Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Tony Knowles Takes Dixie Season Opener 5-3-08

May 05 2008 - Tony Knowles Takes Dixie Season Opener Woodstock, GA. Despite persistent showers throughout the day, Dixie Speedway opened for its official stock car racing season with Tony Knowles taking the Super Late Model win in the first points race of the season. Prior to the drop of the green flag, the 2007 Champions were honored with the awards presentation. The honorees for the third leg in the 2007 points championships: Matthew Gainer the Pony class winner, with the team of Eric Neese taking the Cruiser class, Danny Hendon in the Econo Bomber class; Kenny Taylor in Super Bomber, the Sportsman class leader was Dale Thurman, with Cary Seres in the Limited Late Models, while Phil Coltrane took honors in the Super Late Model class. The overall 2007 Champions were the Woodstock, GA team of Andy Greeson & James Gagnon in the Cruiser class. In the Pony class Matthew Gainer, of Fort Oglethorpe took top honors, while Cummings Randy Smith won the Econo Bomber Championship. The Super Bomber class saw Chris Sizemore of Canton win his divisions championship for the second year in a row. Dale Thurman, of Cartersville would take the Sportsman Championship, while the Limited Late Model Champion would be Newnan, GA’s Oliver Gentry. Tim Day of Alpharetta, GA won his second Super Late Model Championship, the first being in 2005. The Swims Family and the employees of Dixie Speedway congratulate all the 2007 Champions for a job well done and wish all participants of the 2008 season the best of luck. In racing action, the Super Late Model class would see Tyrone’s Jake Knowles qualify on the pole with a 14.35. Knowles would start fourth as the top 4 qualifiers were inverted. At the start of the feature, Rodney Martin would jump into the lead for the first lap, but was passed on the outside by Tony Knowles on lap two. Knowles would lead the entire distance for his first win of the season at Dixie Speedway. On the white flag lap, second through fifth suddenly changed when Jeff Smith of Villanow, GA suddenly bolted into 2nd, followed by Ricky Williams who made the move with Smith settled in for third, followed by Martin for fourth, with Jake Knowles rounding out the top five. Bobby Tucker won the feature event in the Limited Late Model event. Oliver Gentry would jump to the lead early on followed by ucker. Tucker would gain ground on Gentry until he was able to pass for the lead on lap 15 and take the win. Gentry settled for second with Jason Smith, Travis Millwood, and Bob Johnson following for third through fifth. The Sportsman class would be won by Cartersville’s Dale Thurman. Second through fifth place finishers were Mike McConnell, Alan Brewer, JJ Nye, with Alan Green. Alan Brewer and Thurman would each win their heat races. Kenny Taylor won for the Super Bomber feature for second week in a row. Roy Patterson followed in second. Third through fifth place went to Daniel Vineyard followed by his father Carmen Vineyard, with Dawsonville’s Tony Beck coming in fifth. With 23 cars signed in for action in the Econo Bomber division, with Daniel Brewer of Avondale Estates taking home the win. Timmy Millwood of Cumming would grab the lead and lead the first ten laps before the first caution would come out. On the restart, Millwood pulled into the pits turning the lead over to Avondale Estates’ Daniel Brewer. Brewer would lead the last five laps taking the win. Second place finisher was David Beam of Rome, who started 22nd, Kenneth Burns was third, John Binger was fourth, and Lilburn’s Tony Newman finished fifth The Pony class race was won by Travis Smith of Rockmart, but not without a fight. At the start, Smith took the lead where he was followed closely by 2007 Champion Matt Gainer. Gainer was able to take the lead on lap 7 and hold it for two laps until he fell out of the race giving the lead back to Smith. Smith managed to hold the lead and win the feature despite pressure from John Atchison of Dallas who had to settle for second, followed by Dale Ballew, Roy Collins, and Bill Irvine rounding out the top five. The always exciting Cruiser class would see the team of Joe Trantham & Eddie Beavers take the victory. Ken Ledford was the winner of the Spectator race. The next event at Dixie Speedway will be this Saturday night, May 10 with a full racing program and bicycle races for kids. For more information fans can visit www.dixiespeedway.com or call 770.926.5315.

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