Michael Page fought off a mid-race challenge to score the $10,000 victory
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series made its way to the North Georgia Speedway on Saturday night to contest a $10,000-to-win event. At the end of the night, it was Michael Page who turned in a dominating performance and came away from the Chatsworth, GA facility with the trophy and the winner’s check.
Tyler Millwood led the way in Group A qualifying and overall as he posted a lap of 13.172 seconds around the third-mile clay oval to beat out Jason Hiett, Aaron Ridley and Riley Hickman.
Series points leader David Payne was fastest in Group B time-trials with a lap of 13.180 which bettered the efforts of Page, Dale McDowell and Chris Madden.
Millwood earned the pole for the feature by claiming the first heat race ahead of Hiett, Ridley, Hickman and John Ownbey.
The second heat of the night proved to be a bit more eventful than the first. With Payne leading the first five circuits, Madden closed in and looked to make a pass for the top spot. As the two cars exited turn four, they came together and both were sent spinning. After a near miss with another car after both drivers restarted from the tail, the two then spent a full lap under caution side-by-side and gesturing in each other’s direction. On the following restart, Madden passed by Payne who then got into the back of the No. 44 and both cars again went spinning.
Page proved to be the beneficiary as he won the second heat and thus earned the right to start from the outside of the front row in the feature. McDowell, Will Roland and Zach Leonhardi followed Page to the finish line in that preliminary.
At the start of the 60-lap feature it was Page who bolted to the front of the field with Millwood, McDowell, Hiett and Ridley in tow, By lap 5, the No. 18x machine was threatening to pull away from the pack. However, a string of cautions between laps 6 and 13 would keep Page within sight of to his pursuers during those circuits.
As the restarts from those cautions played out, McDowell would eventually emerge as the second place runner with Hiett and Madden running third and fourth respectively. Page again looked as he would check out until slower traffic became a factor.
Contact with a slower car on lap 36 did some damage to Page’s machine and allowed McDowell to close right onto his spoiler. On lap 39 the No. 17m dove under Page and performed a slide job maneuver to briefly take the lead in turns three and four. However, Page would retaliate with a crossover mover that returned him to the top of the leader board.
After being harassed by McDowell for several laps and having to pick his way through traffic, Page was given a reprieve by a lap 48 yellow flag. On the ensuing restart, the young Georgia native would pull away from the pack and sail to victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Michael Page, 2.Dale McDowell, 3. Jason Hiett, 4. Chris Madden, 5. Ronnie Johnson, 6. David Payne, 7. Tyler Millwood, 8. Riley Hickman, 9. John Ownbey, 10. Aaron Ridley, 11. Johnny Cloer, Jr., 12. Brad Skinner, 13. Tod Hernandez, 14. Blake Hood, 15. Chicky Barton, 16. Bo Eaton, 17. Andrew Littleton, 18. Zach Leonhardi, 19. Michael Evans, 20. Paul Hollander, 21. Scott Hall, 22. Will Roland
***Note: Jason Hiett was disqualified from the third spot following a post-race inspection that revealed his car did not meet the “droop rule” criteria***
