Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credits: Francis Hauke
(Senoia, GA – March 3, 2019) The South’s Baddest Bull Ring, Senoia Raceway, cranked up the thunder on Saturday night with the running of the track’s inaugural Winter Thaw event. Southeastern regional promoter’s of the year, Mayes Massey, Bill Massey and Doug Stevens opened up the popular 3/8ths mile race track with a jam-packed pit area full of hungry racers and a decent crowd of the spectators who were just as anxious for a new year to begin.
“The track was not as smooth as we would have liked,” said Mayes Massey, “But, Doug and his staff worked tirelessly after all the rain we have received to give the drivers a place to race this weekend. And race they did! The fans loved every minute of the show!”
The Winter Thaw welcomed the young and the old to the winner’s circle as special titles were won by the grizzled veteran Jack Mills from Griffin in the Late Model Sportsman while sixteen-year-old Payton Freeman of Commerce topped the Crate Late Model field. LaGrange’s Dusty Jones was the best in the Limited Late Models and Mansfield’s Blake Harmon captured the checkers in the Hobby. Carrollton’s Jamie Godbee won the Mini Stock main event while Brandon McDaniel of Macon won the Bomber feature, McDonough’s Jason Turner the Chargers feature and Clinton Thornton the Hot Shots.
“This new event weekend drew 113 competitors, so the fans had plenty to see with new cars, new graphics and some great racing,” added Massey.
Dusty Jones battled with eighteen-year-old Ahnna Parkhurst of Evans a the on set of the Limited Late Model feature. Parkhurst had qualified fastest during early evening time trials nearly eclipsing the track record set by Dalton Cook last September. Jones worked the top side and then would slide to bottom of turn two making a slick move to gain the top position from the ‘Georgia Peach’ on lap six.
Jones would master the bumpy track which seemed to get progressively worst as the night continued. He finished nearly a haf lap ahead of Norman Park’s John Baker and Cartersville’s Jacques Daniel. Parkhurst faded to fourth late in the race, but finished ahead of Fayetteville’s Glenn Morris who rounded out the top five.
Defending Crate Late Model points champion, Marty Massey of Winston, qualified on the pole, but would slip up just enough at the drop of the green flag to give up the sop spot to his nephew Mason Massey of Douglasville. The younger Massey built a pretty good lead, but an even younger Payton Freeman was reeling him in over the middle part of the race. Freeman was able to wrestle away the lead by lap 11 and then took off for the winner’s circle. Mason Massey would lose one more position back to his uncle Marty who would be the runner-up. McDonough’s Bailey Temples and Alabama’s Joe Williamson would round out first five finishers.
It has been a few years since the veteran Jack Mills has visited victory lane at Senoia Raceway, but Saturday night looked as though he never strayed too far. Mills dominated a race that saw a number of cautions that included Carrollton’s Jordan Benefield climb the back stretch wall on lap two and Franklin’s Chris ‘Ironman’ Steele get caught up behind a disabled car and crashing on lap seven. Mills would stay out front of all the carnage to win the main event for the Late Model Sportsman while Kevin Bennett, Wiley McDaniel of Byron, Locust Grove’s Jamie Nicholson, Jr. and Chad Atha of Loganville rounded out the top five.
In the Hobby feature, Blake Harmon was the lucky one as he watched his dad, Tim Harmon of Conyers, and Ben Steele of Franklin battle for the lead position. The duo raced back and forth for several laps before coming together in turn four resulting in Tim Harmon slamming the inside retaining wall and Steele having his nose piece torn from his race car. Both drivers were relegated to the back handing the top spot to Blake Harmon. He did not disappoint as he kept the top spot and claimed the Winter Thaw title ahead of Temple’s Austin Aldridge and Mableton’s ‘Hard Head’ Ryan Ray.
Jamie Godbee wsa involved in an early race mishap in the Mini Stock main. He was sent to the back of the pack for the restart and then methodically moved back through the field before taking the lead with five laps remaining. Godbee would never look back posting the win over Bowden’s Steven Burnette and Hampton’s Harold Leath.
Brandon McDaniel flexed his muscle in the Bombers as he qualified the fast during preliminary events and then led flag to flag winning the main event.
It was a similar situation in the Chargers feature. McDonough’s Jason Turner led every lap of the feature for the newer competitors at the track. Turner had also won a preliminary heat race earlier in the evening. Newnan’s Johnny Stinchcomb claimed the other heat race victory for the Chargers.
Clinton Thornton battled with Alabama’s Brian Wallace and Marietta’s Rick Ricks before finally getting our front for good. Thornton claimed the Hot Shots victory with Wallace and Ricks finishing second and third.
Senoia Raceway officially opens it’s 50th Anniversary season this Saturday, March 9th with the ‘Season Opener’ featuring the Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Crate Late Models, Late Model Sportsman, Hobby, Bomber, Mini and a special North/South Shoot-Out for the Legends Cars. The pits will open at 4pm with the grandstands opening at 5pm. Drivers meeting will take place at 6pm with the first round of qualifying and hot laps set for 6:30pm. Racing starts at 7:30pm. Ticket prices are $12; ages 5-12 are $5 with four and under admitted for free. Pit passes or Trackside Parking passes are $30; ages 5-12 are $20 with four and under admitted for free.
