*Story composed from DirtonDirt.com pay-per-view video as well as various reports from social media.
The East Alabama Motor Speedway is hosting the 40th annual National 100 this weekend with a $20,000+ first prize on the line for the driver who takes the checkered flag on Sunday evening in this unsanctioned Super Late Model event. Preliminary races were held on the Phenix City, Alabama track on Saturday night to set the majority of the starting lineup for the 100 lap main event.
Dennis ‘Rambo’ Franklin beat out a rival from last weekend in his heat race and will start Sunday’s main event from the pole with Dale McDowell alongside after those two joined Randy Weaver and Chris Madden as heat race winners on Saturday night.
Franklin proved to be the fastest among the 32 cars and drivers signed in for competition in qualifying as he posted a lap of 15.03 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. Filling out the remainder of the top-10 in time-trials were Dennis Erb, Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Chris Madden, Steve Francis, Dale McDowell, Randy Weaver, Don O’Neal, Scott Bloomquist and Chase Junghans.
Each heat race was made up of 15 laps with the top-5 transferring to the feature.
Heat Race #1
Starting Lineup: 1. Dennis Franklin, 2. Steve Francis, 3. Scott Bloomquist, 4. Rick Eckert, 5. Anthony Burroughs, 6. Tom Maddox, 7. Kyle Pierce, 8. Chad Marchman, 9. Bubba Russell
Race Summary: Franklin took the lead early and drew away during the first half of the race with Francis, Bloomquist and Eckert evenly spaced out behind him. However, things got interesting after a lap 9 caution flag for a flat tire on Pierce’s car.
Bloomquist was able to seize the 2nd spot on the restart as he Franklin and Francis briefly went three wide just after the green flag waved. Francis got sideways in turn one and faded back in the pack as a result of the hard racing. The race at that point was between the two drivers who had a confrontation last week in Gaffney, SC during a heat race.
Franklin was ultimately able to hold off Bloomquist for the win after several laps of clean side-by-side battling.
Race Results: 1. Dennis Franklin, 2. Scott Bloomquist, 3. Rick Eckert, 4. Anthony Burroughs, 5. Steve Francis
Heat Race #2
Starting Lineup: 1. Dennis Erb, Jr., 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Chase Jinghans, 4. Eric Cooley, 5. Clint Smith, 6. Kenny Collins, 7. Brian Reese, 8. Scott Groves
Race Summary: McDowell took the lead at the start and drove away to a dominating victory. During the mid-section of the race it was Smith and Collins who battled hard for the 5th and final transfer position until the ‘Cat Daddy’ was finally able to assume the spot for good.
As the laps clicked away, Junghans closed on Erb for the runner-up position but the veteran Illinois driver was able to hold on.
McDowell won by the length of a straightaway.
Race Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Dennis Erb, Jr., 3. Chase Junghans, 4. Eric Cooley, 5. Clint Smith
Heat Race #3
Starting Lineup: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Randy Weaver, 3. Shane Clanton, 4. Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., 5. Randle Chupp, 6. Ronnie Johnson, 7. Cory Hedgecock, 8. Eric Jacobsen
Race Summary: Like McDowell in the previous heat, Weaver used the outside front row starting spot to his advantage and stormed to an early lead that he would maintain throughout the full length of this preliminary.
Davenport kept the leader in sight but the real race was for the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions. Johnson moved forward early to get himself inside the transfer spots then looked to climb even further up the leader board.
With less than 5 laps remaining, the top-2 of Weaver and Davenport pulled well ahead of the rest of the pack. However, Johnson mounted a challenge on Clanton for 3rd as Jacobsen worked his way into a transfer spot.
Weaver was never seriously challenged for the win and Clanton was eventually able to hold off Johnson in their fight for 3rd.
Race Results: 1. Randy Weaver, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Shane Clanton, 4. Ronnie Johnson, 5. Eric Jacobsen
Heat Race #4
Starting Lineup: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Don O’Neal, 3. Austin Smith, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Kelly Guy, 6. Terrance Nowell, 7. Cecil Eunice, 8. Bo Eaton
Race Notes: Madden bolted to the early lead and never looked back as he drove away to what was perhaps the most dominate heat race win of the four preliminaries. The South Carolina driver will be going for a major event clean sweep at EAMS having already won the Bama Bash and Alabama State Championship on the track earlier this season.
O’Neal settled into 2nd early on and held that position throughout while the best battle of this 15 lapper was between McCreadie and Smith who ran side-by-side for a number of laps until T-mac ultimately garnered 3rd away from the young driver.
Race Results: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Don O’Neal, 3. Tim McCreadie, 4. Austin Smith, 5. Terrance Nowell
Feature Starting Lineup:
Row 1: Dennis Franklin…Dale McDowell
Row 2: Randy Weaver…Chris Madden
Row 3: Scott Bloomquist…Dennis Erb, Jr.
Row 4: Jonathan Davenport…Don O’Neal
Row 5: Rick Eckert…Chase Junghans
Row 6: Shane Clanton…Tim McCreadie
Row 7: Anthony Burroughs…Eric Cooley
Row 8: Ronnie Johnson…Austin Smith
Row 9: Steve Francis…Clint Smith
Row 10: Eric Jacobsen…Terrance Nowell
Remainder of the field will be determined by Last Chance races to be held on Sunday.
