Senoia Raceway: Stunning finishes highlight Saturday action
From Staff Reportssports@newnan.com
This year’s version of Senoia Raceway’s Summer Sizzler will be remembered as a night of crazy, unpredictable finishes. On Saturday, Tod Darda and Clifton Moran made late race passes to steal away victories from Racin’ Jason Williams and Blant Duke.
On a track that was as rough as a cornfield, Darda overtook Williams on the final turn of the final lap in the Jodeco Auto Sales Late Models. Darda beat Williams to the finish line by less than two feet using a smoother track surface at the top of the track.
Moran made his pass for the lead on Duke with only two laps remaining in the Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stock main. Duke wobbled in the rough part of Turn 3 and Moran shot past into the lead.
Brandon Bright also earned his fifth win of the season in the Mini Stocks and Scott Duffey made a triumphant return to Senoia Raceway with a hard fought win in the Newnan Bonding B Cadets.
Recapping Saturday’s feature races:
Jodeco Auto Sales Late Models
Williams, who was celebrating both a birthday and his wedding anniversary, posted his second fast qualifier award of the season. He held off the initial start charge by Darda to garner the race lead. The LaGrange driver challenged Williams throu
ghout the 25-lap main event, but up until the last lap Williams was able to slam the door shut.
On the final lap, Williams charged into the roughest part of the track while Darda decided to hit the high road and some slightly smoother territory. The result was a side by side drag race to the finish line coming out of the final turn. With the crowd on its feet, Darda nosed in front of Williams at the line by less than two feet.
Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stock
The story was similar to the Late Models finish. Looking to cash in on the added prize money, Duke snared the early race lead over Franklin’s Gary ‘Cornbread’ Brand. The duo had won early night qualifying heat races which placed them on the front row of the 30-lap special event paying $500 to the winner.
Duke excelled in running the low side of the track allowing his car to float
through the rough areas while using his throttle to help get through the rough turns. LaGrange’s Dusty Jones tried to get under Duke on several laps but to no avail.
Current points leader and defending champion Clifton ‘Hog Head’ Moran had to work from the back of the pack after suffering a broken rear shock in the heat race. The Carrollton driver found himself in a classic Senoia Raceway battle with Brand by the halfway point of the extended lap feature.
On lap 18, Moran and a hard charging Dusty Jones were able to slide past Duke and the pair stayed that way. Moran took the Summer Sizzler 30 victory and pocketed $500 while Jones settled for second and a disappointed Duke third. Gary Brand and Senoia’s Winford Minix would round out the first five finishers.
NEWNAN BONDING B CADET
Rough driving was more of an issue in the Newnan Bonding B Cadet feature race as Newnan’s Scott Duffey made his return to Senoia Raceway after former late model competitor was hurt in a work-related accident last fall.
Jason Williams invited Duffey to pilot his B Cadet entry when his father Buck Williams was unavailable.
On lap 17, Duffey shot down low in Turn 3, bounced and jostles his ride into the low groove side-by-side with Mewborn and then shot past into the lead down the front stretch.
MINI STOCK
Newnan’s Bobby Arnold and Brandon Bright along with Barnesville’s Gary Parker put on a great Mini Stock racing show.
The fans enjoyed a three-car tussle that at many times saw the three cars only inches apart from each other. Bright was able to scoot past Arnold on lap eight while Parker developed problems and dropped to the pit area on the ninth lap.
THIS WEEK
Senoia Raceway cranks up again this Saturday night with one of the fan’s most favorite promotional events — the previously postponed Kids Rides in the Race Cars. Parents are invited to bring their children to the speedway where they can hop on board with their favorite Senoia Raceway driver and go for a controlled ride around the high banks of the 3/8ths mile clay track.
The kids can ride along with drivers who compete in the Jodeco Auto Sales Late Models, Newnan Bonding B Cadets, Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Bombers. Then they can cheer those drivers on to victory
Pit gates open at 5 p.m., and grandstands at 6. Hot laps are at 7 p.m., with the first green flag set to fly at 8.
***********
Official results for Saturday, June 23, 2012
Jodeco Auto Sales Late Models
Feature: 1-Tod Darda, LaGrange 2-Jason Williams, Locust Grove 3-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 4-Troy Tyson, Fayetteville 5-Shane Fulcher, Thomaston 6-Randy Hester, Coulmbus 7-Craig Scott, Newnan 8-Randy Brown, Jr., Locust Grove Fast Qualifier: Williams (14.924 seconds)
Newnan Bonding B Cadets
Feature: 1-Scott Duffey, Newnan 2-Blake Griffin, Grantville 3-Thomas Mewborn, Greenville 4-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 5-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 6-Jeff Carter, Stockbridge 7-Josh Beck, Fayetteville 8-Marcus Caswell, Newnan 9-Ricky Payton, Newnan 10-Michael Stover, Gay DNS: Austin Horton, Grantville; Jayce Southwell, Brooks Heat winners: Mewborn and Carter.
Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stocks
Feature: 1-Clifton Moran, Carrollton 2-Dusty Jones, LaGrange 3-Blant Duke, Whitesburg 4-Gary Brand, Franklin 5-Winford Minix, Senoia 6-Warren Mobley, Griffin 7-Bill Brown, Jackson 8-Jay Conner, Newnan 9-David Johnson, Griffin 10-Zak Sockwell, Newnan 11-John Landrum, Fayetteville 12-Rusty Johnson, Newnan 13-Sam Carter, Covington 14-Bobby Slawson, Monticello 15-Chad Foster, Griffin DNS: Brandon Jones, Newnan Heat Winners: Brand and Duke.
Mini Stocks
Feature: 1-Brandon Bright, Newnan 2-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 3-Joe Spencer, Newnan 4-Michael Crawford, Thomaston 5-Rocky Johnson, Douglasville 6-Victor Parrish, Roopville 7-Gary Parker, Barnesville 8-Robbie Scadron, Sharpsburg 9-Tim Collier, Hogansville 10-Stephen Hill, LaGrange DNS: Dorough Bright, Newnan
