(July 11, 2016 – Senoia, GA) Austin Horton of Whitesburg held off two late race challenges by Winston’s Michael Page and Senoia’s Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith to win the Super Late Model main event at Senoia Raceway on Saturday night. The 20-year-old stayed in front of the veterans to capture his second win of the season at the tough, racy 3/8ths mile ‘Bull Ring’.
Clint Smith did get into the winner’s circle hoisting the checkered flag after the Limited Late Model feature. Winston’s Mark Page was victorious in the Crate Late Model race while Newnan’s Bobby Arnold won the B Cadet main. Hogansville’s Gary Brand was the winner of the Hobby Stocks, Brannon Knight won the Mini Stocks and Newnan’s Dorough Bright won for the second time this season in the Bomber.
Austin Horton was the man to beat Saturday night setting the fast time for the Supers and then bolting to a good lead over 16-year-old Senoia driver Ashton Winger. Clint Smith and Michael Page followed the young guns as all four drivers were running the very top of the slick, but fast gumbo clay.
Completing a perfect slide job on lap 14, Michael Page ran hard to the low side entering turn one and then allowed his car to slide up just ahead of Winger coming out of turn two. The slide caused Winger to lose his momentum with Page taking over the second place position. Smith would send Winger back another position only two laps later.
Page began reeling in Horton as the laps clicked away in the 25-lap main event. The leader ran into lapped traffic with five remaining and Page was able to catch up to him looking to overtake, but a caution slowed the field just as Page was able to get side by side. That set up a two lap dash for the checkers.
On the restart, Horton ran the highside with Page sliding back in the middle groove. Clint Smith tried to slide both of the drivers with a low to high run out of turn two, but another caution would come out slowing the field and forcing a second restart. The next one was perfect for Horton as he shot out to the lead and never let the other gain any ground winning his second of the season at Senoia Raceway. Smith was able to get past Page on that final restart with Joe Armistead, Jr. securing fourth and Winger settling into fifth.
Newnan’s Oliver Gentry was the first race leader in the Limited Late Models feature. Gentry showed how racy the track was on Saturday night running the very top of the track while his nearest rival Clint Smith ran the very bottom of the track. Gentry was running so high on the track his rear quarter panel would touch the concrete retaining wall sending sparks off delighting the crowd.
Continuing his challenge from the bottom of the race track, Smith was able to wrestle away the lead on lap 10 and then moved up the track following the groove most of the front runners ran most of the night. The race never slowed until Carrollton’s Clifton Moran spun on lap 17 while running among the top three. Moran would have to go to the tail of the lead lap cars for the restart setting up the final story of the race.
While Smith charged out to a good lead over the field, Moran sliced and diced his way back through the challengers passing Fayetteville’s Glenn Morris on the final lap to gain back second place behind only Smith. It was the best charge of a night that was full of great racing.
Smith won for the ninth time in the Limited Late Model. Moran would be second ahead of Morris. Canton’s Andy Morris ran the bottom of the track to perfection finishing in fourth place while Gentry faded to fifth. Newnan’s Chris Carr ran his best race of the season finishing in sixth ahead of Rucker Orr, also from Newnan, Brook’s Jayce Southwell, Locust Grove’s Jason Williams and seventeen-year-old rookie Bailey Williams completing the top ten.
Mark Page ran flag to flag in the Crate Late Model race, but had to stave off challenges from Newnan’s Trey Wood and Craig Scott. Wood would pressure the leader several times before having to drop from the race after suffering damage to his race car. Then Scott gave Page all he could handle in the final two restarts.
Page won his first this year at Senoia holding back Scott and Douglasville’s Curtis Cline. Griffin’s Bobby Mills was fourth after squeezing by Newnan’s Corey Payton in the final laps of the race. Sharpsburg’s Wayne Harbin slid by as well to finish in fifth ahead of Alabama’s Montana Dudley. Payton would end up seventh after a good run among the top five most of the night.
A huge pile-up on the second attempt of the initial start for the B Cadet feature took out several drivers. Eight cars were left in a heap of bent sheet metal and broken car parts with Bremen’s Drew Larson sitting on top of Villa Rica’s Brian Womack and Dublin’s Tyler Sanders. Several drivers were unable to continue including Larson and Womack.
When the race did finally get a good start, McDonough’s Jamie Maurice ran three wide with Covington’s Sam ‘Bam’ Carter and Alabama’s Marc Gooden to snare the lead postion. Maurice would build that lead until the mid-point of the race. Newnan’s Bobby ‘Wild Child’ Arnold wrestled away second place from Carter before setting his sight on Maurice.
On lap 11, Arnold moved past Maurice cleanly and then walked away to his third win of the year. Maurice ran his best race of the season finishing in second ahead of Gooden. The previous week’s winner Jack Mills of Griffin was fourth with Whitesburg’s William Blair in fifth. Carter made a couple of late race mistakes, but wound up sixth.
Gary Brand continues his pursuit of the season point’s lead in the Hobby Stock. Brand won his third this season while point’s leader Randy Cornwell finished in ninth with a back-up car. Josh Pitt of Stockbridge had his best run of the year finishing in second with Newnan’s Lee McElwany third.
North Georgia’s Brannon Knight has been coming up short for the past several weeks trying to win his first career race at the ‘Bull Ring’. Knight was able to hold off all the attempts to rain on his parade Saturday night including a valiant effort Good Hope racer Grant Roberts. The 13-year-old would end up second to Knight with a hard charging teenager from Winder, Austin Brumbelow, securing third place. Newnan’s Ben Arnold was fourth ahead of Locust Grove’s Jamie Nicholson, Jr.
