Photo from Bridgett Whitener
By ROB
LEE
WAYNESVILLE,
Ga. (Oct. 1) – The open-ended tail of the new Longhorn chassis jiggled slightly
in the LD Buildings Tech Garage as busy hands worked in the engine compartment.
Then the
thumbs up signal and shout from the crew “it’s official.”
That is
how dominant Mark Whitener was Saturday at Golden Isles Speedway.
He
spotted the first lap to series leader and fast qualifier Rhett Carter, then
motored by, set sail on the top groove and won the I-95 Toyota Late Model
Challenge Series 30-lap feature.
“We just
picked the high line,” Whitener said. “The car was great all night so just ran
my line where I like to run.”
Carter
would fall to third behind Kyle Bridges on Lap 20 right before the race’s
second caution. Donnie Chappell and Scott Johnson rounded out the top five at
the finish.
Whitener’s
engine was protested by a competitor, but was found to be legal by track
officials as it lay in pieces in the tech area.
The
combination of the new Longhorn Chassis and track to his liking allowed the
Magicman to perform the disappearing act on the rest of the field.
“The
track was great all night. I had a good car all night. I didn’t touch it. I
didn’t even practice that last session. So I was just going to get on the wheel
and drive it.”
Whitener’s
United Land Clearing/Racecar Engineering/Bozard Ford-Lincoln/Quicklane Tire and
Auto Center new machine now has two wins and a second after three starts.
The
Middleburg, Fla. star also took the I-95 TLMCS win May 21 at GIS. This was his
16th overall win of 2016.
“Daryl
(Courson) had the track really, really good. When you have a track that you can
run bottom, middle and top it’s just awesome.”
Attrition
was a key in the EMod Super Challenge 5 series finale. It may not have mattered
up front as Bud Chancey continued his masterful season ending march. The Yulee,
Fla. ace took his third straight $1,500 SC5 win.
“I have a
lot of good help and they put me in good equipment,” Chancey said and laughed.
“It makes me look good more than anything.”
Chancey’s
Meyers-Chancey Racing/Allen’s Pro Trailers/First Coast Hydraulic Shaw started
fifth, moved by Allen Scurry on Lap 8 and paced the remainder of the 25-lap
distance.
Nick
Kirkus, Jason Garver, Frankie Lloyd and Dillon Turner followed.
Chancey
wrapped up the SC5 title.
“The
track was nice, pretty smooth,” Chancey added. “You can race on either end, top
or bottom.”
Scott
Waters had been Mr. Consistent in the Limited Late Models all season, but
without a win. He ended that streak Saturday with the 20-lap victory.
He
outdistanced Cecil Eunice, Adam Collins, Woodrow Mullis and John Strickland.
Brian
Wooten said “it wasn’t pretty,” but it sure was efficient. The B-dub Express
topped yet another NeSmith Performance Street Stock 20 lap finale. He sped by
Brian Grantham on Lap 6 and never looked back.
Tyler
Turvin, Kyle Livingood, Chuck Stokes and Bubba Christian were next as Grantham
faded to seventh by the end.
Livingood
pitted during an early caution while running second. He tailed the field on the
restart, but drove back up to the show position.
Billy
Ammons won the battle and Johnny Barker the war in the Enduros. Ammons took off
from row one and led all 15 laps of the feature. Point leader Barker survived
an off night and several cautions to finish fifth and unofficially wrap up the
track championship.
Finishing
in between the two at the checkers were Scott Washam, Jack Hill and Luke Hayes,
who drove from 22nd starting position to crack the top five.
Saturday’s event completed the track and SC5
points races in all classes and champs will be crowned at the December 3 GIS
banquet
Rhett
Carter tops the I-95 TLMCS with the final go in two weeks.
That
event will be part of the 3rd Annual Showdown on the Coast Oct. 13-15.
NPSS will
be featured with a 100-lap feature paying $10,000 to win with $3,000 to the
winner of the B-Main. Late Models run for $3,000. NeSmith Crate Late Models
battle for $5,000.EMods, Limited Late Models, Super Streets, Enduros, 440s and
Powder Puffs also are in action.
Thursday
Oct. 13 will be practice night 7-10 p.m. with free grandstand admission.
Friday
Oct. 14 will be preliminaries for NPSS, I-95 TLMCS and NCLMs plus full shows
for Limiteds and Super Streets.
Saturday
Oct. 15 will be B-Mains and features for the first three classes and complete
shows for EMods, Enduros and Powder Puffs.
