COLUMBUS, MS – William Thomas of Phenix City, AL battled to his third Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series win of the season on Sunday night in the Carl Hogan Automotive 50 at Magnolia Motor Speedway driving the Alexander’s Industrial Service GRT. The lead changed hands three times before Thomas took command on lap 41 and collected the $3,000 top prize.
Jeremy Shaw of Millport, AL in the Summit Resource Development GRT, and National Dirt Hall of Fame Inductee Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, TN in the Tommy Pope Construction Warrior, kept Thomas clawing and scratching for the race lead, and making choices on restarts. One of those choices almost cost Thomas the race victory.
A lap 36 “Dixie-Style” double-file restart had Johnson in second on the inside and Shaw in third on the outside and behind race leader Thomas, who changed his lane for the restart, and went right to the bottom of the race track. Shaw sailed around the outside to take the lead, but Thomas was able to pick up the pace five laps later to race under Shaw and reclaim the point.
“When Ronnie Johnson restarts behind you on the inside, you’d better get down there and protect yourself,” Thomas said. “I knew Shaw was strong on the outside, but looked to me like that groove wasn’t going to last much longer, and that’s the way it played out. The track was in great shape, as both top and bottom grooves were fast early in the race, but I knew the bottom was where I needed to be at the end of the race.”
Johnson didn’t make it to the finish, as his race car broke a spider gear in the rear-end assembly and he coated to the infield and out of the race on lap 39. Shaw finished second and third went to Matthew Turner of Dawsonville, GA in the J.T. Kerr Racing Equipment Special. Kyle Shaw of Millport, AL took the fourth spot in the Columbus Nissan Trak-Star, and Chase Edge of Lafayette, AL was fifth in the Edge’s Gas Company Special.
Thomas continues to lead the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series point standings with a total of 394 points and a 38-point lead over three drivers who are now tied for the second spot. Johnson, Edge and Turner now all have 356 points.
Brent Barrett of Cleveland, MS finished sixth in the Custom Spraying, Inc. GRT and moved up to the fifth spot in the point standings, six points behind the second-place trio. Riley Hickman of Cleveland, TN drove the Hickman Manufacturing Special to a seventh-place finish, and Caleb Coan of Moulton, AL was eighth in the Buttram Snacks Special.
David Brannon of Elora, TN took the ninth spot in the Elora Gin Company Special and Carlton Freeman of Eastaboga, AL rounded out the top ten in the Freeman Racing GRT. The top eight cars finished on the lead lap of the 50-lap race that was slowed by five caution flags and took 31 minutes and 32.434 seconds to complete.
In preliminary action, Thomas out-timed the 21-car field with a lap around the 3/8-mile black clay oval in 15.908 seconds. The two eight-lap B-Main Races were won by Hickman and Edge.
As is always the case at Magnolia Motor Speedway, the multi grooves on the “Black Ice” enabled drivers to make moves to help them move up through the pack and provided for two and three-wide racing for the entire race.
The three-wide scenario came into play at the drop of the green flag, as Thomas led the field into turn one from the pole position, with Freeman to his outside, but Jeremy Shaw came from the fourth starting spot, went to the top of the race track, and rode the cushion to the lead coming off the high side of turn two. Shaw led lap one followed by Thomas, Freeman, Coen and Edge.
The first caution flag came out on lap three when Brad Smith of Winston-Salem, NC spun the Velocita Special in turn four collecting Mark Dowdy of Waterloo, AL in the Action Track Chair Special and Chad McCool of Millport, AL in the McCool Racing Special.
Jeremy Shaw had Thomas, Edge, Freeman, Coen, Brannon Johnson, Kyle Shaw, Adam Martin of Talladega, AL in the Seals Insurance Special, and Hickman doubled up behind him for the restart. Johnson went top shelf when the green flag came back out sailed around the outside groove to advance from seventh to fourth by the time they got back to the flagstand.
By lap seven, the leaders had caught the cars on the tail of the lead lap, and as the laps clicked off, the traffic got heavier and harder to maneuver around for the leaders. At this point in the race, Johnny Stokes of Columbus, MS was on the move, as rallied from his 13th starting spot in the Bassett Hound Motorsports GRT to pass Freeman for fifth on lap 14.