Dorough Bright moved past Byron’s Brandon McDaniel near the halfway point of the Bomber race and then never looked posting the victory. Conyer’s Tim Harmon was third ahead of Zebulon’s Jim Jackson and Senoia’s Michael Couch.
Harmon and Jackson are in the midst of a fierce battle for the points lead in the Bombers. Harmon continues to chip away at the lead Jackson currently holds. The one position advantage from Saturday night now pulls Harmon within ten points of Jackson.
All divisions will be back in action this Saturday, July 16th with a special ‘family pack’ of four tickets (2 adults/2 kids); four hot dogs and four fountain drinks for only $40 offered to fans. There will also be a summer favorite ‘watermelon eating contest’ during the track prep intermission.
The pit gate will open this Saturday at 4pm while the grandstands open at 5pm. Hot laps will begin at 6:30pm followed by 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 with four & under admitted for free.
For additional information, schedules, rules and more, visit the Senoia Raceway website atwww.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, July 9, 2016
Super Late Models (Feature): 1-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 2-Clint Smith, Senoia 3-Michael Page, Winston 4-Joe Armistead, Jr., Senoia 5-Ashton Winger, Senoia 6-Mason Massey, Douglasville 7-Cody King, McDonough 8-Zach Leonhardi, Cartersville 9-Lamar Haygood, Douglasville 10-Shane Fulcher,Thomaston 11-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 12-Ricky Williams, Fayetteville 13-Joey Armistead, Senoia 14-Tod Darda, LaGrange Fast Qualifier: Horton (15.148 seconds/89.2 mph)
Limited Late Models (Feature): 1-Clint Smith, Senoia 2-Clifton Moran, Carrollton 3-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 4-Andy Morris, Canton 5-Oliver Gentry, Newnan 6-Chris Carr, Newnan 7-Rucker Orr, Newnan 8-Jayce Southwell, Brooks 9-Jason Williams, Locust Grove 10-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville 11-John Harbin, Talking Rock 12-Ted Ray, Ranburne, AL 13-Brandon Bright, Newnan 14-Trey White, Jenkinsburg 15-Clint Thompson, Newnan Fast Qualifier: Smith (14.966 seconds/90.2 mph)
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Mark Page, Winston 2-Craig Scott, Newnan 3-Curtis Cline, Douglasville 4-Bobby Mills, Griffin 5-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg 6-Montana Dudley, Lannett, AL 7-Corey Payton, Newnan 8-Chaz Haskins, Gray 9-Jonathan Harrell, Newnan 10-Richard Dale, Winston 11-Chris Justus, McDonough 12-Zach Shelton, Sharpsburg 13-Trey Wood, Newnan 14-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 15-Jamie Brown, Temple 16-Donny Nolen, Alamo 17-Tyler Mimbs, East Dublin 18-Marty Lunsford, Newnan 19-Colby Darda, LaGrange Fast Qualifier: Page (15.614 seconds/86.5 mph)
B Cadet (Feature): 1-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 2-Jamie Maurice, McDonough 3-Marc Gooden, Lafayette, AL 4-Jack Mills, Griffin 5-William Blair, Whitesburg 6-Sam Carter, Covington 7-Tyler Sanders, Dublin 8-Matthew Knight, Villa Rica 9-Scott Gaddy, Newnan 10-Jamie Simmons, Tyrone 11-Parrish Duncan, Newnan 12-Dakota Weeks, Douglasville 13-Jeramie Baines 14-Drew Larson, Bremen 15-Dennis Lykins, Jr., Sharpsburg 16-Jeff Carter, Stockbridge 17-Brian Womack, Villa Rica 18-Madison Vogler, Acworth 19-Justin Thornton, Columbus 20-Clyde Alexander, Locust Grove DNS: Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove Heat Winners: Sam Carter; Gooden; Maurice
Hobby Stock (Feature): 1-Gary Brand, Hogansville 2-Josh Pitt, Stockbridge 3-Lee McElwaney, Newnan 4-Chad Foster, Griffin 5-Chris Story, Phenix City, AL 6-Jonathan Morris 7-Ben Steele, Franklin 8-George Purgason, Hogansville 9-Randy Cornwell, Fayetteville 10-Kip Stanfill, Winston 11-Don Don Cook, Phenix City, AL 12-Jerry Scott, Phenix City, AL 13-Curtis Turner, Brooks DNS: Mike Jenkins, Brooks; Chris Bozeman, Phenix City, AL
Mini Stock (Feature): 1-Brannon Knight 2-Grant Roberts, Good Hope 3-Austin Brumbelow, Winder 4-Ben Arnold, Dallas 5-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove 6-Jamie Nicholson, Sr., Locust Grove 7-Cassie Dingler-Still, Newnan 8-Doug Turner 9-Denver Stepp, Powder Springs 10-Harold Leath, Hampton 11-Tommy Faulkner, Newnan 12-Robert Caldwell, Senoia 13-Marc Leath, Griffin 14-Rocky Johnson, Douglasville
Bomber (Feature): 1-Dorough Bright, Newnan 2-Brandon McDaniel, Byron 3-Tim Harmon, Conyers 4-Jim Jackson, Zebulon 5-Michael Couch, Senoia 6-Derrick Matthews, Whitesburg 7-Carly Arnett, Lannett, AL 8-Winford Minix, Senoia 9-Shannon Stephens 10-Scott Amoson, Newnan DNS: Michael Nelms, Newnan