Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credits: Francis Hauke
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| Ricky Williams |
(Senoia, GA – July 30, 2017) One of the winningest drivers in the history of short track racing in the state of Georgia, Ricky Williams of Fayetteville, busted the drought at his hometrack Senoia Raceway as he led flag to flag winning the Super Late Model feature Saturday night. The 2016 Georgia Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee started racing over 41 years ago and has many wins at the tough 3/8ths mile oval, but had been shut out since his return three years ago. Williams out ran two-time defending Super Late Model points champion Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith for the top honors.
Other winners included Hamilton’s Thomas Lewis in the Limited Late Models, Alabama’s ‘Thrillin’ Dylan Knowles in the Crate Late Models and Bobby ‘Wild Child’ Arnold of Newnan in the Late Model Sportsman. Ted Willingham of McDonough won again in the Hobby while Peachtree City’s Randy Cornwell won his first in the Bomber division and Alabama’s Dean Williams topped the Hot Shots for the sixth time this year. Aburn’s JJ Garrett was the visiting Kajun Mini Stock Association victor.
Williams qualified on the pole for Saturday’s main event in the Super Late Models and held off fellow Fayetteville driver Glenn Morris to nab the race’s lead at the drop of the green. The hall of famer distanced himself over the field of challengers until a late race caution bunched the field for a restart. Ricky Williams was not going to be denied on this night as the short track racing ace held off all the aggression by Clint Smith to claim the win and snap his winless streak. Columbus’ Dalton Cook ran a strong third ahead of Morris and Thomaston’s Shane Fulcher.
In the Limited Late Model feature, Thomas Lewis pressured LaGrange’s Tod Darda throughout the final dozen laps before sneaking underneath him out of turn four coming to the white flag. Lewis wrestled the lead away for good in the next two turns before claiming his second win of the season at Senoia Raceway. Darda would run second ahead of point’s leader ‘Magic’ Matt Dooley of Brooks, LaGrange’s Dennis Hale and Hamilton’s Brand Lewis, brother of the winner.
A fierce battle for the win entertained the fans in the Crate Late Model race. Dylan Knowles fought off every challenge from Douglasville’s ‘Racin’ Mason Massey to win his first of the season. Knowles has won fifteen times the past two seasons, but had not been to the winner’s circle this year. Massey would finish as the runner-up for the second straight race while Sharpsburg’s Wayne Harbin would complete the podium finishers in third place. Tyrone’s Phillip Deal ran fourth just ahead of Alabama’s TJ Brittain in fifth.
A caution-filled Late Model Sportsman race ended with a red flag checkered flag finish after a 14-car pile up after a late race restart stopped the race. Bobby Arnold stayed out front of all the carnage to claim his third win of the season. McDonough’s Ted Minnix was strong with his best finish of the year in second. LaGrange young gun Jake Traylor was third.
A four wide battle for position coming off of turn four is what started the big pile-up that ended the race. Cochran’s Wesley Robertson, Brooks Curtis Turner, ‘The General’ Jack Mills and Keith Fields of Griffin ran four abreast with nobody coming out unscathed. Robertson bounced off the interior wall collecting Mills and Turner who then shot up the track collecting nearly everyone behind them.
“There were a lot of busted up race cars,” said promoter Mayes Massey. “But, nobody was injured. Just a lot of work this week for the drivers and their teams.”
Randy Cornwell took advantage of the late race misfortune of Newnan’s Dorough Bright after he had to head to the pit area with a flat tire. Cornwell held off 14-year-old McKenna Nelms of Newnan for his first win of the year. Jackson’s Wilson Boozer was third ahead of division point’s leader Charlie Garrett of West Point and Whitesburg’s Derrick Matthews.
Garrett, Matthews and Bright are in a tight battle for the season point’s crown in the Bombers. Garrett now leads Matthews by twenty-one with Bright now one point behind Matthews in third. The Bombers next points race is Saturday, August 12th.
JJ Garrett won his second KMSA visit to Senoia Raceway in two years as he outclassed drivers from across the southeast. Garrett held off a strong run by Dan Bennett before the Loganville driver lost ground on a restart near the end of the race. Garrett won the $1000 to win tilt ahead of Alabama hot shoes Brannon Knight, Bo Minor and Robert Knight while Tennessee’s Dustin Hallbrooks was fifth. Bennett ended up in sixth position.
This Saturday, August 5th, Senoia Raceway welcomes back the Monster Trucks for Monster Truck Mania 2017 and the first ever ‘Tournament of Destruction’. Seven-time World Finalist Gunslinger will return and headline a full night of Monster Truck car crushing action. The destruction show will also include an Outhouse Race; Backward’s Race; Dukes of Hazzard Jump Contest; County Fair type Demolition Derby and the Kids Power Wheels Demo Derby. The pit gates open at 4pm with the grandstand gates opening at 5pm. The Monster Truck pit party and autograph session is at 6pm with the program beginning at 7pm.
Grandstand tickets for Monster Truck Mania & the Tournament of Destruction are $20; kids 5-12 are $10; four and under are free. Pit passes and trackside parking passes are $30; kids 5-12 are $20; four and under are free.
There is no additional fee for the Kids Power Wheels Demo Derby. Any child eight years of age or younger is eligible to compete with any battery-powered, plastic vehicle with four wheels. Participants are recommended to wear some kind of protective head gear. Vehicles should be brought into the grandstand area and placed in the competition holding area.
Senoia Raceway is located just five miles west of Senoia, GA, on Georgia Highway 16. Easy access from both Interstate 75 and 85.
