & Arnett
Hobby Stock (Feature #1):  1-Randy Cornwell, Warner-Robins  2-Joe Hillman, Villa Rica  3-Curtis Turner, Brooks  4-Chris Steele, Franklin  5-Ben Wells, Milner  6-HB Duke, Whitesburg  7-Gary Brand, Hogansville  8-Chad Foster, Griffin  9-Lee McElwaney, Newnan  10-Kevin Page, Lanett, AL  11-Dustin Smith, Carrollton
Hobby Stock (Feature #2):  1-Cornwell  2-Hillman  3-Turner  4-Duke  5-Smith  6-Page  7-Foster  8-McElwaney  9-Steele  10-Wells  11-Shannon Stephens, Newnan  12-Brand
Mini Stock (Feature):  1-Dustin Ogletree  2-Mike Younginer, Locust Grove  3-Grant Roberts, Good Hope  4-Dustin Bales  5-Harold Leath, Hampton  6-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove  7-Ronnie Teal, Lithia Springs  8-John Caldwell, Senoia  9-Denver Stepp, Powder Springs  10-Tommy Faulkner, Newnan  11-Rocky Johnson, Douglasville  12-Jamie Nicholson, Sr., Locust Grove  13-Cassie Dingler-Stll, Newnan
Bomber (Feature):  1-Tim Harmon, Conyers  2-Michael Couch, Senoia  3-James Swanger, Whitesburg  4-Brandon McDaniel, Macon  5-Jim Jackson, Zebulon  6-George Purgason, Hogansville  7-Brent Harmon, Mansfield  8-Brian Jones, Cochran  9-Scott Amoson, Newnan  10-Blake Harmon, Mansfield  11-Ted Willingham, McDonough