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Quick Time: A fast lap around Dirt Late Model racing

June 8, 2011, 6:56 am

By Todd Turner

DirtonDirt.com managing editor

Take a quick lap around the proverbial dirt track with managing editor Todd Turner for roundup of Dirt Late Model racing through the latest weekend of action. Quick Time, one of the newest features of our website, appears every Wednesday at DirtonDirt.com:

Frontstretch: Drivers of the week

National: Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., for the second week in a row. He was no worse than third in Lucas Oil's June 2-4 tripleheader, including his second straight series victory in taking the points lead from Scott Bloomquist. Bloomquist had held the points lead virtually every moment for 50 months. Honorable mention: Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga. had three top-three finishes June 2-4, including a $5,000 victory at Volunteer Speedway.

Regional: Brad Looney of Republic, Mo., who has ripped off three straight MARS DIRTcar Series victories to become just the fourth driver in the 12-year history of the series to pull off that feat. Looney took the series points lead with Friday's victory at Brill's Motor Speedway in Meeker, Okla., and extended it Saturday with a victory at Salina (Okla.) Highbanks Speedway. Honorable mention: Adam Hensel of Barron, Wis., who won a weekly event at Fiesta City Speedway in Montevideo, Minn., then a $5,000 Dart Challenge Series race on Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway.

Weekly: Fast all season in his Late Model and modified, Zack Olger of St. Johns, Mich., swept June 3-4 racing at Mount Pleasant Speedway and I-96 Speedway. Honorable mention: Jon Henry, for an impressive weekend sweep at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park and Oakshade Raceway near Wauseon, Ohio. At Attica he came from 17th in the main event and was leading by halfway.

Crates: Shrugging off a disqualification that robbed him of his first Late Model victory at Oglethorpe Speedway Park on Friday, Brandon Overton of Appling, Ga., rebounded the next night for a NeSmith Chevrolet Series victory at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.

Turn 1: Promotional ideas

• Tennessee National Raceway in Hohenwald, Tenn., found out a way to spice up time trials (and boy, do time trials need some spicing up) at a recent event. Fans guessed the fastest qualifying time beforehand, and whoever was closest received $100.

• After going idle a few weeks to allow fans and racers to build up their racing funds, Jackson (Miss.) Motor Speedway is reopening on Saturday with Fan Appreciate Night with $5 admission.

• Hibbing (Minn.) Raceway let their fans in on the action recently with King of the Spectator Drags, a one-on-one, tournament style event. The only drawback? No passengers allowed.

Turn 2: Five drivers to watch

• Mike Norris: The 19-year-old from Sarver, Pa., has been performing well at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, and he knocked off his first career Super Late Model victory on June 4.

• Ronny Lee Hollingsworth: The Northport, Ala., driver is planning to run for a few weeks on the UMP DIRTcar Summernationals. Mixing "Right Foot Ronny" with some of the tour's hooked-up bullrings is a recipe for excitement.

• Eric Smith: The Bloomington, Ill., driver swept June 3-4 action at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway and Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion Speedway, where he's the reigning track champ.

• Gary Webb: The ol' Hall of Famer has still got it. The semi-retired Webb outdueled long-time rival Ray Guss Jr. on June 5 at Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Ill.

• Ricky Weiss: Last year's WISSOTA champ is at it again, winning June 3-4 events at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Minn.

Backstretch: Weekly racing tidbits

• Zack Dohm took the checkers first June 3 at Ohio's Skyline Speedway — and was given third place for his trouble. Officials docked Dohm two positions after the race for jumping a restart, handing the victory to Rod Conley.

• Nicholas Brown of Quitman, La., won June 4 at Jones Motor Speedway in Chatham, La., for his first Late Model victory since '07.

• Rich Neiser lengthened his winning streak at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Mich. to five in a row.

• You know those feel-good stories about a die-hard racer skipping his high school graduation for a big victory? This isn't one of those. Crate Late Model racer Damian Bidwell of Eldred, Pa., skipped his ceremony for a ninth-place finish at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.

• Lee Devasier of Crestwood, Ky., won June 4 at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky., for the first time in the track's Super Late Model division.

Turn 3: Ending two-year droughts

Several drivers won touring events last week for the first time in two seasons:

• Leslie Essary of Crane, Mo., on the Race Brothers Show-Me Racin' Series at Mid-America Speedway in South Coffeyville, Okla.

• Chris Simpson of Oxford, Iowa, on the Dart Corn Belt Clash Series at Cedar County Raceway in Tipton, Iowa.

• Dennis Franklin of Gaffney, S.C., on the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series at 311 Motor Speedway in Madison, N.C.

• Zack Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va., on the UFO Race Championship at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va.

Turn 4: Facebook post of the week

A posting from a woman an unnamed track's Facebook page: The protest was bull, the hobbie main call was bull, and the track looked like crap, thats all....have a great week ;)

Sounds like we missed a good one.