For additional information, visit the track website at www.senoiaraceway.com or call the speedway at 770.599.6161.
Official Results for Saturday, July 29, 2017
Super Late Models (Feature): 1-Ricky Williams, Fayetteville 2-Clint Smith, Senoia 3-Dalton Cook, Columbus 4-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 5-Shane Fulcher, Thomaston 6-Trey Wood, Newnan 7-Craig Scott, Newnan 8-Rob Mayea, Bend, OR 9-Lamar Haygood, Douglasville 10-PL Williams, Dublin 11-Chad Wallace, LaGrange 12-Kyler Haygood, Douglasville 13-Corey Payton, Newnan DNS: Josh Cox Fast Qualifier: Williams (15.838 – 85.3 mph)
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| Thomas Lewis |
Limited Late Models: 1-Thomas Lewis, Hamilton 2-Tod Darda, LaGrange 3-Matt Dooley, Brooks 4-Dennis Hale, LaGrange 5-Brand Lewis, Hamilton 6-Kenneth Pendley, Acworth 7-Jason Williams, Locust Grove 8-Joey Armistead, Senoia 9-Marc Gooden, Lafayette, AL 10-Dakota Weeks, Douglasville 11-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville 12-Tyler Thomason, Phenix City, AL DNS: Matt Wilson, Mansfield; Dana Eiland, Salem, AL Fast Qualifier: Dooley (16.132 – 83.6 mph)
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| Dylan Knowles |
Crate Late Models: 1-Dylan Knowles, Lanett, AL 2-Mason Massey, Douglasville 3-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg 4-Phillip Deal, Tyrone 5-TJ Brittain, Centre, AL 6-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 7-Colby Darda, LaGrange 8-Josh Copeland, McDonough 9-Tina Johnson, Senoia 10-Matthew Wyatt, Eastonolee 11-Jamie Maurice, McDonough 12-Chris Justus, McDonough 13-Mike Abercrombie, Jackson 14-Chase Baker, LaGrange Fast Qualifier: Knowles (16.178 – 83.4 mph)
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| Bobby Arnold |
Late Model Sportsman: 1-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 2-Ted Minnix, McDonough 3-Jake Traylor, LaGrange 4-Brandon Pijnenburg, Five Points, AL 5-Wesley Robertson, Hawkinsville 6-Jack Mills, Griffin 7-Curtis Turner, Brooks 8-Keith Fields, Griffin 9-Chris Steele, Franklin 10-Ronnie McCullough, Franklin 11-Lee Fuller, Newnan 12-John Cox 13-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 14-Richard Dale, Winston 15-Tyler Seabolt, Hawkinsville 16-Buck Williams, Stockbridge 17-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove 18-Jeff Robinson, McDonough 19-Jamie Simmons, Tyrone 20-Trent Pijnenburb, Five Points, AL 21-Logan Carlyle, Bethlehem Fast Qualifier: Arnold (15.549 – 86.9 mph)
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| Ted Willingham |
Hobby Stock (Feature): 1-Ted Willingham, McDonough 2-JR Hardy, Covington 3-Joe Hillman, Villa Rica 4-Justin Sapp, Cochran 5-Herbie Donath, Phenix City, AL 6-Brandon Jones, Newnan 7-Larry Bednar, Locust Grove 8-Danny Earl Warren, Chester Fast Qualifier: Hillman (17.263 – 78.2 mph)
KMSA (Feature): 1-JJ Garett, Auburn 2-Brannon Knight, Sand Rock, AL 3-Bo Minor, Ralph, AL 4-Robert Knight, Cedar Bluff, AL 5-Dustin Hallbrooks, Christiana, TN 6-Dan Bennett, Loganville 7-Jeremy Griffith, Attala, AL 8-David Singleton, Lenoir City, TN 9-Shane Griffith, Attalla, AL 10-Bo Chambers, Griffin 11-Shannon Etheridge, Carnesville 12-PJ Taylor 13-Mark Newton, Hampton 14-Parris Simmons, Baldwin 15-Austin Brumbelow, Winder 16-Tony Coffman, Florence, MS 17-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 18-Brent Couch, Auburn 19-Heath Minor, Ralph, AL DNS: Jamie Rowan, Altoona, AL; Heath Bewster, Villa Rica Fast Qualifier: Etheridge (17.720 – 76.2 mph) Heat Race Winners: Bo Minor; Garrett; Etheridge
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| Randy Cornwell |
Bomber Bash (Feature): 1-Randy Cornwell, Peachtree City 2-McKenna Nelms, Newnan 3-Wilson Boozer, Jackson 4-Charlie Garrett, West Point 5-Derrick Matthews, Whitesburg 6-Shannon Stephens, Newnan 7-Pappy Powell, Hogansville 8-Ricky Neill, Whitesburg 9-Abe Chase, Valley, AL 10-Dorough Bright, Newnan 11-Scott Amoson, Newnan 12-John Holder, Milner 13-Larry Pierce, Griffin Fast Qualifier: Chase (17.570 – 76.8 mph)
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| Dean Williams |
Hot Shot (Make-up Feature from 7.1.17): 1-Dean Williams, Lanett, AL 2-Mark Meyer, Ellijay 3-Dave McWilliams, Fayetteville 4-Nathan Farrow, LaGrange 5-Lucas Pittman, Grantville 6-Morgan Pittman, Grantville 7-Joe Collins 8-Wesley McCard, Zebulon 9-James Dunn
