Submitted by Ted Austad
Photo credits: Francis Hauke
(Senoia, GA – April 7, 2019) Whitesburg’s Austin Horton decided to stay closer to home this weekend to compete and it paid off as the former champion of the travelling Southern All-Star Series captured the K-Mac Electric special for the Limited Late Models at Senoia Raceway. Horton pocketed the $1000 top prize by holding off Stapleton hot shoe Travis Pennington for the win on a night that featured free tickets to all children under the age of twelve.
“We want families to be able to enjoy our sport,” said Mayes Massey, promoter of the 3/8ths mile race track just west of Senoia. “Offering free tickets once in a while allows for those with young kids and tight income to come to the races and have some fun. We will do this a few times this summer, too.”
Massey celebrated with one his children on Saturday night as his 21-year-old son picked up his first win of the season at Senoia Raceway. ‘Racin’ Mason Massey won the Crate Late Model feature while Alabama’s ‘Thrillin’ Dylan Knowles won for the third time this year in the Late Model Sportsman class. Jamie Godbee of Carrollton and Macon’s Brandon McDaniel each won for the second time this season while Oxford’s fourteen-year-old Dawson Martin won his first ever feature at the track dubbed the ‘South’s Baddest Bull Ring’.
It is not often you see a fourteen-year-old winning races at a tough track like Senoia Raceway. The combination of tight corners, walls surrounding every inch and the tricky, slick gumbo clay racing surface can be tough on any driver including seasoned veterans, but it is also one of the best tracks to learn how to handle a near one and half ton race car.
Dawson Martin proved to be a great student as he held off a strong field to claim his first win in only three starts at Senoia Raceway. He held off a hungry Dave McWilliams of Brooks and McDonoough’s Brant Hardin to claim the laurels. McWilliams continues to look for his first win after finishing as a runner-up for several races this year.
Mason Massey tallied his first win of the year. Massey’s victory in the Crate Late Models came with Franklin’s Tanner Collins his nearest competitor. Both young guns at Senoia Raceway, the duo bested veteran racers Chris Carr of Newnan, Tina Johnson of Senoia and defending divisional points champion Marty Massey of Winston. Marty Massey is Mason Massey’s uncle.
“Parked it (in victory lane) tonight,” said Massey on social media. “First win of 2019 and hopefully many more to come. So thankful for this opportunity to do what I love. Thank you to my dad, Shane Clanton, Marty Massey, Capital Racecars and everyone who helps me out. Doesn’t get any better than this.”
Dylan Knowles outdueled pole-sitter McKenna Nelms of Newnan. The young lady from Newnan, McKenna Nelms, qualified the fastest for the fifteen car field on Saturday night, but could not hold off the ‘man to beat’ in the Late Model Sportsman. Knowles powered by on the top side of the race track while Nelms held the low line. Winder’s Logan Stinchcomb was able to sneak past Nelms as well before for the checkered flag ended the race. It was the twenty-two year old Knowles third win of the year and 30th of his career at Senoia Raceway. His thirty wins also has him fifth overall in victories since the track returned to a dirt surface in 2010.
Racing action will get turned up a notch this Saturday, April 13th as Senoia Raceway opens it’s season points championship. Each driver will begin accumulating points for their nightly finishes and the top drivers will be honored this fall with awards and bonus money.
“It’s always fun to watch drivers chase after their moment in history,” said Mayes Massey. “You can never take the title of track champion away once you have etched it in the history books. Names like Mike Head, Randy Holt, Leon Sells, Charlie Bagwell, Roscoe and Clint Smith are iconic with our fans, drivers and crew members. They were all champions.”
Saturday night’s Season Points Opener will feature the first points races of the season for the Limited Late Models, Crate Late Models, Late Model Sportsman, Hobby and Bombers. The Chargers will also compete this weekend, but they do not race for a points title.
There will also be a food drive taking place. The track invites race fans to bring along a non-perishable food item to donate to the county food shelf. Those donating food items will receive a $2 discount on the grandstand admission price.
The pit area will open at 4pm 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.
Tickets are $12; kids 5-12 are $5 with four and under admitted for free.
Pit passes and Trackside Parking tickets are $30; kids 5-12 are $20 and four and under are 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, April 7, 2019
Limited Late Models (Feature): 1-Austin Horton, Whitesburg 2-Travis Pennington, Stapleton 3-Dalton Cook, Columbus 4-Russ Ogletree, Phenix City, AL 5-Dusty Jones, LaGrange 6-Shane Fulcher, Thoamston 7-Dale Thurman, Cartersville 8-Thomas Mewborn, Greenville 9-Landon Bagby, Winston 10-Rucker Orr, Newnan 11-Matt Dooley, Brooks 12-Brand Lewis, Hamilton 13-Jacques Daniel, Cartersville 14-Jimmy Price, Oxford 15-Dustin Elliott, Pine Mountain 16-Jamie Carr, LaGrange 17-Thomas Lewis, Hamilton 18-Jake Traylor, LaGrange 19-Randall Powell, Oxford 20-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 21-Michael Turner, Dallas
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Mason Massey, Douglasville 2-Tanner Collins, Franklin 3-Chris Carr, Newnan 4-Tina Johnson, Senoia 5-Marty Massey, Winston 6-Luther Jenkins 7-Bobby Mills, Griffin 8-Heath Carr 9-Lance Finn 10-Kyle Clifton, Ranburne, AL 11-Chris Justus, McDonough 12-Travis Price, Conyers 13-Chris McCullough
Late Model Sportsman (Feature): 1-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL 2-Logan Stinchcomb, Winder 3-McKenna Nelms, Newnan 4-Jason Turner, McDonough 5-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 6-William Blair, Whitesburg 7-Mike Abercrombie, Jackson 8-Shane Payton, Senoia 9-Ted Minnix, McDonough 10-Jack Mills, Griffin 11-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 12-Parrish Duncan, Newnan 13-Ricky Payton, Newnan 14-Craig Scott, Bowden 15-Kevin Walls
Bomber (Feature): 1-Brandon McDaniel, Macon 2-Curtis Turner, Brooks 3-James Swanger, Whitesburg 4-Dustin Smith, Senoia 5-Shannon Stephens, Franklin 6-Vern Miller, Newnan 7-Craig Boozer, Jackson 8-Larry Pierce, Griffin 9-Ricky Neill, Whitesburg 10-TJ Boetz, Midland 11-William Hollis 12-John Holder, Milner
Mini Stock (Feature): 1-Jamie Godbee, Carrollton 2-Russell Teal, Ranburne, AL 3-Josh Lewis, Hamilton 4-Bobby Faulkner, Newnan 5-Ernie Turner, Douglasville 6-Cory Wilson, Locust Grove 7-Thomas Smith 8-Robert Holder, Milner 9-Justin Henderson, Senoia DQ: Joshua Till, McDonough (light)
Chargers (Feature): 1-Dawson Martin, Oxford 2-Dave McWilliams, Brooks 3-Brant Hardin, McDonough 4-Griffin Alexander, Locust Grove 5-David Turner, Dallas 6-Scott Amoson, Newnan 7-Lucas Pittman, Grantville 8-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan
