Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credits: Francis Hauke
(Senoia, GA – May 20, 2018) Michael Page of Winston has figured out the tricky, slick, gumbo surface at Senoia Raceway’s bull ring race track and he showed it on Saturday night. Page led the majority of the Southern All-Stars Tour ‘Mayhem 40’ securing his first ever win on the tour while also leading every lap of the Limited Late Model feature to double up on the domination.
“We have been working hard to get this track down,” said Page. “It’s good to get the win.”
Page outdueled Zebulon’s Shane Clanton in the early stages of the race as the two traded the lead position a couple of times before Page’s final pass coming out of the second turn on lap three. Page then used lapped traffic to keep a buffer between he and Clanton racing to the finish line and the $4000 top prize. Clanton settled for the runner-up spot with Chatsworth’s Aaron Ridley third. Senoia’s Ashton Winger celebrated his high school graduation with a fourth place run and South Carolina’s Ross Bailes nabbed a top five in his first trip to the ‘South’s Baddest Bull Ring’.
Page continued his dominating night the very next race as he hopped behind the wheel of his Limited Late Model and went flag to flag for the victory. LaGrange’s Dennis Hale has been enjoying one of his best seasons ever with three feature wins in 2018, but he would not get any closer than a straightaway from Page. Hale finished second ahead of Lithia Springs’ Dalton Polston, Senoia’s Joey Armistead and Greenville’s Thomas Mewborn,
A scary crash in the Late Model Sportsman feature hushed the crowd on lap nine. Franklin’s Chris Steele was battling with Byron’s Wiley McDaniel when the two came together racing down the front stretch. Both Steele and McDaniel crashed hard into the turn one wall with Steele’s ride climbing the wall and collecting a half dozen fence posts protecting the trackside parking fans. Nobody was injured in the incident.
The crash overshadowed a superb race by winner William Blair of Whitesburg. Blair ran the highside of the race track to near perfection holding off all the challenges by Steele and McDaniel prior to the accident and then by ‘Flyin’ Ryan King of Anniston, AL, over the final few circuits. King claimed the number two spot ahead of Macon’s Cory Compton, Newnan’s Craig Scott and Marietta’s Drew Larson.
Colbert’s Kenny Collins and Alabama’s Cruz Skinner had the fans on their feet in the Crate Late Model feature. Skinner caught front row starter Collins at the halfway point of the race and began working him trying both the highside and the lowside of the racey 3/8ths mile track. Finally on lap 15, Skinner squeezed past Collins coming off the second turn. That was all the seventeen-year-old would need as he sped away to two second victory over the veteran Collins. Another seventeen-year-old, Logan Palmer of Acworth came home third in his first ever trip to Senoia Raceway. Gray’s Chas Haskins was fourth just ahead of Winston’s Marty Massey in fifth.
Locust Grove’s Jamie Nicholson, Jr. claimed his first career victory in the Griffin Hose & Hydraulics Charges feature while Eddie Segars mad an inaugural trip to winner's circle besting the Hot Shots main event.
Newnan’s Dorough Bright went flag to flag for victory in the Bombers while McDonough’s Ted Willingham worked his way into the lead and eventually the podium for the Hobby. Newnan’s Tommy Faulkner was the winner in the slim field of Mini Stocks.
Senoia Raceway will take off the Memorial Day weekend and return to racing action on Saturday, June 1st for the track’s annual Summer Sizzler. The event will include racing in all weekly divisions Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Crate Late Models, Late Model Sportsman, Griffin Hose & Hydraulic Chargers, Hobby, Bomber, Mini and Hot Shots. The night will also feature an extended lap main event and purse bonus for the Late Model Sportsman division competitors.
The pits will open at 4pm this weekend with the grandstands opening at 5pm. Hot laps and qualifying will begin at 6:15pm with racing at 7:30pm.
For additional information, event schedule, ticket prices and more, visit the track website at www.senoiaraceway.com or call the speedway at 770.599.6161.