Camping,
two-night pit pass discount and Saturday morning breakfast are all available.
For more
information log on to gisdirt.com, goldenislesspeedway.com, the track’s
Facebook page or call 912-778-3767.
Following are results from stock car racing Saturday
evening Oct. 1 at Golden Isles Speedway, Waynesville, Ga.
I-95 Toyota Late Model Challenge Series
Feature
(30 laps) – 1. 5 Mark Whitener 2. 6B Kyle Bridges 3. 44 Rhett Carter 4. 25
Donnie Chappell 5. 12J Scott Johnson 6. 3K Kyle Vansickle 7. 71 Bo Allen 8. 47
Tyler Crowder 9. 2 Brandon Dewitt 10. 6S Blake Spencer 11. 51T Chad Tuten 12.
27H Larry Harrod 13. 99 Travis Carter 14. RODS Charlie Williamson 15. 7P Shawn
Pritchard 16. 21W Hampton White 17. 45 Charlie Flowers 18. 22 Cecil Eunice 19.
12 Kevin White 20. 40 Ronald Thomas 21. 121 Pearson Williams (Did Not Start –
58 Devin Dixon).
Qualifying
– 1. R. Carter 15.378 2. Whitener 15.452 3. T. Carter 15.637 4. Chappell 15.721
5. Johnson 12.928
EMods
Feature
(20 laps) – 1. 181 Bud Chancey 2. 20K Nick Kirkus 3. 27 Jason Garver 4. Frankie
Lloyd 5. 10 Dillon Turner 6. Jerol Stepp 7. 17 Allen Scurry 8. 18G Randy Gainey
9. 99L Jordan Lockhart 10. 4 Kenny Wells 11. 50 David Markham 12. 12T Allen
Tatum 13. 46 Trey Pearson 14. 2 Ray Durrance.
1st Heat
(8 laps) – 1. Kirkus 2. F. Lloyd 3. Chancey 4. Durrance
2nd Heat
(8 laps) - 1. Scurry 2. Turner 3. Garver
4. Pearson
Limited Late Models
Feature
(20 laps) -1. 5 Scott Waters 22. Cecil Eunice 3. 3 Adam Collins 4. 24 Woodrow
Mullis 5. 43 John Strickland 6.11 Paul Jones 7. 27 Garrett Lloyd (Did Not Start
– 14 Daniel Thompson, 29 Don Corbitt)
Qualifying
– 1. Lloyd 16.938 2. Waters 17.610 3 Eunice 17.694 4. Mullis 17.939 5. Collins
17.945
NeSmith Performance Street Stocks
Feature
(20 laps) – 1. 81 Brian Wooten 2. 02 Tyler Turvin 3. 122 Kyle Livingood 4. 11
Chuck Stokes 5. 04 Bubba Christian 6. 28D Matt Deen 7. 8G Brian Grantham 8. 2R
Jamie Flowers 9. 96 Luke Johns 10. X Chris Keller 11. 1X Chris Williams 12. P28
Piearce Thrift 13. 92 Zach Stotz 14. 52 Dale Mimbs 15. 24J Jason Price 16. 424
Shaun Washam 17. 88H Creg Hall 18. 06 Ricky McDonald 19. 132 Bud Chancey 20. 2
John Corbitt.
1st Heat
(8 laps) – 1. Washam 2. Grantham 3. Johns 4. Flowers
2nd Heat
(8 laps) - 1. Livingood 2. Wooten 3.
Turvin 4. Stokes
Enduros
Feature
(15 laps) – 1. 21 Billy Ammons 2. 21W Scott Washam 3. 87 Jack Hill 4. 20 Luke
Hayes 5. 6 Johnny Barker 6. 16 John Carlino 7. 26D Kyle Davis 8. 88 Chris
Keller 9. 14 Tristen Kinchen 10. 5 Chase Ammons 11. 5B Bryan Beasley 12. 12
John Noe 13. 7H Marvin Heater 14. 41 Charles Smith 15. 17C Tami Clark 16. 35
John Kelly 17. 73 Megan Grant 18. 44R Timmy Roach 19. 3 Dylan Taylor 20. 19
Jonathan Rowe (Did Not Start – OU812 Alvin Carlson, 11 Stephen Kinchen).
1st Heat
(8 laps) – 1. Washam 2. Hill 3. Clark 4. Barker
2nd Heat
(8 laps) - 1. B. Ammons 2. Rowe 3. C.
Ammons 4. S. Kinchen
