Devin Moran(9), Jacob Hawkins(37), Ross Bailes(79) & Dale McDowell(17m) would each encounter problems
There was no shortage of news to come out of the opening event on the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals on Friday night at Beckley Motorsports Park in Mount Hope, West Virginia. Eventual feature winner Josh Rice put on quite a show running the top groove right out against the cushion and the outside wall of the 3/8 mile clay oval but ruffled a few feathers along the way.
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Jacob Hawkins was in the mix throughout the 53-lap main event after starting from the outside of the front row and leading some of the race’s early laps. Just after a lap 20 restart, Hawkins fell back to third and then found himself in a battle with Rice for that position.
On lap 23, Rice went to the inside of Hawkins as the two drivers entered turn one. The No. 11 car of Rice slid up the track making contact with the No. 37 of Hawkins. The result of the contact was damage to the left front of the Hawkins ride.
Hawkins, who finished third, was clearly upset following the race and his frustration boiled over during his post-race interview with FloRacing.com.
“The car was good again but when you race idiots like that Josh Rice it’s not,” the third-place finisher declared. “The last couple of times we’ve been here, we just get used up. We’ve had a car to win. I knew you couldn’t run that top for 50 laps because you’re going to cut a tire down, there’s rocks all over this f***ing track. I don’t know, it is what it is, when you spend this much time and money. I apologize for cursing, I didn’t mean that. I’m just frustrated, that’s all. We’ll get it back together and put that in the memory bank and make sure we park him next time.”
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For his part, Rice admitted his mistake and even offered to make amends with Hawkins when he offered his post-race comments.
“It’s awesome,” Rice said of being the first Southern Nationals winner at Beckley. “I watched a lot of videos here and I seen how big the cushion was and I thought this looks like my cup of tea. I hate the deal getting into turn one there. I told my guys earlier, Jake came over to buy a tire, that I wouldn’t sell it to anybody else the way tires are right now. I just wanted him to know I was there. I could’ve rammed him at the flag stand but I was trying to just cut in front of him so he knew I was there and I got all squirrely and it was too late, there’s nothing I could do. I’ll pay to fix it or whatever. I think a lot of Jake.”
Rice added that his tire choice was critical to his success. He also offered praise for the second-place finisher.
“This thing was awesome,” Rice said. “It was a rocket ship when that 1600 came in. I don’t know if I was the only one on one or not. And I’ve got to give a big shoutout to Zack Dohm, he kicks ass here and to come here and outrun him is really cool. I think a lot of Zack too. This top-3 is pretty cool. I hate that all of that happened, but I was just so much faster. It was time to go.”
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Zack Dohm, who has been a frequent winner at Beckley, had trouble early on that almost sidelined his effort for the night. But a helping hand from the Blount Motorsports team saved his night.
“In hot laps, the fuel pump went bad,” Dohm explained. “It took us, I don’t know, ten minutes to figure out what was wrong, we just didn’t get it changed in time. I bummed one off of Donald McIntosh and David(Bryant, crew chief) over there so thanks to them. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to race.”
Dohm believes he and his team made the most of what could have been a bad situation, especially considering that his right rear tire was on the verge of giving up.
“I got to third in the heat and started twelfth in the feature and got to second,” he pointed out. “This right rear tire here is going down. My car was pretty good but I don’t think anybody with Josh Rice on the cushion like that, I’m sure Jake was probably running up there before his front got tore up, but that ain’t my style. We did the best we could, that was probably about the best we was going to do anyway with the cards we were dealt. Second is probably a win, pretty much.”
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National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Dale McDowell came into the Southern Nationals as the two-time and most recent winner of the Ray Cook-promoted Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals with many looking to him and his Shane McDowell Racing team as potential favorites to take this title as well. However, his effort in the two-week affair did not get off to a good start.
After showing strength early in the night by qualifying second in his group then winning his heat race, McDowell lined up fourth on the starting grid for the feature. However, wall contact on the second lap of the race led to a broken axle which ended the night for the No. 17m machine.
Fortunately with 13 races on this year’s schedule, drivers will be allowed to throw away their worst finish in regard to points counted toward their overall place in the final standings. Unfortunately for McDowell, his ‘Mulligan’ was used up after only one race.
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During the 2020 version of the Southern Nationals, Ross Bailes was a frequent fast qualifier during time-trials and looked like a contender to win almost every feature. However, one bad break after another seemed to interfere more often than not. Whether it be due to a flat tire or mechanical gremlins, the No. 58 Big Frog Motorsports team was plagued with bad luck throughout much of the mini-series but was still able to finish third in the final standings.
Now driving the Billy Hicks-owned No. 79 car, Bailes encountered much of that same bad luck on Friday night at Beckley. After leading during the race’s first half, the South Carolina native gave up the top spot on the leaderboard to Devin Moran on lap 24. However, a podium finish still appeared to be in the offing.
But bad luck struck on lap 38. As the cars circulated under caution, Bailes was forced to the pit area to change a deflating tire. Then on the ensuing restart, he tangled with another car and spun to bring out another yellow flag.
Bailes did make a bold run through the pack that would briefly see him get back into the top-5. But in the end, he fell back to his final finishing position of 9th place.
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Like Bailes, Devin Moran looked like a potential winner early in the race. After taking the lead from Bailes on lap 24, the No. 9 car showed the way until a flat right rear tire during a lap 38 caution sent him to the pit area then to the tail of the field. He eventually worked his way back to the sixth position in the final rundown.
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The Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals is slated to move on to the Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, VA on Saturday night(See the full schedule below).
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2021 Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Schedule:
7-16-21- Beckley Motorsports Park- Mount Hope, WV- $10,053-to-win
7-17-21- Wythe Raceway- Rural Retreat, VA- $10,053-to-win
7-19-21- Volunteer Speedway- Bulls Gap, TN- $4,053-to-win
7-20-21- I-75 Raceway- Sweetwater, TN- $4,053-to-win
7-22-21- West Georgia Speedway- Whitesburg, GA- $4,053-to-win
7-23-21- Needmore Speedway- Norman Park, GA- $5,053-to-win
7-24-21- Screven Motor Speedway- Sylvania, GA- $10,053-to-win
7-25-21- Rome Speedway- Rome, GA- $4,053-to-win
7-27-21- Tri-County Race Track- Brasstown, NC- $4,053-to-win
7-29-21- Boyd’s Speedway- Ringgold, GA- $4,053-to-win
7-30-21- 411 Motor Speedway- Seymour, TN- $10,053-to-win
7-31-21- Tazewell Speedway- Tazewell, TN- $10,053-to-win