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 2, 2019 (Inaugural Winter Thaw)
Limited Late Models (Feature): 1-Dusty Jones, LaGrange 2-John Baker, Norman Park 3-Jacques Daniel, Cartersville 4-Ahnna Parkhurst, Evans 5-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 6-Oliver Gentry, Newnan 7-Curtis Cline, Dallas 8-Shane Fulcher, Thomaston 9-Randall Powell, Oxford 10-David Turner, Dallas 11-Jake Traylor, LaGrange 12-Lawson Hill, Dallas 13-Russ Ogletree, Phenix City, AL 14-Jimmy Price, Oxford 15-Bobbt Marler, Munford, AL DNS: Shane Criswell, Bowden; Chris Fennell, Temple Fast Qualifier: Parkhurst – 13.749 seconds/98.2 mph)
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Payton Freeman, Commerce 2-Marty Massey, Winston 3-Mason Massey, Douglasville 4-Bailey Temples, McDonough 5-Joe Williamson, Wedowee, AL 6-Brad York, Toccoa 7-Bobby Mills, Griffin 8-Cody Overton, Evans 9-Daniel Casteel, Dallas 10-Danny Herrington, LaGrange 11-Ty Ellis, Covington 12-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL 13-Jamie Maurice, McDonough 14-Chris Justus, McDonough 15-Josh Copeland, McDonough DNS: Dana Eiland, Phenix City, AL; Steven Bloodworth, McIntyre; Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg; Matthew Wyatt, Eastonolee; Chris Carr, Newnan; Corey Dunn, Dublin; Travis Price, Conyers; Lee Fuller, Newnan. Fast Qualifier: Marty Massey – 14.251 seconds/94.7 mph)
Late Model Sportsman (Feature): 1-Jack Mills, Griffin 2-Kevin Bennett 3-Wiley McDaniel, Byron 4-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove 5-Chad Atha, Loganville 6-Donovan Singer, Phenix City, AL 7-Jonah Bozeman, Moultrie 8-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 9-Hunter Worley, Alvaton 10-Mike Abercrombie, Jackson 11-Tyler Hill, Nowell, AL 12-Zack Lee, Shellman 13-Chris Steele, Franklin 14-Dalton Benefield, Carrollton 15-Bubba Gorman, Phenix City, AL 16-Dustin Newell, Gray 17-Jordan Benefield, Carrollton 18-Craig Scott, Bowden DNS: Buddy George Fast Qualifier: Mills – 14.623 seconds/92.3 mph)
Hobby (Feature): 1-Blake Harmon, Masnfield 2-Austin Aldridge, Temple 3-Ryan Ray, Mableton 4-Landon Degraff, Barnesville 5-Tim Harmon, Conyers 6-Jonathan Morris, Opelika, AL 7-Larry Bednar, Locust Grove 8-Ben Steele, Franklin 9-Josh Pitt, Stockbridge 10-Tim Anderson, Carrollton 11-Don Don Cook, Phenix City, AL DNS: Phillip Wallace, Locust Grove; Keith West, Powder Springs Fast Qualifier: Anderson *New Track Record* (15.804 seconds/85.4 mph)
Bomber (Feature): 1-Brandon McDaniel, Macon 2-Shannon Stephens, Franklin 3-Stratton Scott, Newnan 4-Abe Chase, Valley, AL 5-TJ Boetz, Midland 6-Ricky Neill, Whitesburg 7-Charlie Garrett, West Point 8-Dustin Smith, Senoia DNS: HB Duke, Whitesburg Fast Qualifier: McDaniel – 16.585 seconds/81.3 mph)
Mini Stock (Feature): 1-Jamie Godbee, Carrollton 2-Stephen Burnette, Bowden 3-Harold Leath, Hampton 4-Doug Smith, Carrollton 5-Cody Lively 6-Tommy Faulkner, Newnan 7-Joshua Till, McDonough 8-Evan Lancaster 9-Russell Teal, Ranburne, AL Fast Qualifier: Godbee – 17.695 seconds/76.3 mph)
Chargers (Feature): 1-Jason Turner, McDonough 2-Chris Storey 3-Ritchie Grantham, Cataula 4-Dawson Martin, Oxford 5-Griffin Alexander, Locust Grove 6-Dave McWilliams, Brooks 7-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 8-Jason Faircloth, Macon 9-Cade Pierce, Opelika, AL 10-Chris Elliott, Lineville, AL 11-Austin Johnson 12-Brant Hardin, McDonough DNS: Joshua Allen, LaGrange; Lucas Pittman, Grantville Heat Winners: Stinchcomb; Turner
Hot Shots (Feature): 1-Clint Thornton 2-Brian Wallace, Ranburne, AL 3-Rick Ricks, Marietta 4-Jayce Swint 5-Mike Roberson, Dallas 6-Trent Griffith, Auburn, AL 7-Ernie Turner, Douglasville 8-Jordan Wallace, Ranburne, AL 9-Brandon Henderson, Senoia 10-Albert Ussery, LaGrange 11-David Dunn, Hogansville 12-Paul Heitsentether, Dallas 13-Bryson Ussery, LaGrange