Thomas began challenging Jeremy Shaw for the lead on lap 14, and drove off the bottom of turn four on lap 16 to take the point. The yellow caution bulb fired up for the second time on lap 20 when Frank Wilson of Milton, FL spun the Wilson Lumber Trak-Star in turn three, collecting Turner and Brannon, who were battling for the tenth spot.
Thomas led Jeremy Shaw, Edge, Johnson, Stokes, Hickman, Kyle Shaw, Freeman, Barrett, Coen and Turner down for the double-file restart. When the green came back out, Stokes stepped to the outside from fifth, and was challenging for the third spot when he jumped the cushion, spun and hit the turn two wall ending his night.
The field went back to green and the top five settled in, as the action was behind them. Barrett moved up to the sixth spot, and Turner raced up to the eighth position. The field was slowed for the fourth time on lap 27 when McCool stalled on the front straightaway. Johnson changed his line for the restart, and drove under Edge to take the third spot coming off the fourth turn.
Johnson wasn’t done, as he pulled inside the high-riding second-place car of Jeremy Shaw, and they raced side-by-side for the second position for seven laps until Johnson claimed the spot on lap 34. The field was slowed for the final time on lap 36 when Steve Kirk of Munford, AL stalled in turn two to bring out the caution flag.
Behind Thomas, Johnson chose to restart from the second spot on the inside, with the third-place car of Jeremy Shaw to his right on the outside. When Thomas brought the field off the fourth turn to the green flag, he was right down on the bottom of the race track, and Shaw sailed around the outside of both Johnson and Thomas to take the lead.
Thomas got some breathing room in the second spot when Johnson retired from the race on lap 39, and he set his sights on the rim riding Jeremy Shaw. Thomas was able to close in on Shaw on lap 40, as the high-side groove was just about gone and the cushion gave way to the concrete retaining wall.
Coming off the fourth turn on lap 41, Thomas got the run he needed taking the short way around The Mag and grabbing the lead. Once out front, Thomas began pulling away from Jeremy Shaw in the last ten laps of the race, and his margin of victory at the checkered flag was 4.457 seconds. The win was Thomas’ third in the first four races of the season for the Chevy Super Series.
The Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series’ next race will be a 50-lap $3,000-to-win $300-to-start event at Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, TN, Round 5 of the 2013 season.
For more information about the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series visit the series web site at www.525superseries.com, or visit the series on Facebook at Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series.
OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 4 AT MAGNOLIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN COLUMBUS, MS ON 9/8/13:
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER
1. 1 A19 William Thomas
2. 4 1s Jeremy Shaw Millport, AL 50 $1,500
3. 11 10 Matthew Turner Dawsonville, GA 50 $1,000
4. 9 2s Kyle Shaw
5. 8 18 Chase Edge Lafayette, AL 50 $750
6. 12 110 Brent Barrett Cleveland, MS 50 $700
7. 7 R1 Riley Hickman Cleveland, TN 50 $650
8. 3 19 Caleb Coen Moulton, AL 50 $600
9. 6 33 David Brannon Elora, TN 49 $550
10. 2 222 Carlton Freeman Eastaboga, AL 49 $500
11. 18 14k Brad Smith Winston-Salem, NC 48 $475
12. 21 72 Frank Wilson Milton, FL 46 $450
13. 19 13 Chad McCool Millport, AL 45 $425
14. 5 5 Ronnie Johnson Chattanooga, TN 38 $400
15. 17 47 Ross Martin Talladega, AL 34 $375
16. 10 47m Adam Martin Talladega, AL 34 $350
17. 14 B17 Ted Lackey
