BULLS GAP, Tenn. (July 4) —
Before a huge Fourth of July crowd and with fireworks exploding
overhead Saturday night at Volunteer Speedway, Dale McDowell of
Chickamauga, Ga., led the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series “Reece
Monument Co. 60” flag-to-flag for a $10,000 payday, capturing his
second series win of the season
Jimmy Owens chased McDowell
for the last 50 laps of the race but never could get enough momentum
to pass McDowell, even as the two battled in heavy traffic. Don O'Neal
finished third followed by series points leader Scott Bloomquist, with
23rd-starting Earl Pearson Jr. who rallied late in the race after
taking a series provisional coming home in fifth.
Rick Rogers toured the
high-banked oval at 12.289-seconds in PRC Time Trials to earn $500
from ATC Roofing. Winning the four respective heat races were
McDowell, Owens, Chris Madden and Bloomquist.
McDowell earned the pole
starting position for the main event by winning the first heat
race. Madden started alongside of McDowell in row number one. McDowell
got the great start he was looking for as he beat Madden into the
first corner. He quickly opened up a two car length advantage over
Madden with Owens running in third followed by 2008 Volunteer Speedway
Super Late Model champion Jeff Maupin and David Breazeale.
Bloomquist, who started
fourth, got off to a rough start as he banged the second turn wall on
lap 2, losing three positions back to seventh in the running
order. McDowell and Madden then set a blistering pace as the two
started to battle with the tail-end of the field just eight circuits
into the race.
McDowell was having some
trouble clearing traffic and that allowed Madden to stay close to his
left rear quarter panel. Just after McDowell had cleared Ricky Arms to
put him a lap down, Madden made contact with Arms on lap 10 and spun
in fourth turn to bring out the event’s first caution flag. Madden
showed his displeasure with Arms under caution as he felt Arms did not
give him enough room to make a pass.
After the initial
Delaware
double-file restart of the race, the second caution flew for Mark
Douglas before another green-flag lap could be recorded when he got
caught up in a wreck in turn four. McDowell lined up in front on the
next attempt to get back under green, with Owens and Maupin
side-by-side behind him.
Back up to speed,
McDowell continued his early race dominance by pulling away from Owens
who had cleared Maupin for second. Maupin then had Don O'Neal and
Breazeale to contend with in a torrid battle for third.
The third caution came
out for former track champion Kerry Jones as he spun-out heading into
turn one on lap 16. On the restart, McDowell again showed his strength
as he built a comfortable lead on Owens as O'Neal was all over Maupin
in the race for third, with Bloomquist re-entering the picture as he
was now running in fifth.
McDowell clicked off lap
after lap in consistent fashion and that put him up to the rear of the
field once again with 26 laps scored. Owens took advantage of
McDowell's traffic issues as the leader had cars running two-wide in
front of him, making passing them difficult. At the halfway mark
McDowell was still on the point followed by Owens, Maupin, O'Neal and
Bloomquist.
While McDowell not only
had to concentrate on heavy traffic in front of him, Owens was now
breathing down his neck as the “Newport Nightmare” was now focused on
passing McDowell for the lead. Owens tried for several laps to pull
alongside McDowell, but never could get enough momentum in traffic as
McDowell picked off cars slowly but surely, thwarting Owens' efforts.
With 15 laps to go,
Owens was still there hounding McDowell as the two raced hard around
the high-banked track, still having to contend with other cars they
were trying to lap. A break in the battle for the lead came as a
caution for Ray Cook on lap 49; momentarily halting what was shaping
up to be quite a finish.
While under caution,
third-running Maupin who had driven a superb race up until that point
dropped out of the race with fuel pressure problems. This was the
fourth and final caution of the race which set up an 11-lap dash to
the checkers.
McDowell, with a clear
track ahead of his Dollar General/Cheerio’s (General Mills)/Scheck
Industries/Down’s Transportation Services/Bugles/Cometic Gasket/Allstar
Performance/Sunoco Race Fuels/Hoosier Racing Tire/Clint Bowyer
Racing/Custom Race Engines/Warrior Race Cars/No. 17m Chevrolet Impala
SS, would not be denied a trip to victory lane as he easily held off
Owens for the $10,000 victory. Finishing third through fifth,
respectively, were O’Neal, Bloomquist and Pearson.
Completing the top 10
finishers were Joe Armes, Steve Casebolt, Eric Jacobsen, Madden and
Breazeale. Fifteen cars were still running at the conclusion of the
Reece Monument Co. 60, with 11 competitors on the lead lap.
