Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credit: Tim Cooper
(Senoia, GA – March 31, 2019) South Carolina’s Chris ‘Smokey’ Madden worked past Winston’s Michael Page on lap eleven of Saturday night’s main event and then smoked the field for the final forty-nine laps to win the 4th Annual Spring Nationals at Senoia Raceway. It was Madden’s second victory in the early season tilt at the slick surfaced bull ring south of Atlanta.
“Tonight the racetrack was perfect for long enough time for us to get out front,” said an emotional Madden afterwards. This was his first win of the season breaking a winless streak of eleven races with his new team. “It’s a little emotional here to finally get this win. We’ve been working hard for it.,,I’m kinda at a loss for words right now. It’s awesome to just get this first win.”
Joining Madden with Spring Nationals honors were Hamilton’s Ricky Culpepper in the Crate Late Models; Alabama’s Dylan Knowles in the Late Model Sportsman; Blake Harmon on Mansfield in the Hobby; Curtis Turner of Brooks in the Bomber and eighteen-year-old Griffin Alexander of Locust Grove in the Chargers. A total of 130 competitors packed the pit area for the special event.
Fast Qualifier, Michael Page, shot out to the early lead with Madden the first to catch him. Madden worked high and low before finally shooting past with a perfect crossover. He then left all of his competitors to race for other positions outside of the number one spot as he kept lapped traffic between he and the second place drivers.
The slick surface Senoia Raceway has used to grow national attention took on rubber as the race progressed and created a log jam at the bottom of the track. A few drivers were able to sneak past and gain positions including Tennessee’s Jimmy Owens. He worked past Page with about ten to go, but could not reel in Madden even with a late race caution.
Madden won and pocketed the top prize of $10,000 while Owens would settle for second finishing 1,176 seconds behind the winner. Page came home in third ahead of last year’s Spring Nationals champion Dale McDowell of Chickamauga and Senoia youngster Ashton Winger.
Four-time track champion Clint ‘Cat Daddy’ Smith finished in sixth ahead of Toccoa’s Casey Roberts, Newnan’s Austin Horton, Zebulon’s Shane Clanton and Dawsonville’s Donald McIntosh.
In the Crate Late Models, pole-sitter Phillip Deal of Tyrone battled side by side with Ricky Culpepper until lap three when ‘Slick Rick’ was able to wrestle away the lead. A few laps later Deal would have his hands full again this time with Senoia’s Bubba Pollard. The asphalt racing guru, Pollard, was able to work past by the sixth circuit and reeled in Culpepper for a short time before his car tired. Winston’s Michael Page snuck past Pollard as did fourteen-year-old Jake Rainey of Hiram. Culpepper claimed the victory and Spring Nationals honor ahead of those drivers while Deal rounded out the first five finishers.
Senoia lady racer, Tina Johnson, qualified a career best second and started on the outside front row. She slipped a little on the initial start, but recovered to finish in sixth. Tennessee’s Chase Walls was seventh ahead of defending Crate Late Model track champion Marty Massey of Winston, Eastanollee’s Matthew Wyatt and Cochran’s Will Herrington.
A classic Senoia Raceway battle was enjoyed in the Late Model Sportsman feature. ‘Thrillin’ Dylan Knowles and Chad Wallace of LaGrange sliced and diced through lapped traffic through the first half dozen laps. Wallace would take the lead only to give it back the next lap while slipping high and low around the slower cars. The scramble behind the two leaders was just as crazy. Bowden’s Craig Scott, Byron’s Wiley McDaniel, Franklin’s Chris Steele and Baldwins Parris Simmons battled, traded paint, bumped and banged, all trying to gain position on one another.
When the dust finally settled and the cautions flags stopped waving, Knowles had his second win of the young season ahead of Wallace. Alabama’s Buddy George calmly worked his way into the show position ahead of McDaniel and Newnan’s teenage crowd favorite McKenna Nelms. The fifteen-year-old girl had worked to as high as third place before fading to fifth in the late stages.
Curtis Turner debuted a new car in the Bomber division and proved it to be a pretty good off-season build. Turner led flag to flag to claim the special event title. Whitesburg’s Derrick Matthews also showcased a new ride finishing in second after being relegated to the rear of the field after a lap three crash. Matthews old car, now driven by Franklin’s Shannon Stephens, finished in third ahead of Newnan’s Vern Miller and Jackson’s Craig Boozer.
Eighteen-year-old Griffin Alexander won his first career race at Senoia Raceway leading the Chargers division finale from the drop of the green. The youngster held off all challenges from Dave McWilliams of Brooks to claim the victory. McWilliams was also seeking to nab his first career win after both drivers had won their respective heat races. Loganville’s Chad Atha finished in third place.
Mansfield’s Blake Harmon won the crash-filled Hobby Stock feature after taking advantage of a last lap accident involving his dad, Tim Harmon of Conyers, and then leader Jake Sanders of Alabama. The crash collected innocent bystander Brandon Jones as he was caught up with no place to go slamming into Sanders near the backstretch cross-over gate.
The racing action will continue on Saturday, April 6th with a full night of action-packed stock car racing. The Limited Late Models will return to racing along with the Crate Late Models, Late Model Sportsman, Bomber, Mini Stock and Chargers. It is also ‘Kids Night’ at Senoia Raceway offering children ages 12 and under free admission into the grandstand.
The pit area will open at 4pm this Saturday with the grandstand gates opening at 5pm. The driver’s meeting begins at 6pm with hot laps and qualifying rounds beginning at 6:30pm. Racing begins at 7:30pm.
For the full schedule of events along with special attractions, promotions and additional information, visit the track website at www.senoiaraceway.com or call the speedway at 770.599.6161.
