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Jay Vaquer
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (September 28) - East Alabama Motor Speedway proudly hosted the 30th Annual Alabama State Championship over a four day weekend. It was truly one of dirt track racing's premier events with hundreds of race teams from across the United States and thousands of race fans each day enjoying the beautiful fall weather and the wildly exciting nine divisions of highly competitive racing. The event culminated Sunday night with the Super Late Model feature. During the qualifying most fast drivers were hitting around 14.80 then hometown favorite, Fastrak National Champion William Thomas in his brand new JW Miller Land and Timber Rocket Chassis Vic Hill powered Monte Carlo, who had already won the pole, and subsequent events for the Crate Late Model feature and the Sportsman feature, turned in a scorching hot 14.40 and appeared to win fast time until the incumbent champion, Terrance "The Phenix City Assassin" Nowell turned in a blazing 14.39 to relegate Thomas to second. Both of these times set track records for daytime lap speed and no one expected to see anyone faster. Enter 18 year old Travis Pennington in a black and white Rocket chassis #01. With lightning speed he shocked everyone as he turned in a 14.32 to set the new track record. After running away with a win in his heat race, he was on the pole for the feature. When the green dropped on the main event, Pennington immediately took the lead as Clint " Cat Daddy" Smith shot past the outside pole sitter Jake Knowles to take second place. On lap 4, William Thomas shot past Dewayne "Flat Out" Johnson who brought out the caution with a flat right rear. The restart order was Pennington, Smith, Knowles, Jeff Fortner, Stacy Holmes, Benji Cole, Nowell, Riley Hickman, Dana "The Master of Faster" Eiland, and William Thomas rounded out the first ten. The green was back out and Aaron Ridley got a jump on Dennis "Pure Hale" Hale and Thomas got by Eiland then Johnson got collected by the inside wall of turn two. On lap 10 Cat Daddy started blowing blue smoke out the rear. Eiland's K9 suffered a flat tire and went to the pits along with Johnson. Cat Daddy called it quits and entered the pits on lap 19 as his smoking problem was increasing. Pennington was really in a different reality as he gained ground on the field with each passing lap. Knowles now in second could not get close enough to pressure Pennington, who was clearly the class of the field. Hickman went flying off turn three for the caution and on the restart the Assassin was up to fourth from starting eighth. On lap 22, the #22 of Thomas was running sixth and Hale was up to tenth. John Greene entered the pits and took a DNF just before Aaron Ridley smashed the guard rail putting both of Clint Smith's GRT's out of the race. The Assassin was quietly picking off the competition and suddenly was running in third at lap 26. Thomas has a great system for picking off the competition on the restarts and Holmes was his next victim as he dropped inside in turn one and shot by moving into fifth on lap 28. James Ward was having a serious run as he started dead last and was now running ninth. Gar Dixon brought out the next caution but was able to enter the pits, change the tire and rejoin the field for the green. Pennington would fire on these restarts and simply pull away from whoever was in second. This time it was Knowles but he had his hands full as the Assassin had him in his sights and was making his life a living hell attacking from high and low. Dickson's new tire didn't want to turn on turn one and he went for that ride on the wild side off turn one for another yellow flag caution. On this restart again Thomas worked his magic as he picked off Fortner and moved into fourth at lap 40. Ronnie "The Chattanooga Flash" Johnson was having problems in his borrowed #57 and suddenly his run went to Hale as he and Dennis Hale crashed in turn 4 at lap 44 to bring out the yellow and they both went to the pits for unfortunate DNFs. On this restart Holmes went over turn one and brought the yellow right back. Attrition was mounting as on lap 44 we had 16 race cars still in the competition. On the restart Thomas put it on the Assassin this time as he powered into third and went after Knowles in second. He ran down Knowles and began his attack from the inside. Thomas could get even, and even slightly ahead, in the turns but Knowles had that high side momentum to propel himself back into second down the straight-aways. This exciting battle brought us to the white flag as these three youngsters, none of the top three are over 22 years old, gave everyone what you hope to see in such a great event. Travis Pennington took the checkers to become the youngest driver to ever win the coveted title of Alabama State Super Late Model Champion. Jake Knowles finished second, William Thomas third, Terrance Nowell fourth, James Ward fifth, Gar Dickson sixth, Jeff Fortner seventh, Brian Smith eighth, Riley Hickman ninth, and Frank Wilson rounded out the top ten in tenth.