“I’ve won races here before,
but I believe tonight was the best car I’ve ever driven here at
Volunteer Speedway,” said McDowell in victory lane. “I need to thank
Sanford Goddard at Warrior Race Cars, because his cars have been good
all year. We were good tonight when we first hit the track for
practice, and after we won the first heat race that locked us in
starting from the pole position. This was a really strong field of
cars assembled here tonight, with everyone so equal. Just look at all
the qualifying times. The entire field wasn’t separated by much.
“I also want to thank Dollar
General and Cheerio’s (General Mills) for coming onboard our race team
just this week as sponsors. I’ve also got to thank my team owner,
Clint Bowyer. Hopefully he had a good run tonight in the NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series event down at Daytona International Speedway. I’m sure
he’ll be happy to hear we won, when I talk to him later tonight. We’ve
got awesome horsepower under the hood of this Chevrolet Impala SS,
thanks to Larry Clark at Custom Race Engines. And our Hoosier Racing
Tires were very good tonight. My crew, Tommy Grecco and Caleb Bauer,
they did a great job in the pits as always. What a crowd here at ‘The
Gap’ tonight, a big thanks to everyone for coming out to celebrate the
‘Fourth of July’ with an exciting night of racing.”
Bobby Mays of Jonesborough
grabbed the lead at the drop of the green in the “Courtesy Chevrolet”
Pro Late Model feature and proceeded to easily roll to his first
victory of the season. Finishing behind Mays were Vic Chandler, Dale
Ball, Jerry Broyles and John Harrell. The red flag waved on lap 6 for
a scary-looking wreck in turn two involving Mark Vicars, when his car
got into the outside wall and launched up into the catch-fence.
Fortunately Vicars was uninjured, and with help from rescue personnel
he was able to climb from his badly torn-up race car.
Jamie Whitt was in
command out front in the “McDonald’s” Hobby Stock feature through the
first eight laps, looking like he was headed towards a second
consecutive victory. But left-front suspension damage ended his race
early. Dale Reed of Whitesburg assumed the lead and never looked back
en route to capturing his first win of the season, with Jesse Helton,
Dennis Metcalf, Dustin Shaver and Ray Jarnigan rounding out the
top-five.
VOLUNTEER
SPEEDWAY – BULLS GAP, TN
LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – “REECE MONUMENT
CO. 60”
Showing Finish Position, Starting Position In Parentheses, Driver
Name, Car Number, Hometown, Laps Completed In Parentheses, Money Won
1. (1) Dale McDowell
#17m-Chickamauga,
GA
(60) $10,000
2. (3) Jimmy Owens
#20-Newport, TN (60) $5,000
3. (10) Don O'Neal
#71-Martinsville, IN (60) $3,000
4. (4) Scott Bloomquist
#0-Mooresburg, TN (60) $2,500
5. (23) Earl Pearson Jr.
#44-Jacksonville, FL (60) $2,000
6. (12) Joe Armes
#77-Petros, TN (60) $1,500
7. (15) Steve Casebolt
#c9-Richmond, IN (60) $1,400
8. (8) Eric Jacobsen #5-Seacliffe
Beach,
CA
(60) $1,300
9. (2) Chris Madden
#44m-Gaffney,
SC
(60) $1,200
10. (6) David Breazeale
#54-Four
Corners,
MS (60) $1,100
11. (17) John
Blankenship #23-Williamson, WV (60) $1,000
12. (14)
Chad
Ogle #10-Sevierville,
TN
(59) $950
13. (7) Dan Schlieper
#s9-Sullivan,
WI
(59) $900
14. (16) Tommy Kerr #4T-Maryville,
TN
(59) $875
15. (24) Brad Neat
#41-Dunnville, KY (58) $850
16. (5) Jeff Maupin
#0m-Greeneville, TN (49) $825
17. (11) Ray Cook
#53-Brasstown, NC (48) $800
18. (13) Steve Smith
#3-Powell, TN (45) $775
