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McDowell blasts to Volunteer Speedway Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series ‘Reece Monument Co. 60’ $10,000 victory
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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