The Southern All Stars finally made it to the track after 83 days and Victory Lane had a familiar face back in it. Dale McDowell from Chickamauga, GA is has been perfect in the season opener March Madness in Cherokee Speedway in Gafnee, SC and now at Thunderhill Raceway Park’s Whooping the WuHan Flu 50.
In both events Dale has set fast time led all laps.
In Victory Lane Dale paid honor to two Southern All Star employees B. J. Parker and Lynn Acklin. Parker was the series founder in 1983 and passed away in 2011. Acklin was the long time series director and passed away this past March. He also had shout out to all the fans that were in attendance. “I came up to watch the B-mains and could not find a seat. It was good to reminisce and took me back when I went to the races as a kid.”
The battle for second was contested several times during the 50 lap feature as outside front row starter Scott James on lap 7 had mechanical problems that ended his night. For the next 43 laps Jason Hiett and Tyler Millwood exchanged the position with Hiett bringing 2nd home. Donald McIntosh wound up with a solid 4th place finish. Rookie of the Year leader Sam Seawright had a very impressive 5th place finish as him, Hiett and Millwood all were making the first trip to the high bank oval.
Rounding out the top ten was sprinkled with a couple of former Southern All Stars Champions. 6th went to Chad Thrash, 2018 champ Jay Scott 7th, 4 time champion Riley Hickman 8th , Caleb Ashby 9th and local track favorite Eric Hickerson rounding out the top 10.
RACE TIDBITS: Drivers from 6 states were represented in the 35 cars signed in at the All Stars Trailers. Many of the drivers had never been to Thunderhill. The states of Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio were in attendance.
Statesboro, GA driver Jim Rogers was in attendance at the track. Jim finished in the top 5 in points in the 2017 and says he plans on joining the series for the remainder of the 2020 season.
Several drivers have made some adjustments to their schedules planned at the first of the year to run more All Star events in the 2020 season.
After watching Jason Hiett and Tyler Millwood and Sam Seawright take on the high banks, you would have been hard pressed to believe all 3 had never been to this track.
SUNOCO RACE FUELS GROUP QUALIFYING:
Group A: Dale McDowell 12.402
Group B: Scott James 12.758
Knowles Race Parts Fast Qualifier: Dale McDowell
PPM Race Products B Mains:
Race 1. Josh Putnam
Race 2. Riley Hickman
Race 3. Eric Hickerson
Results Pending Tire Test: 1. Dale McDowell 2. Jason Hiett 3. Tyler Millwood 4. Donald McIntosh 5. Sam Seawright 6. Chad Thrash 7. Jay Scott 8. Riley Hickman 9. Caleb Ashley 10. Eric Hickerson 11. Dane Dacus .12. Billy Franklin 13. Bob Gardner 14. Josh Putnam 15. Dewayne Keifer 16. Scott Cook 17. Forrest Trent 18. Rodney Melvin 19. Mark Dodson 20. Tommy Taylor 21. Jim Rogers 22. Jake Knowles 23. Greg Love 24. David Siebers 25. Scott James
DNS: Travis Smith, Richard Smith, Larry Greer, Farrell Skelton, Ben Brocato, , Oakley Johns, Brayton Laster, Steven Holcomb, Chris Harris
Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models
1. #C6 Oakley Johns
2. #20M Cody Martin
3. #17R Brad Skinner
4. #4 Dustin Harris
5. #17JR Tyler Wood
6. #B87 Brock Hall
7. #F26 Mark Fields
8. #4G Bobby Richey, Jr.
9. #713 Ben Brocato
10. #78 Matthew Brocato
11. #H17 Steven Holcomb
12. #71 Danny Gill
13. #28 Justin Maxwel
14. #21 Wayne Murphy
15. #B44 Grayson Brewer
16. #65 Scott Spurgeon
17. #C66 Donald Johns
18. #08 Mike James
DNS: #1 Jason Markewitz, #14 Gary Jones
Crate Racin’ USA Modified Sportsman:
1. #D21 Bradly Qualls
2. #11 Eric Hickerson
3. #92 Blazz Trull
4. #J22 Seth Johnson
5. # 99 Blake Cross
6. #H11 Chris Hickerson
7. #25 Casey Dunavan
8. #66 Carter Caldwell
9. #F1 Chase Winkles
10. #J14 Jason Kelley
11. DNS: #12B Ron Bailey
Crate Racin’ USA Street Stock:
1. #23 Chad Winkles
2. #13V Kaleb Vandygriff
3. #8 Keenan Vandygriff
4. #11 Hunter Runions
5. #93 Eddie Rhinehart
6. #15 Trevor Woodard
7. #4 John Duncan
8. #10 Jansen Woodard
9. #247 Tim Merritt
10. #10 Jimmy Woodard
11. #S12 Brent Steele
Modified Street:
1. #66 Shane Workman
2. #1 Blake Carter
3. #ME2 Jesse MGill
4. #D54 Dillan Daniels
5. #C4 Darryl Haywood
6. #45 Dakota Blackburn
7. #73H Justin Hill
8. #70 Cheryl Shrader
9. #27 AJ Pope
DNS: #89 Marc Jones
Kid’s Mini Cup:
1. #EW1 Walker Greer
2. #4 Jake Niswander
3. Bree Whitmore
4. #21 Camdyn Woods
5. #30 Kayden Walker
6. #15 Brooklyn Woods
Mini Stock:
1. #92 Mark Dalton
2. #6 Chris Gray
3. #35 Travis Yoes
4. #97 Craig Pedrick
5. #K11 Jonathan Norman
6. #247 Peyton Merritt
7. #36 Izak Mathis
8. #22 Matthew Peffer
9. #44 Austin Burke
10. #96 Todd Laymon
11. #R44 Robert Dalton
DNS: #53 Cameron Tucker, #33 Cody Davidson
Mod Lite Feature:
1. #LR8 Ronnie Choate
2. #11 Shawn Mooneyham
3. #86 Stephen Ford
4. #626 Bruce Davidson
5. #2 Austin Cagle
6. #4 Mason Ford
7. #10K Kyle Davidson
8. #11G Phillip Gordon
DNS: #64 Micah Collins, #7H Brian Nance