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SASE PR
GAFFNEY, S.C. (March 2) - Jimmy Owens made nabbed his second consecutive Cherokee Speedway $10,000 to win event on Sunday evening. The Newport, Tennessee drive inherited the lead when race-long leader Randy Weaver suffered a broken rear end which caused him to retire from the O'Reilly Southern All Stars East sanctioned event. Owens went on to the $10,000 payday after turning back the late challenges of local favorite Dennis "Rambo" Franklin of Gaffney.
Franklin electrified the capacity crowd on hand during Sunoco Race Fuels Pole Qualifying. The Barry Wright "house car" driver eclipsed the track record which had just been set by fellow BWRC racer Brent Dixon. Franklin's mark of 14.829 seconds bested Dixon's lap by just seven one hundredths of a second. Illinois driver Shannon Babb was third quick and also broke the previous track record which had been held by Randle Chupp. Chris Madden laid down a lap quick enough for fourth but his car came up light at the scales relegating him to the rear of a heat.
Four rough and tumble heat races were staged to establish the first eight rows of the feature event. Cherokee's sun-beaten and wind-blown surface had begun to erode making the track rather rough by the time the late models hit the track. The eight lap heats went in order without any major incidents but it was readily obvious to track and series officials that some surface work would be needed to ensure the safety of the drivers and fans on hand.
After some extensive surface maintenance the two last chance qualifying events hit the speedway and found a much improved surface. The first of the two last chance qualifiers saw teenager Dillon Wood and formed March Madness winner Chris Madden wage an all out war. In the end the youngster took the win over Madden and G.R. Smith. Chris Ferguson, another young late model pilot, took the win in the final last chance event ahead of defending OSAS-East champion Casey Roberts and another former March Madness winner in Jeff Smith.
The feature rolled off to a scary initial start when a turn four incident left eighth starting Scott Bloomquist's car sitting on top of Damon Eller's mount after Franklin looped his machine. Dan Schlieper was also involved. Bloomquist and Franklin were able to return and with no laps completed reassumed their original starting position. However Eller was forced to retire with heavy front-end damage.
With the field reset, Weaver was able to surge to the lead at the drop of the green flag with Owens giving chase. Over the next ten laps Weaver began to distance himself from Owens. But slowly Owens began to reel in the race leader. On the fourteenth circuit Owens was able to stick a nose to Weaver's inside off turn four. But Weaver prevailed as the leaders flashed across the line. Owens lost a bit of ground through turns three and four when he washed up the steep Cherokee banking.
On lap sixteen, disaster struck for the leader when a broken rear end got the Crossville, Tennessee racer crossed up in turn four which brought out the caution flag. Weaver tagged the tail for the restart but went pitside after only one lap of green. At the head of the field for the Dixie Double File Restart Owens took control of the race. Owens opened up daylight between himself and the now second Steve Lucas as Franklin put the pressure on for second. Franklin made the move past Lucas and set after the leader.
A myriad of cautions kept the field in a close group. After a lap twenty-four restart, Bloomquist split Lucas and Babb to take over third. A late restart gave Franklin and Bloomquist one last shot at Owens but Owens held on to take the win. Franklin and Bloomquist took second and third respectively. Chris Madden earned the PPM Race Products Hard Charger Award after he finished fourth, moving up sixteen spots from his twentieth starting position. Babb rounded out the top five.
Official Finish
1 - 20 Jimmy Owens - Newport, TN
2 - 2 Dennis Franklin - Gaffney, SC
3 - 0 Scott Bloomquist - Mooresburg, TN
4 - 44 Chris Madden - Gray Court, SC
5 - 18 Shannon Babb - Moweaqua, IL
6 - 22 Randle Chupp - Troutman, NC
7 - 101 Casey Roberts - Toccoa, GA
8 - 22 Ricky Elliott - Seaford, DE
9 - 11 Jeff Cooke - Spartanburg, SC
10 - 104 Monk Gulledge - Batesburg, SC
11 - 1 Brent Dixon - Elberton, GA
12 - 21 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. - Ocala, FL
13 - 22* G.R. Smith - Huntersville, NC
14 - 01 Travis Pennington - Winston, GA
15 - 26 Dillon Wood - New Smyrna Beach, FL
16 - 9 Dan Schlieper - Sullivan, WI
17 - 6 Steve Lucas - Charleston, WV
18 - 22 Chris Ferguson - Charlotte, NC
19 - 44 Clint Smith - Senoia, GA
20 - 70 Jeff Smith - Dallas, NC
21 - 116 Randy Weaver - Crossville, TN
22 - 26 Tony Knowles - Tyrone, GA
23 - I4 Damon Eller - Crumpler, NC
24 - 09 Johnny Pursley - Clover, SC
DNS: Kevin Tessner, Austin Hubbard, Jimmy Ivester, John Blankenship, Vic Hill, Ethan Hunter, Shon Flanary, Jared Hawkins, Mike Hill, Steve Phillips, Dion Deason, Tommy Kerr, Petey Ivey, John Pursley and Bodine Massengill.
The event drew forty-one cars from ten different states. Owens winning Bloomquist Chassis has a Cornett Race Engine and is sponsored by Gantte Appraisals, Reece Monument Company, Precision Rod and Custom, Byrd's Radiator, Alwee Trucking Company, VP Racing Fuels and Hoosier Race Tires. The O'Reilly Southern All Stars EAST will return to action on April 5th at Cherokee for a $4000 to win event. For more information visit www.southernallstarseast.com
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