Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo Credits: Francis Hauke
(November 13, 2016 - Senoia, GA) Shane Clanton from Zebulon ran flag to flag Saturday night to claim the $10,000 top prize at the inaugural running of the ‘Showdown at Senoia’ year end auto racing extravaganza at the 3/8ths mile bull ring in Senoia. Clanton jumped in front of polesitter Jimmy Owens of Newport, TN and then held off a late race scare provided by Winston’s Michael Page.
“It’s always good to win. It’s even better to win close to home,” said Clanton afterwards on the front stretch.
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| Shane Clanton |
The 2015 Craftsman Tools World of Outlaws Late Model Tour champion, Shane Clanton, used the high side of the slick racing gumbo clay to sneak past Owens. Then he slowly made his way back to the bottom increasing his lead through the middle part of the 60-lap main event.
Michael Page emerged as his strongest contender near the halfway mark and then began to pressure Clanton as the two began to work lapped traffic. Clanton went low on the slower traffic entering turn three on lap 52 which allowed Page to sneak past on the highside. But, that tease at the lead was short lived as Clanton charged past the lapped car while Page had to slow slightly giving Clanton the lead back. That close call was enough for Clanton to turn it up a notch and he pulled away through the final few laps to claim the victory.
Michael Page settled for second place ahead of Evans’ Brandon Overton in third. Kansas hot shoe Chase Junghans was fourth followed by polesitter Jimmy Owens. Short track dirt racing ace Scott Bloomquist finished in sixth place while Mississippi’s David Breazeale was seventh. Acworth’s TJ Reaid was eighth, Tennessee’s Riley Hickman ninth and the race’s hard-charger was Cartersville teenager Zach Leonhardi rounding out the first ten. Leonhardi started eighteenth after making the field with a win in the second consolation race.
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| Michael Page |
Michael Page redeemed himself with a victory in the Limited Late Model feature. Page went flag to flag holding off ‘Magic’ Matt Dooley of Brooks. Dooley ran a close race as he ran the top of the race track while Page was on the bottom. Dooley would get close, but never was able to even get a nose past Page.
In the end, Page claimed the checkers ahead of Dooley with Tyrone’s Jody Knowles charging up through the field to grab third place. Newnan teenager Trey Wood ran fourth ahead of Tennessee’s Kyle Courtney in fifth. It was Courtney’s first race at the tricky track.
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| Riley Hickman |
Tennessee’s Riley Hickman dominated the Crate Late Model feature race. Or at least until the last few laps. Hickman had to work to hold the trophy at the end when Senoia’s ‘Cat Daddy’ Clint Smith worked the high side to near perfection chasing him down and nearly getting past. Only a late caution kept the hard charging Smith from overtaking Hickman. Jake Knowles climbed through the field to snare a third place finish in front of Alabama’s Tom Maddox and Newnan’s Craig Scott.
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| Clint Smith |
Clint Smith did not disappoint his fans in the B Cadet main event. Smith bolted to the lead over Michael Page and never looked back posting the victory. Page ran second and completed his third feature race of the night.
“Whew, yeah, I’m pretty tired,” said an exhausted Page after his final race of the night.
Page ran 115 laps on Saturday night in the Super Late Model, Limited Late Model and B Cadet finished in second, first and second again.
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| James Swanger |
James Swanger of Whitesburg took advantage of a slight bobble in turn one by young gun Dalton Poston. The Lithia Springs teenager had led most of the second half of the feature for the Hobby Stock division when he missed his point entering the first turn. That was the shot Swanger had needed as he moved along side and then into the lead as the final lap began. Swanger made no mistake claiming the Showdown laurels for the Hobby. Polston would settle for second ahead of Villa Rica’s ‘Smokin’ Joe Hillman.
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| Tony Coffman |
The Mini Stock race was marred by thirteen cautions including a final one that saw then leader Dan Bennett of Loganville get taken out by Villa Rica’s Todd Brewster. The two charged down into turn one where Brewster tried to get underneath the leader Bennett. The two touched and that contact sent both up the track and into the exterior concrete ending their night.
Mississippi’s Tony Coffman inherited the lead and cruised the final two laps to post his first career victory at the ‘bull ring’. Alabama’s Brannon Knight would come home second ahead of Locust Grove’s Mike ‘Bam Bam’ Younginer in third. Younginer had come into the race event enjoying a four race win streak.
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| J.R. Hardy |
The Showdown at Senoia features also saw JR Hardy claim the first year special hardware for his performance in the Bomber main event. Hardy held off a former divisional champion, Mike Nelms of Newnan, to win the big event. Seasonal points champion Tim Harmon of Conyers was third.
The Showdown at Senoia culminated the second season of operation for the promotional team of Bill Massey, Mayes Massey and Doug Stevens. The trio is already hard working on plans and schedules for next year. They anticipate a season opening event in March 2017.
To keep up with the latest information, 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.
