Lucas Oil Series: Owens Breaks Out With First Winternationals Win James Essex
TAMPA, Fla. – Feb. 12. – Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn. has won
at East Bay Raceway Park before in an open wheel modified and crate late model, but Saturday Afternoon the
39-year-old scored his first ever Super Late Model win at the “Clay by the Bay” as he captured the 40-lap,
$10,000 to win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned event. Owens held a sizable lead at the finish
line to win over a hard-charging Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss. and pole-sitter Austin Hubbard of Seaford,
Del.
Close racing deep in the field between #71 Don O'Neal, #25 Josh Richards, and #0
Scott Bloomquist. (Mike
Ruefer)
Eventual race winner Jimmy Owens (right) before Saturday afternoon's main event
at East Bay. (Rick Warren)
In Lucas Oil victory lane for the 22nd time in his career, Owens became the fifth
different winner in five races during the 35th annual DART Winternationals. “I have to thank Mike
Reece and Reece Monuments for all of his support, the team has done a great job all winter getting these cars
prepared for the season, and it’s paid off here early on,” said Owen, who finished second in the Friday night
event.
“The track was real racy today, I tried to conserve the tires there early on, but
he (Hubbard) left the door open there, and I took advantage of it and the rest was history,” commented Owens as
he took the lead on lap eight from Hubbard, and lead the rest of the way in the caution-free
event.
Steve Francis and #28 Dennis Erb, Jr. battle for fifth place at East Bay.
(Mike Ruefer)
Eventual winner Jimmy Owens races inside of Mississippi's David Breazeale.
(Rick Warren)
Hubbard grabbed the lead at the start of the race with Carrier and Owens in
tow. Owens moved past Erb on lap two to take over second. Owens then set his sights on Hubbard,
catching him and eventually making the pass coming off of turn four on the eighth circuit. Owens then
started to open up a nearly-straightaway lead over Hubbard, who was battling with Carrier for
second.
Owens then started to encounter heavy traffic around the halfway mark, but
Hubbard and Carrier could not gain any ground on him. Bub McCool, who started sixth. then joined in the
race for second as the trio of Hubbard, Carrier and McCool would dice it out to the finish to settle the
runnerup spot.
Owens cruised on for the win, his first of 2011. McCool, after getting by
both Hubbard and Carrier, had his best ever Lucas Oil Series finish with his second place showing in his McCool
Logging, Moyer Victory Circle Chassis entry.
Bub McCool looks for a way by #28 Eddie Carrier, Jr. and #19 Austin Hubbard before
advancing to second. He was followd at the line by Hubbard and Carrier. (Mike Ruefer)
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Big Gains for Hubbard, Pearson, Ogle - The A-Team Has Been Updated 05-15-12
Scott James battles #13 Barry Doss in heat race action at Florence (Ky.) Speedway, but in the $2,000-to-win feature, the only thing anyone saw was the tail end of James' #81 car. (Roy Walker)
After plenty of trash-talking via the electronic media between Jeff Matthews and Ivedent Lloyd last week, it was #21 Lloyd who got the final word as he reeled in #33 Matthews to win Friday's LM feature at Oclala, Fla.'s Bubba Raceway Park. (R.E. Wing)
Fans at Markleysburg, Pa.'s Roaring Knob Motorsports Comlex were treated to dual LM features Saturday - one a makeup from a May 5th rainout. (Above) Tim Senic challenges eventual regular feature winner Chuck Harper, while Jared Hawkins (below) claimed the makeup race. (Tommy Micheals)
Henley, Missouri's Jason Russell leads the way to Victory Lane in the ULMS Late Model feature at Lucas Oil Speedway Saturday. (Chris Bork)
Some fierce racing action at Lucas Oil speedway. (Chris Bork)
Dalton, Ga.'s Craig Reece returned to Dixie Speedway Saturday and led all the way to win the Crate LM victory. (Steve Hixson)
Ray Guss Jr. races last week's Quad City Speedway winner, Mike Murphy, Jr. This time, it was advantage Guss. (Chris Damitz)
With a strong motor back into his mount, Veteran Lamar Scoggins claimed last Friday's Crate LM victory at Boyd's Speedway. (Steve Hixson)
Veteran racer Lance Matthees navigates Spring Lake, Minnesota's Deer Creek Speedway before taking Saturday's WISSOTA Late Model checkers. (Jason Durst)
Racing hard at mid-pack, it's the dueling 55s of Cory Mahder (inside) and Greg Nippoldt at Deer Creek. (Jason Durst)
Ryan King (above and below) swept both the Ltd. Late Model and Crate Late Model features Saturday at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. (Chad Wells)
Still riding his wave in Iowa, Mike Murphy, Jr. in early action before taking the main event win at Davenport last Friday. (Chris Damitz)
Jason Jameson ran a gauntlet to finally capture another win Friday night at Moler
Raceway Park (see main page). (Roy
Walker)
After holding back a charge from Alex Ferree, Chub Frank drove home with a Friday night win at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (John Stivason)
Bobby Pierce, Brett Sievert, and Mike Glynn race in a tight pack in Kankakee (Ill.) Speedway's "Crosstown Cup", but (below) it was ultimately Shawn Toczek (42) here racing the high side of Mike Provenzano, who sailed to the win. (Dan Simpson)
NALMS Suspends Remaining Season
In a statement released to the racing media Monday, Northern All All Stars Late Model Series (NALMS) owners Shawn Hall and Bob Mooney relased the following statement:
To all NALMS drivers and fans,
Northern Allstars Late Model Series regrets to inform all of our drivers and fans that as of today (May 14, 2012) we will suspend all series races for the remaining 2012 season. The primary reason for the decision to discontinue the series was mainly economics. Tracks, teams and fans are having a hard time these days with the cost of living in general. With the cost of fuel, parts, tires, tickets and lodging, many people just cannot afford to travel to our shows, so we feel it's best to stop for now and try to regroup for the 2013 season.
Our series needs to be able to have at least 18 to 20 shows to cover our cost of putting on these shows and our drivers point funds. With many tracks cutting back on their special events and other tracks just choosing not to have specials at all, it's has really cut our options for race tracks down to a very few unless you are willing to travel several hours away from the Central Illinois area, and that is not cost effective for the racing teams or fans.
In closing we would like to thank all of the drivers and fans whom have supported the series over the years and we hope to be able to come back with a bigger and better season for everyone in 2013.
A-Team Leaders from 1997-2011 (Click on link for complete rundown)
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