Green Valley Speedway
Double domination for McDowell at Bama Bash
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Dale McDowell races into the lead. (DirtonDirt.com)
GLENCOE, Ala. (Feb. 24) — Dale McDowell's double duty at Green Valley Speedway's 11th annual Bama Bash paid double time. The Rossville, Ga., driver earned $10,000 for dominating the Super Late Model feature and an additional $5,000 for dominating the crate engine Late Model feature at the 3/8-mile oval south of Gadsden. | Free video | Slideshow | Crate results
Starting third in both races, McDowell didn't take long getting to the front and wasn't challenged in either victory. He led all but one lap of the 75-lap Super Late Model race and took the lead on the sixth lap of the crate feature, a race shortened to 27 from 50 laps because of a time limit.
Clint Smith, the three-time and defending race winner, and Shane Clanton started on the front row of the Super Late Model feature, but McDowell quickly dispatched Smith on the first lap, then worked his way past Clanton after a two-lap, side-by-side duel. Over the rest of the 75 laps, no one could keep up with McDowell as he frequently built straightaway leads in rolling to the victory.
Ronnie Johnson, who started 10th in the Super Late Model race, worked his way into second on a lap-49 restart and finished a straightaway behind McDowell at the finish. Smith was another straightaway behind in third at the checkered flag while Ray Cook and Brad Neat rounded out the top five on a track with fresh clay after off-season improvements.
Clanton held the second spot the first 49 laps, but a flat tire forced him out of a race where only 10 cars were running at the finish.
After McDowell's low-side pass of Clanton in the early laps, he quickly pulled away and was working traffic after just 10 laps. He had a full straightaway lead after 24 laps when a caution appeared for Virgil Taylor's backstretch spin after the fourth-running Bub McCool and other cars got hung up behind the lapped Taylor.
Over the next 40 laps, nine more cautions slowed the action, but McDowell was never challenged on any of the double-file restarts.
Fourth-starting Randy Burrows, who faded from contention early, pulled off on the 45th lap after a plume of smoke came from his car, a Ronny Lee Hollingsworth-Dennis Hale scramble on the frontstretch sent a few other cars spinning to avoid them on lap 46, and Anthony Burroughs tore up his car in a lap-61 scramble in turn two.
The only driver making continuous progress was Johnson, who was seventh after 24 laps but picked his way toward to the front by picking up a spot or two on most restarts.
With Clanton's departure on lap 49, Johnson restarted alongside Smith and outran last year's winner to grab the second spot. Smith ran Johnson hard in an attempt to regain the position on a later restart, but Johnson fought him off.
Still, neither Johnson nor anyone else was a match for McDowell, who didn't have any trouble with traffic or a few rough patches in the corners that marred an otherwise smooth track.
In another race on the undercard, former track champion Tim Busha of Boaz, Ala., led the final two laps of the 50-lap Limited Late Model feature to earn $5,000. Mark Rosner had led virtually all the way when a flat tire during a lap-48 caution period forced him off the track. Busha, who started 11th, inherited the lead and raced away from Mike Head in the final two laps. Head was disqualified, moving David Brannon up to second.
Super Late Model feature: (1) Dale McDowell, (2) Ronnie Johnson, (3) Clint Smith, (4) Ray Cook, (5) Brad Neat, (6) Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, (7) Chris Jones, (8) Anthony Burroughs, (9) Justin McRee, (10) Nick Howell, (11) Riley Hickman, (12) Craig Scott, (13) Dennis Hale, (14) Bub McCool, (15) Shane Clanton, (16) Randy Burrows, (17) Eric Hickerson, (18) Chuck Proctor, (19) Virgil Taylor, (20) Tony Morris, (21) Lee Sutton, (22) Skip Freeman, (23) Danny Peoples, (24) Matt Henderson, (25). Bo Shirley.
Limited Late Model feature: (1) Tim Busha, (2) David Brannon, (3) Mark Haddon, (4) Brandon Brown, (5) Richard Ogle, (6) Larry Harrod, (7) T.J. Alford, (8) Mark Rosner, (9) Kenney Hall, (10) Jason Morris, (11) Aubrey Morris, (12) Glenn Starr, (13) Jason Smith, (14) Dennis Moncrief, (15) Tod Darda, (16) Bo Stanley, (17) Jeff Fortner, (18) Lamar Scoggins, (19) Steven Endicott, (20) Ray Walker, (21) Tony Epperson, (22) Scottie Pritchett, (23) Brian Smith, (24) Michael Page, (25) Mike Weeks. Disqualified: Mike Head.
Prelims
Fast qualifier Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., is scheduled to start on the pole of the 75-lap Bama Bash Sunday evening at Green Valley Speedway. Clanton, who topped 41 qualifiers at the unsanctioned event, was the winner of the first heat on a Saturday night when dimmed track lights pushed the racing past 2 a.m. at the track south of Gadsden. Electrical problems with wires down the road from the track caused a three-hour delay.
Other Saturday heat race winners who will start among the first two rows are two other Georgians, Clint Smith of Senoia and Dale McDowell of Rossville, along with Randy Burrows of Chattanooga, Tenn. The feature pays $10,000 to the winner. The Super Late Model consolation races were scrapped as the only five returning drivers not in the field were added to the 25-car field.
Limited Late Models and crate engine Late Models are also in action running for $5,000-to-win purses. The divisions set their lineups by time trails and T.J. Alford is on the pole position for the Limited Late Model feature and William Thomas is on the pole for the crate feature.
Pre-race notebook
Green Valley's backstretch, somewhat straightened before 2007's Bama Bash, was further straightened before the 2008 event to remove the D-shape that made the track roundish and fast. "Now it's slower and you can move around more," said Ray Cook, the second fast qualifier. ... Cook is impressed with the changes made by owner Dennis Harker. "He's got his sites set high to make it into something special down the road," the Brasstown, N.C., driver said. ... Brad Neat of Dunnville, Ky., is making his first 2008 start in a new MasterSbilt Race Car put together by B&B Motorsports of Buffalo, Ky.
Heat race results
First heat: (1) Shane Clanton, (2) Bub McCool, (3) Danny Peoples, (4) Bo Shirley, (5) Chris Jones, (6) Josh Taylor, (7) Virgil Taylor, (8) Mike Weeks, (9) Tim Busha, (10) Don Farmer.
Second heat: (1) Clint Smith, (2) Ray Cook, (3) Ronnie Johnson, (4) Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, (5) Chuck Proctor, (6) Nick Howell, (7) Brandon Ifft, (8) Matt Smith, (9) Steven Endicott, (10) Jerry Goodwin.
Third heat: (1) Dale McDowell, (2) Brad Neat, (3) Anthony Burroughs, (4) Eric Hickerson, (5) Riley Hickman, (6) Glen Vanover, (7) Ross Martin, (8) Robert Gant, (9) Lavon Sparks, (10) Tom Maddox.
Fourth heat: (1) Randy Burrows, (2) Justin McRee, (3) Tony Morris, (4) Lee Sutton, (5) Dennis Hale, (6) Craig Scott, (7) Skip Freeman, (8) Anthony Hill, (9) Chris Mullinax.
