InsideDirtRacing.com will be providing live updates from the Ginger Owens Memorial March Madness Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series event at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC on Sunday afternoon, March 1, 2020. The updates will be provided by Richard Allen(@RichardAllenIDR on Twitter and @RichardAllenIDR on Instagram).
These updates are brought to you by Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. The next event there will be the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series on March 7, 2020.
Classes in action: Southern All Stars for $12,000-to-win as well as the track’s other classes.
*Please Note: These updates will focus solely on the Super Late Model race.
General Information:
Weather is expected to be cool with no chance for rain.
The drivers meeting is slated for 1:00pm with hot laps to follow soon afterward.
This is the opening of the 2020 season for the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series.
David Breazeale was the 2019 SAS champion.
Jonathan Davenport won this race last year.
1:10- Hot laps underway.
Photos: I often post photos and/or short videos on my @RichardAllenIDR Twitter account and my @RichardAllenIDR Instagram account if you would like to take a look.
Please also consider reading: Regional tours set to kick off in the Southeast
Click on the link below to hear our pre-race interview with last night’s Xtreme DIRTcar Winter Series winner at Modoc- Pearson Lee Williams
Live Updates:
Southern All Stars
Car Count: 29 cars
Drivers Here: 0M- Chris Madden, 1- Kenny Collins, F1- Payton Freeman, 2- Pearson Lee Williams, 2- Dennis Franklin, 2x- John Henderson, 07- Brian Ledbetter, 8- Kyle Strickler, 9- Johnny Pursley, 11- Austin Kirkpatrick, 12- Ashton Winger, 16- Sam Seawright, 17m- Dale McDowell, 17- Tim Vance, 17- Billy Franklin, 22- Chris Ferguson, 23- Ryan Gifford, 24D- Michael Brown, 29- Darrell Lanigan, 32- Bubba Russell, 32- Mark Dodson, 49- Jonathan Davenport, 55- Benji Hicks, 57- Zack Mitchell, 57- Adam Yarbrough, 76- Brandon Overton, 79- Kyle Hardy, 87- Ross Bailes, 88- Trent Ivey, 101- Casey Roberts
Qualifying Results: Cars will be divided into two groups for time-trials.
Group A Results- 1. Brown(15.947), 2. Roberts, 3. Hardy, 4. Ivey, 5. Strickler, 6. Winger, 7. Overton, 8. D Franklin
Group B Results- 1. McDowell(15.717), 2. Davenport, 3. Madden, 4. Mitchell, 5. Ferguson, 6. Lanigan, 7. Yarbrough, 8. Gifford
Heat Race Results: There will be four heat races with the top-4 transferring to the feature.
Heat 1 Lineup- 1. Brown, 2. Hardy, 3. Strickler. 4. Overton, 5. Collins, 6. Bailes, 7. Vance, 8. B Franklin
Heat 1 Finish- 1. Brown, 2. Overton, 3. Hardy, 4. Bailes … Franklin, Strickler, Vance
*Lap 1 caution for spin by Strickler as he battled with Collins for fifth. Caution on the lap 1 restart when Bailes spun and collected Collins. Lap 4 caution for debris that was the result of contact between Bailes and Strickler.
Heat 2 Lineup- 1. McDowell, 2. Madden, 3. Ferguson, 4. Yarbrough, 5. Pursley, 6. Dodson, 7. Kirkpatrick
Heat 2 Finish- 1. McDowell, 2. Madden, 3. Yarbrough, 4. Ferguson … Kirkpatrick, Dodson, Pursley
*McDowell and Madden drove away from the pack.
Heat 3 Lineup- 1. Roberts, 2. Ivey, 3. Winger, 4. D Franklin, 5. Hicks, 6. Freeman, 7. Ledbetter
Heat 3 Finish- 1. Roberts, 2. Ivey, 3. Winger, 4. D Franklin … Hicks, Freeman, Ledbetter
*Roberts led all the way.
Heat 4 Lineup- 1. Davenport, 2. Mitchell, 3. Lanigan, 4. Gifford, 5. PL Williams, 6. Russell, 7. Seawright
Heat 4 Finish- 1. Davenport, 2. Lanigan, 3. Williams, 4. Gifford … Seawright, Mitchell
*Mitchell had to start from the tail after being late to line up.
B-main Results: There will be two B-main races with the top-3 from each transferring to the feature.
B-main 1 Finish- 1. Hicks, 2. B Franklin, 3. Strickler
B-main 2 Finish- 1. Seawright, 2. Kirkpatrick, 3. Mitchell
Feature Notes:
Feature Lineup- 1. Brown, 2. McDowell, 3. Roberts, 4. Davenport, 5. Overton, 6. Madden, 7. Ivey, 8. Lanigan, 9. Hardy, 10. Yarbrough, 11. Winger, 12. Williams, 13. Bailes, 14. Ferguson, 15. D Franklin, 16. Gifford, 17. Hicks, 18. Seawright, 19. B Franklin, 20. Kirkpatrick, 21. Strickler, 22. Mitchell
5:17- Feature rolling out. 60 laps for $12,000.
5:29- Driver introductions are complete and the engines have fired.
5:30- Four wide!
5:33- Green flag!
Crash on the initial start in turn one. Ferguson, Ivey, Mitchell, Gifford, Kirkpatrick and Seawright among those involved. Looks like Ivey is out. Ferguson to the pit area to change a flat tire.
Lap 10- McDowell out to big lead over Brown, Davenport, Roberts, Madden, Overton, Lanigan, Hardy
Halfway- McDowell leads Brown, Davenport, Roberts, Overton, Madden. Top-6 tight in heavy traffic.
20 to go- McDowell has broken free of slower traffic but Brown is staying close.
Lanigan slows and drops out on lap 43.
After that initial mishap the race ran caution free. Not much passing as much of the race was run single-file on the bottom.
Overton lost a couple of positions on the last lap after suffering a flat tire.
Feature Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Brown, 3. Davenport, 4. Roberts, 5. Madden, 6. Hardy, 7. Overton, 8. Bailes, 9. Williams, 10. Winger, 11. D Franklin, 12. Hicks
Jonathan Davenport won this race in 2019
