Golden Isles Speedway
Red-hot Owens makes it 2-for-2 at Golden Isles
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Jimmy Owens in victory lane. (DirtonDirt.com)
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (Jan. 25) — Before the Super Bowl of Racing IV began, Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., had never driven a Late Model at Golden Isles Speedway. After two victories in the first two events, he's thinking about sticking around and driving his speedy Bloomquist Race Car at the 4/10-mile oval for a long time to come. Prelims | Slideshow
"If things keep going this way," Owens said in victory lane, "we'll see if we can't spend the whole summer here."
Well, maybe not all summer. But with seven more $10,000-to-win events on tap at Golden Isles through Feb. 2, there's no doubt his $20,000 total after two UMP-sanctioned races is likely to grow even larger.
"I'm glad we've won a couple," Owens said. "We're going to take it day by day, because it's still tough just to make the field."
Owens was good enough Wednesday to lead the final 13 laps, but he was even better on Friday night. After setting fast time and winning his heat race, Owens blasted off at the outset of the 50-lap feature and never looked back. He led by a straightaway most of the race and at one point built up a four-second lead as his 24 foes futilely gave chase.
"He was on a rail," said runner-up Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who started third and held that spot behind Owens and Donnie Moran for the first 44 laps. "There were about four or five of us right there together, and then there's Jimmy out there by himself."
Moran, of Dresden, Ohio, ended up third with Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., rounding out the top five. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who got sent into the infield mud on an aborted lap-one start, rallied from his 15th starting spot to finish sixth.
The race was slowed by a lap-30 caution (for a slowing Matt Miller) and a lap-44 caution (for a slowing Steve Shaver), but they were merely brief pauses to Owens' dominance. Even when Owens spent several laps before the midway point of the race trying to lap Chub Frank, Moran made up little ground. When Owens finally dispatched Frank on lap 25, he began cruising again.
Owens appeared fast enough to win from any starting spot, but he didn't really want to find out. "I was having a real hard time with lapped traffic," he said. "I'm glad we started where we did. I don't know if we could've done much passing or not."
He's piloting the same Bloomquist Race Car that carried him to most of his victories during a stellar 2007 season, including the 37th annual World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
"If it ain't broke, I ain't going to fix it. I'm going to run that thing until it falls apart," he said. "The car was really good tonight. It felt this good on Wednesday night. It's just things are going our way and we're just fortunate to have a ride like that."
Notebook
Owens' Bloomquist Race Car has a Cornett engine and sponsorship from Gantte Appraisals, Reece Monument, PRC, VP Racing Fuels and Byrd's Radiator. ... Owens has won his last four starts, two at Golden Isles and two that wrapped up 2007 at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., and East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa, Fla. (a crate engine race). ... Among drivers in Friday's action who didn't compete in Wednesday's opener were five-time Dirt Track World Champion Freddy Smith of Seymour, Tenn., Justin Rattliff of Campbellsville, Ky., G.R. Smith of Mooresville, N.C., Homer Leonard of Jacksonville, Fla., Dale Groves Jr. of Tallahassee, Fla., and Craig Shuffield of Fayetteville, N.C. ... Freddy Smith was driving a Brian Nuttall backup car. ... Rattliff, who has driven a Rayburn Race Car most of his brief career, unloaded a Rocket Chassis. ... Joe Isabell slammed the frontstretch guardrail exiting turn four on his qualifying lap. ... A red flag was throwing during a National Late Model Series heat race when a fan's propane heater caught on fire in the grandstands. The flaming heater was quickly moved to the concrete sidewalk in front of the stands. ... NLMS driver Mike Parkerson accidentally joined the lineup for a Super Late Model consolation race. After the race took the green, he realized his mistake and pulled into the pits. ... Owens wasn't the only repeat winner at Golden Isles. Shane Williams of DeLeon Springs, Fla., captured his second straight NLMS feature. ... Despite temperatures that dipped to about 40 degrees, a crowd more than twice as big as Wednesday's was on hand with spectators filling perhaps the upper half of the grandstands. ... The forecast for Saturday's $10,000-to-win event appears to be a bit warmer, although precipitation could be an issue. Temperatures are supposed to be a bit warmer earlier next week as the track runs $10,000-to-win events Jan. 28-Feb. 2.