Super Late Model
01 - Travis Pennington
66 - Jake Knowles
22 - William Thomas
7 - Terrance Nowell
W3 - James Ward
60 - Gar Dickson
27 - Jeff Fortner
15 - Brian Smith
R1 - Riley Hickman
72 - Frank Wilson
17 - Ricky Williams
71 - James Ussery
00 - Steven Endicott
33 - Chuck Smith
00 - Devin Jones
H2 - Stacy Holmes
57 - Ronnie Johnson
888 - Dennis Hale
81 - Aaron Ridley
2 - John Greene
K9 - Dana Eiland
44 - Clint Smith
121 - Benji Cole
45 - Dewayne Johnson
Sportsman
22 - William Thomas
90 - Bobby Thomas
5 - Ronnie Johnson
7 - Terrance Nowell
1n - Jordy Nipper
17 - Ricky Williams
91 - Tod Darda
17 - Parker Herring
00 - Steven Endicott
40 - Marvin Cook
G1 - Glenn McWaters
99 - JR Moseley
C2 - Cale Simons
114 - Stephen Segars
18 - Larry Eldridge
27 - Larry Harrod
08 - Bobby Eiland
44 - Mike Parkerson
15 - Mitch Fulford
11 - Ryan Law
71 - Mike Nasworthy
03 - Oliver Gentry
27 - Glenn Morris
25 - Chad Marchman
Crate Late Model
22t - William Thomas
22p - Travis Pennington
M1 - Blake Stewart
K8 - Bobby Eiland
K9 - Dana Eiland
17 - Billy Franklin
F9 - Frank Ingram
16 - Jeff Fields
5 - Ronnie Johnson
58 - Larry Boutwell
21 - Royce Bray
00t - Jake Knowles
20 - Tony Head
41 - Mike Parkerson
13k - Kelly Leonard
87 - Derrick Rainey
7 - Montana Dudley
72 - Chad Scrimpshire
14 - Pat Wall
18 - Chase Edge
54 - Mike Head
22m - Mark Sims
1n - Jordy Nipper
00 - Richie Stephens, Jr.
Super Street
71 - Gene Nasworthy
11 - Lynn Robbins
1 - Sam Moore
27 - Eric Baggett
17 - Allen Rowland
00 - Richie Stephens
50jr - Steven Gaines, Jr
12 - Hunter Peacock
72 - Chad Scrimpshire
66 - Johnny Tribble
21w - Randy Woodard
8 - Michael Mills
54 - Tim Dixon
10 - Jonathan Gray
50v - Montie Vaughn
T6 - Tod Hernandez
19 - Paul Walters
22 - Danny Stroud
RC3 - Lavon Sparks
115 - Dustin Elliott
3 - Rodney Johnson
147 - Jimmy Booth, Jr
2 - Randy Hester
Modified
10 - Jeff Culpepper
11 - Jimmy Hiett
10 - Scottie Hiett
25 - Ricky White
7 - Ricky Culpepper
27j - Joe Phillips
T5 - Terry Braswell
2 - John Greene
36 - Billy Palmer
33 - Nathan Ingersoll
5 - Wesley Dubois
27 - Wesley Griffin
41 - Barry Sheffield
56 - Dave Barber, Jr
25 - Greg Hopkins
5 - Andy Smith
11 - J C Dubois
777 - Tony Foley, Jr
27 - Gordy Scarbrough
1 - Pete Pilgrim
25 - Herbie Donath
01 - Bucky Gregory
55 - Duane Treadwell
M1 - Randy Morris
Hobby
92 - Danny Earl Warren
68 - Howie Reeves
7 - Chris Arnett
99 - Randy Renfroe
28 - Charles Davis
83 - Karl Willard
02 - Al Walker
07 - Larry Guilford
5 - Justin Sapp
39 - Marc Gooden
24j - Jason Price
2 - Jonathan Dozier
77 - Tracy Mimbs
00 - Richie Stephens. Jr.
42 - Chad Wallace
41 - Scott Sherrer
71 - Jeff Hadden
3 - Jeff Carter
10 - Jeff Chumley
294 - John Michael
6 - Johnny Beck
23 - Josh Odom
29 - Randy Allen
52 - Lee "Red Dog" Reynolds
4-Cylinder
ME1 - Jackie Holden
71 - Brian Courtney
9 - Scott Morgan
10 - TonyCoffman
01 - Rocky McNabb
07 - Franklin Long
17 - Alton Weed
27 - Talmadge Simpson
99 - Jeff Dobbs
14 - Justin Lord
21 - Brannon Knight
9 - Perry Crowe
44 - Jimmy Plumlee
T1 - Jimmy Elliott
4 - Chris Hipp
16 - Huie Stewart
16 - Erik Hogsed
7 - Bobby Duell
J3 - John Capps, III
11 - Greg Gatlin
97 - Brian Harris
8x - Doug Sellers
17 - Bryan Price
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