Official Results – Saturday, March 30, 2019 (4th Annual Spring Nationals)
Super Late Models (Feature): 1-Chris Madden, Grays Court, SC 2-Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN 3-Michael Page, Winston 4-Dale McDowell, Chickamauga 5-Ashton Winger, Senoia 6-Clint Smith, Senoia 7-Casey Roberts, Toccoa 8-Austin Horton, Newnan 9-Shane Clanton, Zebulon 10-Donald McIntosh, Dawsonville 11-Tanner English, Benton, KY 12-Jason Croft, Acworth 13-Joseph Brown, Columbus 14-Cla Knight, North Augusta, SC 15-Brandon Overton, Evans 16-Dillon Tidmore, Gadsden, AL 17-Tyler Millwood, Kingston 18-Mason Massey, Douglasville 19-John Henderson, North Augusta, SC 20-Dalton Polston, Lithia Springs 21-Zach Leonhardi, Cartersville 22-Jody Knowles, Tyrone DNQ: Rucker Orr, Newnan; Ricky Williams, Fayetteville; Joseph Joiner, Milton, FL; Landon Bagby, Winaston; Will Roland, Jasper; Larry Harrod, Plains; Lamar Haygood, Douglasville; Jake Traylor, LaGrange; Shane Fulcher, Thomaston; Dusty Jones, LaGrange; Kyler Haygood, Douglasville. Heat Winners: Horton; Owens; Page; Madden. B-Main Winners: Tidmore; English Fast Qualifier: Page – 15.910 seconds/84.9 mph
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Ricky Culpepper, Hamilton 2-Michael Page, Winston 3-Jake Rainey, Hiram 4-Bubba Pollard, Senoia 5-Phillip Deal, Tyrone 6-Tina Johnson, Senoia 7-Chase Walls, Decherd, TN 8-Marty Massey, Winston 9-Matthew Wyatt, Eastonolee 10-Will Herrington, Cochran 11-Chase Edge, Lafayette, AL 12-Josh Copeland, McDonough 13-Kyle Clifton, Ranburne, AL 14-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg 15-Morgan Alexander, Jackson 16-Jimmy Waldrop, Seffner, FL 17-Colby Darda, LaGrange 18-Ty Ellis, Covington 19-Matt Dooley, Brooks 20-Corey Dunn, Milledgeville 21-Corey Payton, Newnan 22-Cruz Skinner, Oxford, AL 23-TJ Brittain, Centre, AL DNS: Matthew Turner, Cumming DNQ: Jamie Maurice, McDonough; Tanner Collins, Franklin; Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey; Lee Fuller, Newnan; Chase McCullough; Jerry Henry, Snellville; Logan Palmer, Acworth; Blant Duke, Whitesburg; Kyle Cochran, Atlanta; Daniel Casteel, Dallas; Tarvis Price, Conyers B-Main Winners: Herrington; Clifton Fast Qualifier: Deal – 16.514 seconds/81.7 mph
Late Model Sportsman (Feature): 1-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL 2-Chad Wallace, LaGrange 3-Buddy George, Pale City, AL 4-Wiley McDaniel, Byron 5-McKenna Nelms, Newnan 6-Chris Steele, Franklin 7-Rickey Payton, Newnan 8-Matthew Knight, Villa Rica 9-Jack Mills, Griffin 10-Mitchell Keaton, Carrollton 11-Cole Compton, Macon 12-Josh Herringdine, Eatonton 13-Parris Simmons, Baldwin 14-Austin Aldridge, Bremen 15-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Jackson 16-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 17-Sam Moore, Columbus 18-Parrish Duncan, Newnan 19-Ted Minnix, McDonouogh 20-Jordan Benefield, Carrollton 21-Mike Bruner, Jr., Dallas 22-Billy Stevenson, Locust Grove 23-Craig Scott, Bowden 24-Bobby Arnold, Newnan DNQ: Dustin Newell, Gray; Monte Vaughn, Lizella; Justin Thornton, Columbus; Ken Limrick, Warner Robbins B-Main Winner: Bruner, Jr. Fast Qualifier: Knowles – 16.453 seconds/82.0 mph
Hobby (Feature): 1-Blake Harmon, Mansfield 2-Landon Degraff, Barnesville 3-Keith West, Powder Springs 4-Larry Bednar, Locust Grove 5-Ryan Ray, Mabelton 6-Jake Sanders, Lafayette, AL 7-Tim Harmon, Conyers 8-Jeremy Butler, Lithia Springs 9-Brandon Jones, Newnan 10-Charles Bullard 11-Jerry Knowles, Tyrone Fast Qualifier: Ray – 16.159 seconds/83.5 mph
Bomber (Feature): 1-Curtis Turner, Brooks 2-Derrick Matthews, Whitesburg 3-Shannon Stephens, Franklin 4-Vern Miller, Newnan 5-Craig Boozer, Jackson 6-TJ Boetz, Midland 7-Abe Chase, Valley, AL 8-Stratton Scott, Newnan 9-Justin Bennett 10-Vicky Colburn, Loganville 11-Dunie Dillard, Phenix City, AL Fast Qualifier: Matthews 17.451 seconds/77.4 mph
Chargers (Feature): 1-Griffin Alexander, Locust Grove 2-Dave McWilliams, Brooks 3-Chad Atha, Loganville 4-Brad Whittle 5-Sam Carter, Covington 6-Will McConnell 7-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 8-Shane Payton, Senoia 9-Kayla Boswell, Winston 10-Scott Amoson, Newnan 11-Jason Faircloth, Macon 12-Lucas Pittman, Grantville Heat Wiiners: McWilliams; Alexander