Official results from Saturday, November 12, 2016
Inaugural Showdown at Senoia
Super Late Model (Feature): 1-Shane Clanton, Zebulon 2-Michael Page, Winston 3-Brandon Overton, Evans 4-Chase Junghans, Manhatten, KS 5-Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN 6-Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, TN 7-David Breazeale, Four Corners, MS 8-TJ Reaid, Acworth 9-Riley Hickman, Cleavland, TN 10-Zach Leonhardi, Cartersville 11-Donald McIntosh, Cumming 12-Jason Croft, Woodstock 13-Frank Ingram, Acworth 14-Derek Ellis, Chatsworth 15-Mason Massey, Douglasville 16-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 17-Ryan King, Seymour, TN 18-Joe Armistead, Jr., Senoia 19-Ray Cook, Brasstown, NC 20-David Payne, Murphy, NC 21-Doug Smith, Harriman, TN 22-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville DNS: Clint Smith, Senoia. DNQ: Austin Smith, Cedartown; Ashton Winger, Senoia; Austin Smith, Rome; Joey Armistead, Senoia; Billy Franklin, Calera, AL; Austin Arnold, Hattiesburg, MS; Laddie Fulcher, Thomaston; Shane Fulcher, Thomaston; Harrison Hall, Circlesville, OH
Limited Late Model (Feature): 1-Michael Page, Winston 2-Matt Dooley, Brooks 3-Jody Knowles, Tyrone 4-Trey Wood, Newnan 5-Kyle Courtney, Seymour, TN 6-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 7-Thomas Mewborn, Greenville 8-Tyler Thomason, Phenix City, AL 9-Scotty Chatham, Hoschton 10-Jayce Southwell, Brooks 11-Brock Love, Gadsden, AL 12-Russ Ogletree, Phenix City, AL 13-Rodney Peters, Monroe 14-Brant Hardin, Griffin 15-TJ Brittain, Centre, AL 16-Dakota Weeks, Douglasville 17-Gary Hardin, McDonough 18-Jack Mills, Griffin 19-Matt Larson, Marietta 20-Hunter Worley, Alavaton 21-Oliver Gentry, Newnan DNS: Clint Smith, Senoia
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Riley Hickman, Cleveland, TN 2-Clint Smith, Senoia 3-Jake Knowles, Tyrone 4-Tom Maddox, Centre, AL 5-Craig Scott, Newnan 6-Marty Lunsford, Newnan 7-Kyle Cochran, Atlanta 8-Cruz Skinner, Oxford, AL 9-Ahnna Parkhurst, Evans 10-Matt Black, Douglasville 11-Mark Page, Winston 12-Bobby Mills, Griffin 13-Chris Justus, McDonough 14-Phillip Deal, Tyrone 15-Jimmy Waldrop, Seffner, FL 16-Corey Payton, Newnan 17-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL 18-Chase Baker, LaGrange 19-Petey Cochran, Douglasville 20-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 21-Bubba Pollard, Senoia 22-Dustin Newell, Gray 23-Mike Bruner, Jr., Dallas 24-Josh Copeland, McDonough 25-Jim Manka, Savannah
B Cadet (Feature): 1-Clint Smith, Senoia 2-Michael Page, Winston 3-Jody Knowles, Tyrone 4-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 5-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove 6-Clyde Alexander, Locust Grove 7-John Anderson 8-Matthew Knight, Villa Rica 9-Corey Dunn, Milledgeville 10-Chris Steele, Franklin 11-Ted Minnix, McDonough 12-Jack Mills, Griffin 13-Roger Arnett, Lannett, AL 14-Drew Larson, Bremen 15-Blake Griffin, Grantville 16-Jamie Maurice, McDonough 17-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 18-Keith Fields, Griffin 19-Cody Overton, Evans
Hobby Stock (Feature): 1-James Swanger, Whitesburg 2-Dalton Polston, Lithia Springs 3-Joe Hillman, Villa Rica 4-Ryan Ray, Mableton 5-Blake Harmon, Mansfield 6-Ryan Knight, Villa Rica 7-John Michael Schmear, Auburn, AL 8-John Holcomb, Griffin 9-Jamie Simmons, Tyrone 10-Dustin Perry, Carrollton 11-Mike Jenkins, Brooks 12-Dylan Holmes, Smiths, AL 13-Ben Steele, Franklin 14-Larry Bednar, Hampton 15-Michael Couch, Senoia
Mini Stock (Feature): 1-Tony Coffman, Florence, MS 2-Brannon Knight, Sand Rock, AL 3-Mike Younginer, Locust Grove 4-David Singleton 5-JJ Garrett, Monroe 6-Tommy Faulkner, Newnan 7-Trey Rogers 8-Drew McGuire 9-Harold Leath, Hampton 10-Allen Brewster, Villa Rica 11-Denver Stepp, Powder Springs 12-Robert Knight, Cedar Bluff, AL 13-Dan Bennett, Loganville 14-Shannon Etheridge, Toccoa 15-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 16-Shane Griffith, Attalla, AL 17-Stephen Smith, Douglasville 18-Joey Graham 19-Jamie Rowan, Altoona, AL 20-Jeremy Griffith, Attalla, AL 21-AJ Horton, Meldrim 22-Jim Horton, Statesboro 23-Jamie Godbee, Carrollton 24-Bob Faulkner, Newnan 25-Jo Jo Morgan, Monroe DNS: Matthew Tatz; Michael Courtney, Powell, TN; Aaron Phillips
Bomber (Feature): 1-JR Hardy, Covington 2-Michael Nelms, Newnan 3-Tim Harmon, Conyers 4-Chris Arnett, Lannett, AL 5-William Blair, Whitesburg 6-Dunie Dillard, Monroe 7-Matt Steele, Franklin 8-John Holder, Milner 9-Chris Chase, Valley, AL 10-Ted Willingham, McDonough 11-Brandon McDaniel, Byron 12-Dorough Bright, Newnan 13-Russell Teal, Ranburne, AL