18. 16 42 Steve Kirk
19. 20 88d Mark Dowdy Waterloo, AL 32 $300
20. 13 1 Johnny Stokes Columbus, MS 19 $300
21. 17 15 Tim Busha
ENTRIES: 21
FAST QUALIFIER: Thomas, 15.908 Seconds
LEAD CHANGES: 3
LAP LEADERS: J. Shaw, 1-15; Thomas, 16-35; J. Shaw, 36-40; Thomas, 41-50
LAPS LED: Thomas, 30; J. Shaw, 20
CAUTIONS: 5
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 4.457 Seconds
TIME OF THE RACE: 31 Minutes and 32.434 Seconds
QUALIFYING (Top 6 Transfer To Main Event):
| POS | CAR # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | CHASSIS | LAP 1 | LAP 2 | TIME |
|
1 |
A19 | William Thomas | Phenix City, AL | GRT |
15.975 |
15.908 |
15.908 |
|
2 |
222 | Carlton Freeman | Eastaboga, AL | GRT |
16.085 |
16.194 |
16.085 |
|
3 |
19 | Caleb Coen | Moulton, AL | Victory Circle |
16.103 |
16.260 |
16.103 |
|
4 |
1s | Jeremy Shaw | Millport, AL | GRT |
16.130 |
16.106 |
16.106 |
|
5 |
5 | Ronnie Johnson | Chattanooga, TN | Warrior |
16.118 |
16.413 |
16.118 |
|
6 |
33 | David Brannon | Elora, TN | Barry Wright |
16.147 |
16.142 |
16.142 |
|
7 |
R1 | Riley Hickman | Cleveland, TN | Mastersbilt |
16.150 |
16.260 |
16.150 |
|
8 |
18 | Chase Edge | LaFayette, AL | Mastersbilt |
16.162 |
16.330 |
16.162 |
|
9 |
2s | Kyle Shaw | Millport, AL | Trak-Star |
16.333 |
16.249 |
16.249 |
|
10 |
47m | Adam Martin | Talladega, AL | Barry Wright |
16.315 |
16.712 |
16.315 |
|
11 |
10 | Matthew Turner | Dawsonville, GA | DWB |
16.353 |
16.424 |
16.353 |
|
12 |
14k | Brad Smith | Winston-Salem, NC | Lazer |
16.374 |
NT |
16.374 |
|
13 |
15 | Tim Busha | Boaz, AL | GRT |
16.843 |
16.441 |
16.441 |
|
14 |
110 | Brent Barrett | Cleveland, MS | GRT |
16.447 |
16.504 |
16.447 |
|
15 |
1 | Johnny Stokes | Columbus, MS | GRT |
16.574 |
16.476 |
16.476 |
|
16 |
42 | Steve Kirk | Munford, AL | HRRC |
16.501 |
16.539 |
16.501 |
|
17 |
47 | Ross Martin | Talladega, AL | GRT |
16.560 |
16.509 |
16.509 |
|
18 |
B17 | Ted Lackey | Munford, AL | HRRC |
16.658 |
16.524 |
16.524 |
|
19 |
13 | Chad McCool | Millport, AL | Mastersbilt |
16.528 |
16.823 |
16.528 |
|
20 |
88d | Mark Dowdy | Waterloo, AL | Killer |
16.887 |
17.062 |
16.887 |
|
21 |
72 | Frank Wilson | Milton, FL | Trak-Star |
17.723 |
17.180 |
17.180 |
B-MAINS – 8 Laps:
1ST B-MAIN: 1. Hickman; 2. K. Shaw; 3. Turner; 4. Stokes; 5. R. Martin; 6. Busha; 7. McCool; 8. Wilson.
2ND B-MAIN: 1. Edge; 2. A. Martin; 3. Barrett; 4. Lackey; 5. Kirk; 6. Smith; 7. Dowdy.
CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE SUPER LATE MODEL SERIES POINT STANDINGS THROUGH 9/8/13:
1. A19 William Thomas – 394
2. 5 Ronnie Johnson – 356
2. 18 Chase Edge – 356
2. 10 Matthew Turner – 356
5. 110 Brent Barrett – 350
6. 15 Tim Busha – 338
7. 72 Frank Wilson – 320
8. 14k Brad Smith – 300
9. 47m Adam Martin – 296
10. 222 Carlton Freeman – 292
11. 47 Ross Martin – 264
12. 33 David Brannon – 258
13. 88d Mark Dowdy – 168
14. B17 Ted Lackey – 154
15. 1 Johnny Stokes – 144
15. 42 Steve Kirk – 144
17. 19 Jeremy Britton – 140
18. 00 Richie Stephens – 126
19. 1s Jeremy Shaw – 96
20. 2s Kyle Shaw – 92
Chevrolet Performance Parts is the Title Sponsor of the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series. Hoosier Racing Tire is the Official Tire Sponsor of the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series. Hedman Hedders is the Official Hedder of the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series and the Hedman Husler Award sponsor. Bilstein Shocks is the Official Spec Shock of the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series. Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series Contingency Sponsors for 2013 are Modern Images, Mike Custom Tanks, AR Bodies, Velocita Racewear, and KRC Power Steering.