19. (22) Kerry Jones
#6-Bristol, TN (35) $750
20. (21) Rick Rogers
#44r-Knoxville,
TN
(19) $725
21. (9) Mark Douglas
#52D-Knoxville, TN (10) $700
22. (20) Mike Marlar
#157-Winfield, TN (10) $700
23. (19) Ricky Arms
#4a-Moss, TN (10) $700
24. (18) Randy Weaver
#B1-Crossville, TN (10) $700
Race Statistics
Entries: 40
Caution Flags: Chris
Madden (Lap 10); Mark Douglas (Lap 10); Kerry Jones (Lap 16); Ray Cook
(Lap 49)
Lap Leaders: Dale
McDowell (Laps 1-60)
Lucas Oil Late Model
Dirt Series Provisionals: Earl Pearson Jr., Brad Neat
PBM/Erson Cams Hard
Charger of the Race: Earl Pearson Jr. (Started 23rd, Finished 5th;
Advanced 18 Positions)
Allstar Performance
Performer of the Race: Steve Casebolt
K&N Filters Clean Pass
of the Race: Don O’Neal
Quarter Master Rookie of
the Race: David Breazeale
Comp Cams Engine Builder
of the Race: Custom Racing Engines
Time of the Race: 36
minutes, 8 seconds
PRC Fast Time: Rick
Rogers - 12.289 seconds
HAWK BRAKE FIRST HEAT (10 Laps - Top 4
Advance): 1) Dale McDowell,
2) Jeff Maupin, 3) Mark Douglas, 4) Steve Smith, 5) John Blankenship,
6) Ricky Arms, 7) Jeff Neubert, 8) Rick Rogers, 9) Vic Hill, 10)
Herman Goddard
HAWK BRAKE SECOND HEAT (10 Laps - Top 4
Advance): 1) Jimmy Owens, 2)
Dan Schlieper, 3) Ray Cook, 4) Steve Casebolt, 5) Freddy Smith, 6)
Earl Pearson Jr., 7) Terry Wolfenbarger, 8) Marty Calloway, 9) Michael
Smith, 10) Chris Brown
AFCO RACING PRODUCTS THIRD HEAT (10 Laps - Top
4 Advance): 1) Chris Madden,
2) David Breazeale, 3) Don O'Neal, 4) Chad Ogle, 5) Randy Weaver, 6)
Kerry Jones, 7) Brad Neat, 8) Shon Flanary, 9) Chris Chandler – Did
Not Start: Billy Ogle Jr.
TIGER REAREND FOURTH HEAT (10 Laps - Top 4
Advance): 1) Scott Bloomquist,
2) Eric Jacobsen, 3) Joe Armes, 4) Tommy Kerr, 5) Mike Marlar, 6) Skip
Arp, 7) Dale Ball, 8) Jensen Ford, 9) Michael Walker, 10) Mark
Vineyard
MASON RACIN’ REBEL SHOCK DYNO FIRST B-MAIN (12
Laps - Top 3 Advance): 1)
John Blankenship, 2) Ricky Arms, 3) Rick Rogers, 4) Terry Wolfenbarger,
5) Jeff Neubert, 6) Marty Calloway, 7) Michael Smith, 8) Chris Brown,
9) Freddy Smith – Did Not Start: Vic Hill, Herman Goddard
WILES DRIVE SHAFTS SECOND B-MAIN (12 Laps -
Top 3 Advance): 1) Randy
Weaver, 2) Mike Marlar, 3) Kerry Jones, 4) Skip Arp, 5) Dale Ball, 6)
Brad Neat, 7) Jensen Ford, 8) Shon Flanary,9) Mark
Vineyard, 10) Michael Walker, 11) Chris Chandler – Did Not Start:
Billy Ogle Jr.
”COURTESY CHEVROLET” PRO LATE MODEL:
1) Bobby Mays #19, 2) Vic Chandler #88, 3) Dale Ball #2, 4) Jerry
Broyles #72, 5) John Harrell #H19, 6) Greg Burchett #99, 7) Todd
Brooks #T1, 8) Tim Byrd #24, 9) Josh Henry #B00, 10) James Cole #5,
11) Ricky Moore #75, 12) Tony Trent #18, 13) Chuck Laney #91, 14) Mark
Vicars #7 – Did Not Start: J. Allan #111
“MCDONALD’S” HOBBY STOCK:
1) Dale Reed #52, 2) Jesse Helton #4, 3) Dennis Metcalf #55, 4) Dustin
Shaver #7, 5) Ray Jarnigan #73, 6) Roger Hunter #7-11, 7) Charlie
Bates #27, 8) Phillip Gentry #33, 9) Bobby Reed #54, 10) Jesse Wilder
#79, 11) Jamie Whitt #1j, 12) Patrick Flannery #88, 13) Devin Helton
#17H; 14) Tracey Wolfe #11, 15) Stan Gordon #34, 16) Mike Kelley #8,
17) David Shelton #4 – Did Not Start: Chuck Johnson #17, Chris Long
#75
Volunteer
Speedway:
(423) 235-5020
www.VolunteerSpeedway.com
Track Office - Weekdays Only
9 a.m. - 5
p.m.: (423) 378-5942
Phyllis Loven: (423) 676-9081
Robert Walden-Media/Public Relations Director: (423) 928-9644
robwald@prodigy.net
Jimmy Meade-Marketing and Sales: (423) 817-0925
Race Director David Bryant: Race Shop (423) 235-5420 ... Cell (865)
978-1752
