CLEVELAND, Tenn. (November 23,) Local favorite and three time Gobbler winner Dale McDowell set a new track record and added his fourth year ending Gobbler win at Cleveland Speedway Saturday night.
McDowell, who was the 11th driver to time in under the old track record, a record he set at last years Gobbler, toured the ultra fast Cleveland clay with a record time of 13.100 seconds. Mirroring his performance in last years Gobbler win after setting the track record he led every lap to take the 14th Annual Southern All Star Gobbler 75 win.
“I don’t get to race here as much as I would like to, but when I do it’s always great to do well at my home track in front of family and friends,” grinned McDowell in victory lane with the Larry Shaw Rocket, Dover Cylinder Heads Grand Prix. “Joe Lee (Johnson) had the track in really great shape tonight. I don’t know if anyone can remember when 11 cars broke the track record at any track in one night. I know I can’t.”
By virtue of starting on the pole, McDowell had a wider choice to tires and was able to start on a little harder tires and that made the difference. Duayne Hommell starting in the rear had to go with a softer tire to get to the front and when he got there he didn’t have anything for McDowell.
“The driver shot himself in the foot and blew it qualifying the car tonight,” said Hommell the newly crowned Southern All Star champion. “Starting in the rear I had to go with softer tires and couldn’t do anything with Dale (McDowell) when I finally got to him.”
As Hommell, who had dominated SAS racing at Cleveland Speedway this year, marched toward the front he was not alone as Ray Cook was also heading that way. Cook, who started 11th, and Hommell battled high and low as they both progressed through traffic in search of McDowell. As the laps wound down Cook passed Hommell for second and set his sights on the leader, but it was too little too late.
Clint Smith, who was plagued by a flat tire and other mechanical gremlins, ended up making numerous trips to the pits. As the laps wound down all the hard work by Smith’s crew paid off as he moved up to a strong fourth place finish. Topping off another fine run at Cleveland Speedway with a fifth place finish was Patrick Duggan.
In the early goings Cleveland Speedway Late Model Champion Todd Morrow was the only one able to stay with McDowell. Morrow would later be relegated to third by a hard charging Hommel 30 laps into the 75 lap event. Cook would move past Morrow for third 10 laps latter and a broken ball joint would end Morrow’s top five run on lap 45.
Rounding out the top 10 were Johnny Chastain, Doug English, Terrance Nowell, Shane Tankersley and Vic Chandler.
In the Cleveland Speedway Claimer Late Models Johnny Cloer took the win. Following Cloer across the line were Chuck Padgett, Steve Gilbert, Charles Clinton and Glenn Seaton III.
Chip Brindle out ran Glenn Seaton Jr. to take the Hobby win. Lee Hogan was third, Shawn Reese fourth and Scott Boyd fifth.
Pony Stock feature action saw Scott Ledford cross the stripe ahead of Greg Henderson to take the win. Wayne Reed, David Doss and John Smith rounded out the top five.
In Street Stock action Alex Nash took the feature win over Roy Nichols and Jonathan Hughes.
This ends the 2002 season for Cleveland Speedway. The 1/3 mile clay oval will open the 2003 season with the running of the annual Southern All Star Shamrock event in March of 2003.
Southern All Star Gobbler 75: There were 73 cars in the pits with 71 attempting to qualify.
Southern All Star Gobbler 75 finish:
1. Dale McDowell, 2. Ray Cook, 3. Duayne Hommell, 4. Clint Smith, 5.Patrick Duggan, 6. Johnny Chastain, 7. Doug English, 8. Terrance Nowell, 9. Shane Tankersley, 10. Vic Chandler, 11. Brandon Kinzer, 12. Jeff Smith, 13. Todd Morrow, 14. Kevin Gibson, 15. Randy Weaver, 16. Roy Ledbetter, 17. Anthony White, 18. Lamar Scoggins, 19. Gary McPherson, 20. Mark Douglas, 21. Jamie Perry, 22. Mike Head, 23. Billy Ogle Jr., 24. Paul Tims.
First consolation race: 1. Anthony White, 2. Billy Ogle Jr.
Second consolation race: 1. Paul Tims, 2. Lamar Scoggins
Third consolation race: 1. Mike Head, 2. Jamie Perry
Provisionals: Duayne Hommel, Terrance Nowell
Southern All Star qualifiers who broke the existing track record of 13.550 set by Dale McDowell in November 2001.
1. Dale McDowell 13.100, 2. Brandon Kinzer 13.176, 3. Todd Morrow 13.298, 4. Clint Smith 13.412, 5. Randy Weaver 113.420, 6. Johnny Chastain 13.434, 7. Mark Douglas 13.447, 8. Doug English 13.476, 9. Jeff Smith 13.487 10. Shane Tankersley 13.489 11. Ray Cook 13.529.
Full Feature Rundowns
Claimer Feature
1 41 Johnny Cloer
2 34 Chuck Padgett
3 9G Steve Gilbert
4 51 Charles Clinton
5 92 Glenn Seaton III
6 48 Kevin Cooke
7 18 Arron Wheat
8 44 Benny Davis
9 66 Griffin Kinsey
10 4 David Johnson
11 63 Rick Jennings
12 3 Tim Gibson
13 30 Eric Nicholson
14 7 Nick Yancy
15 P4 Sam Parris
16 7D Darren Dewell
17 9A Phillip Anderson
18 6m Henry Hanger
19 28 Bobby Doss
20 20
21 31 Richard Ogle
Hobby Feature
1 38 Chip Brindle
2 92 Glenn Seaton Jr.
3 14 Lee Hogan
4 16 Shawn Reece
5 77 Scott Boyd
6 54 Michael Price
7 11 Justin Mitchell
8 72 Kenny Stanfield
9 33 Ryan Stillwell
10 07 Lonnie Raines
11 98 Kevin Smith
12 66 Damon Hollifield
13 99 Jim Twiggs
14 21 William Hawkins
15 1 Josh Johnson
16 29 Steve Huffman
17 7m Michael Clemente
18 00 Scott Showers
19 7 Travis Banthan
20 20 David Sturart
Pony Feature
1 32 Scott Ledford
2 3 Greg Henderson
3 55 Wayne Reed
4 28 David Doss
5 5 John Smith
6 54 Don Donagan
7 27 Alan Holloway
8 69 Cory Green
9 12 David Woods
10 45 Roby Hair
11 1 Chuck Farr
12 69
13 8 Bryan Gregory
14 9 Mike Tidwell
Street Feature
1 20 Alex Nash
2 00 Roy Nichols
3 20 Johnny Hughes
4 K1
5 55 Terry Graham
6 75 Daniel Hollifield
7 79 Thomas Lowry
8 41 Raymond Lowry
9 T3 Chad Holcomb
10 92 Jason Seaton
More Photos are posted in the photos section.
