Chris Madden earned $10,000 for his victory at Senoia
The 2020 season finale for the Schaeffer’s Oil Fall Nationals was contested on Saturday night in the Billy Clanton Classic at the Senoia Raceway. Chris Madden earned the victory on the gumbo clay track after dominating the second half of the feature. The Gray Court, SC driver took $10,000 away from the Senoia, GA track in a race broadcast live on FloRacing.com.
Donald McIntosh was crowned as the 2020 Schaeffer’s Oil Fall Nationals champion.
Shane Clanton led the way in Group A qualifying and overall with a lap of 14.264 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to top Mike Marlar, Billy Moyer Jr., T.J. Reaid and Dillon Tidmore.
Chris Madden was fastest in Group B time-trials with a time of 14.465 to beat out Steven Roberts, Spencer Hughes, Michael Page and Austin Kirkpatrick.
Shane Clanton earned the pole stating position for the feature when he won the the first heat race of the evening ahead of Billy Moyer Jr., Austin Horton, and Donald McIntosh while Mike Marlar topped Dalton Cook, Scott Dedwylder, and T.J. Reaid.
Chris Madden would start the main event from the outside of the front row by virtue of his win in the third heat over Spencer Hughes, Austin Kirkpatrick, and Zach Leonhardi just before Ashton Winger took the fourth and final heat by out running Jason Croft, Michael Page, and Joey Armistead.
Mark Page and Glenn Morris won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup for the main event.
At the start of the 60-lap feature it was Clanton who grabbed the early lead over Marlar, Madden, Winger and Moyer. Clanton then began to pull away from his pursuers by lap 3 but he would encounter slower traffic just two circuits later.
Madden took to the high side of the track and moved around Marlar to grab second on lap 11. He then quickly closed in on Clanton and wrested the lead away on lap 13 as the two fought their way through traffic. However, a caution flag for the slowing car of Mark page would offer the leaders a reprieve on lap 18.
On the lap 18 restart, Moyer made a big move to get by Winger and Marlar to bolt up to the third spot. He would then go on track Clanton down and pass by the No. 25 machine to take the runner-up spot on lap 29.
A caution flag waved on lap 33 for the slowing car of Dalton Cook. Clanton’s car was damaged on a failed attempt at a restart which forced the home state driver to pull off the track and out of contention.
On the second attempt at a lap 33 restart, Marlar moved to second as he passed by Moyer. The No. 157 then began to reel Madden in until another yellow flag waved on lap 40.
Winger and Page engaged in a fierce fight for fourth on lap 43 until a caution slowed the action one lap later. Following the restart, Madden pulled away while Marlar, Moyer, Winger and Page engaged in a fierce battle for the remainder of the top-5 positions.
But over the closing laps there would be no challenge for Madden as he sailed under the checkered flag to score the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Mike Marlar, 3. Billy Moyer Jr., 4. Ashton Winger, 5. Michael Page, 6. Austin Horton, 7. Zach Leonhardi, 8. Spencer Hughes, 9. Donald McIntosh, 10. Stacy Boles, 11. Jimmy Waldrop, 12. Joey Standridge, 13. Dillon Tidmore, 14. Jason Croft, 15. Scott Dedwylder, 16. Joey Armistead, 17. Shane Clanton, 18. Dalton Cook, 19. Austin Kirkpatrick, 20. Landon Bagby, 21. Glenn Morris, 22. Mark Page, 23. T.J. Reaid, 24. Clint Smith, 25. Matt Dooley
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