Official Results – Saturday, May 19, 2018
Southern All-Stars ‘Mayhem 40’ (Feature): 1-Michael Page, Winston 2-Shane Clanton, Zebulon 3-Aaron Ridely, Chatsworth 4-Ashton Winger, Senoia 5-Ross Bailes, Clover, SC 6-Clint Smith, Senoia 7-Mason Massey, Douglasville 8-Jay Scott 9-Eric Hickerson, Linden, TN 10-Larry Harrod, Plains 11-Rodney Martin, Cartersville 12-Kenny Collins, Colbert 13-Brad Skinner, Spring Hill, TN 14-Bubba Pollard, Senoia 15-Mark Dodson, Caledonia, MS 16-Ronnie Johnson, Chattanooga, TN 17-Lamar Haygood, Douglasville 18-Shane Fulcher, Thomaston 19-Payton Freeman, Commerce 20-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 21-Ray McElhiney, Pulaski, TN 22-Eric Granger, Dallas 23-Joseph Faulkner, Flintville, TN 24-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville DNQ-Scott Groves, Canton Fastest Qualifier: Clanton (14.870 seconds – 90.8 mph) B-Main #1 – Johnson; B-Main #2 – Scott
Limited Late Models (Feature): 1-Michael Page, Winston 2-Dennis Hale, LaGrange 3-Dalton Polston, Lithia Springs 4-Joey Armistead, Senoia 5-Thomas Mewborn, Greenville 6-Mark Page, Winston 7-Rucker Orr, Newnan 8-Landon Bagby, Winston 9-Kyler Haygood, Douglasville 10-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville 11-Jimmy Price, Oxford 12-Jacques Daniel, Cartersville Fast Qualifier: Page (14.998 seconds – 90.0 mph)
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Cruz Skinner, Oxford, AL 2-Kenny Collins, Colbert 3-Logan Palmer, Acworth 4-Chas Haskins, Gray 5-Marty Massey, Winston 6-Josh Copeland, McDonough 7-Tina Johnson, Senoia 8-Dusty Jones, LaGrange 9-Dennis Lykins, Jr., Sharpsburg 10-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg 11-Colby Darda, LaGrange 12-Kole Hardy, Jefferson 13-Travis Price, Oxford 14-Chase Baker, LaGrange Fast Qualifier: Jones (15.341 seconds – 88.0 mph)
Late Model Sportsman (Feature): 1-William Blair, Whitesburg 2-Ryan King, Anniston, AL 3-Cory Compton, Macon 4-Craig Scott, Newnan 5-Drew Larson, Marietta 6-McKenna Nelms, Newnan 7-Daniel Brewer, Avondale Estates 8-Jackie Waits 9-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove 10-Keith Fields, Griffin 11-Matt Thompson, Powder Springs 12-Randy Cornwell, Fayetteville 13-Ty Ellis, Covington 14-Tim Staples, Pell City, AL 15-Wiley McDaniel, Byron 16-Chris Steele, Franklin 17-Curtis Turner, Brooks 18-Brandon McDaniel, Byron 19-Alan Brewer 20-Levi Campbell, Jackson Fast Qualifier: Steele (15.320 seconds – 88.1 mph)
Griffin Hose & Hydraulics Chargers (Feature): 1-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove 2-Tanner Collins, Franklin 3-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 4-Dave McWilliams, Brooks 5-Shane Payton, Newnan 6-Jeff Robinson, Hampton 7-Jason Turner, McDonough
Hobby (Feature): 1-Ted Willingham, McDonough 2-Keith West, Mableton 3-Ben Wells, Milner 4-Jamie Garner, Mableton 5-Josh Pitt, Stockbridge 6-Phillip Wallace, Locust Grove 7-Tim Harmon, Conyers Fast Qualifier: Willingham (16.098 seconds – 83.9 mph)
Bomber (Feature): 1-Dorough Bright, Newnan 2-Scott Amoson, Newnan 3-Shannon Stephens, Franklin 4-Mike Nelms, Newnan 5-John Holcomb, Griffin 6-Straton Scott, Newnan 7-Ricky Neill, Whitesburg 8-William Blair, Whitesburg 9-Abe Chase, Valley, AL 10-Larry Pierce, Griffin 11-Justin Garrett, Manchester DNS: Dunie Dillard, Phenixy City, AL; Pappy Powell, Hogasnville Fast Qualifier: Bright (17.548 seconds – 77.0 mph)
Mini (Feature): 1-Tommy Faulkner, Newnan 2-Josh Till, McDonough 3-Jamie Nicholson, Sr., Locust Grove 4-Bob Faulkner, Newnan 5-Gary Parker, Barnesville 6-Ryan Boles, Hartwell Fast Qualifier: T Faulkner (18.166 seconds – 74.3 mph)
Hot Shot (Feature): 1-Eddie Segars 2-Jody Dilbeck 3-Lucas Pittman, Grantville 4-Cody Holmes 5-Ernest Turner, Douglasville 6-Cale Burford, Milner 7-Stacey Henderson, Senoia 8-Charlie Cowart 9-Nathan Farrow, LaGrange DNS-Wayne Chapman
