Chris Madden drove to the win at Boyd’s
The 2015 season came to a close at Boyd’s Speedway on Saturday night as the Southern Nationals Bonus Series sanctioned the track’s final event of the year. Chris Madden drove away with the victory on the Ringgold, GA track as he emerged from a lead swapping battle with Dale McDowell to prevail.
The Gray Court, SC driver collected $5,000 for his efforts as he added yet another win since returning from a mid-summer hiatus and adding a Longhorn Chassis to his stable.
Jason Hiett led the way in Group A qualifying as he beat out Jimmy Owens for those honors. Those two drivers would be sent to a redraw to determine their starting spots for a dash race that would set the first two rows of the starting grid for the feature race.
McDowell led Group B and was fastest overall(among a total of 46 cars) with a lap of 13.854 seconds around the third-mile oval. He would also go to the redraw along with Madden, who was second quick in this group.
Madden claimed the pole for the feature by winning the dash race over McDowell, Hiett and Owens.
Jason Croft, Shane Clanton, Chase Junghans and Ray Cook picked up heat race wins in the preliminary races used to set the starting lineup for the main event.
At the start of the 50-lap feature, Madden went to the front early with McDowell, Hiett, Owens and Croft trailing close behind. But just after the completion of the first circuit Clanton, the 2015 World of Outlaws Late Models champion, made a move to take the 5th spot away from Croft while McDowell moved in to challenge for the leadership of the race.
By lap 6, McDowell was peeking inside of Madden on a track that had two clearly pronounced grooves for racing. The speedway’s co-owner kept the pressure on the lead car as they two worked through slower traffic in the early laps of the affair as Owens looked to apply pressure to the third running Hiett.
On lap 14, slower cars provided McDowell with the opportunity he had been looking for. With the higher running Madden trapped behind another machine, McDowell shot by on the inside and seized the top spot.
McDowell and Madden exchanged the lead four times.
However, Madden would return the favor on lap 18 when McDowell found himself stuck behind a slower car. The two again exchanged positions as they continued to battle among traffic just before the race’s halfway mark.
The race’s only caution flag waved on lap 27 for the slowing car of Ronnie Payne. When the green flag waved, Madden moved high on the track through turns 1 & 2 then darted to the low side down the backstretch. The momentum of the No. 44 car carried it to the lead as the field entered the third turn.
From that point, Madden built a cushion over his pursuers as he drove away to the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Jason Hiett, 5. Shane Clanton, 6. Chase Jinghans, 7. Jason Croft, 8. Billy Ogle Jr., 9. Ray Cook, 10. Stacy Boles, 11. Donald McIntosh, 12. Riley Hickman, 13. Tyler Millwood, 14. Dylan Ames, 15. David Payne, 16. Bob Gardner, 17. Derek Ellis, 18. Ashton Winger, 19. Tommy Bailey, 20. Jake Knowles, 21. Jordy Nipper, 22. Ronnie Payne
Madden celebrates his win with his son Avery
