Owens takes home $10K prize with win in ‘Mad Dawg 60 at The Gap

Jimmy Owens celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the ‘Mad Dawg 60’ at Volunteer Speedway Saturday night. (4-12-14) Photo by Randall Perry

BULLS GAP — Greeneville, TN racer Vic Hill led the early laps in Saturday’s “Mad Dawg 60” Super Late Model feature at Volunteer Speedway, but it was only a matter of time before the Nightmare came true.
On lap 22 “The Newport Nightmare” Jimmy Owens from Newport, TN blew past Hill to the outside and was gone, extending his lead to nearly a half lap at one point.
Owens took home the $10,000 winner’s purse.
Vic said after the race he felt like his tires let him down.
“We had a right rear tire that went flat right before we came out and I actually borrowed a ‘Limited’ tires and put on it,” Vic said. “It was good, but we think the tire went away a little bit and Jimmy got a little better and got away from us some.”
Saturday’s win was the second for Owens in 2014 at Volunteer Speedway. He previously won the Friday night $4,000-to-win feature during last month’s two-night Spring Thaw events.
“We had a good car in qualifying, and the two or three times we’ve been here this car has just been awesome,” Owens said after the race. “We just looked over our nose and did exactly what we did last time, and wow. The car was really awesome.”
The 30-lap Steel Head feature got off to a rocky start with two wrecks in turn four before a single lap was completed.
Then in the third attempt at a start Vic Chandler spun in front of Dan Tipton and Anthony Arwine coming out of turn two on the first lap.
Arwine and Tipton made contact as they took evasive action, causing Tipton’s car to flip on its roof. The race was red-flagged as it took rescuers about 45 minutes to extricate Tipton who was taken to a nearby hospital complaining of back pain.
Dan Welshan earned second consecutive win, this time leading flag to flag.
Welshan said the tracks was slick in turn three, which also happened to be where the majority of wrecks occurred Saturday night.
“You had to roll off the throttle going into three,” he said. “It’s so slick down there. There’s no cushion. You had to roll through it.”
Welshan added, “One and two you could just let it ease on up there. There was a cushion. That’s real fun. That’s like the biggest roller coaster ride you’ve ever been on. The faster you go, the more you feel it. You just want to keep getting more and more of it.”
Jensen Ford picked up where he left off during the Spring Thaw events last month, earning his second consecutive win at The Gap in Saturday’s 25-lap Crate Late Model feature without a serious challenge.
Jamie Whitt held the lead for half of the 20-lap Hobby Modified feature before a hard charging Dale Reed passed him tot he outside coming out of turn two.
Whitt, who was last week’s winner, was trying to defend second place Eddie Morris when he spun in turn four. Reed took the win ahead of Morris, while Whitt was relegated to 6th.

Mad Dawg 60 Super Late Model results:
1. #20 Jimmy Owens
2. #1 Vic Hill
3. #101 Casey Robert
4. #97 Michael Chilton
5. #52D Mark Douglas
6. #2F Dennis Franklin
7. #10 Chad Ogle
8. #3 Hickman Kayne
9. #421 Anthony Sanders
10. #1B Eddie Blackmon
11. #12W Gabe Wilson
12. #J12 Jeff Franklin
13. #2 Dale Ball
14. #18 Michael Wright
15. #88 Chris Chandler
16. #25M Bobby Mays
17. #281 Kyle Pierce
18. #57M Zack Mitchell
19. #81 aaron Ridley
20. #4S Mark Sturgill

Steel Head Late Models 30-Lap Feature:
1. #29 Jason Welshan
2. #2X Anthony White
3. #32J Jason Manley
4. #0 Ross White
5. #K37 Drew Kennedy
6. #07 Jason Cardwell
7. #7 Rubenn Mayfield
8. #31 Greg Estes
9. #11 Anthony Arwine
10. # 88 Vic Chandler
11. #B00 Josh Henry
12. #5 John Tweed
13. #12T Dan Tipton
14. #44 Keith Gregory

Crate Late Model 25 Lap Feature:
1. #24F Jensen Ford
2. #29 no name available
3. #33 Warren McMahan
4. #24H Josh Henry
5. #72 Jerry Broyles
6. #15 Bryson Dennis
7. #12 Eric Register
8. #00D Josh Driskill
9. #73 Rishard Adkins
10 #18G Gary Crittenden
11. #56 Hugh Scalf
12. #2T Tim Maupin
13. #75 Rickey Moore
14. No infor available
15. #19T Joey Tweed
16. no info available

Hobbie Modified 20 Lap Feature:
1. #52R Dale Tweed
2. #2X Eddie Morris
3. #27 Charles Bates
4. #30 Mike Mays
5. #96 Chuck Killian
6. #1 Jamie Whitt
7. #31E Parker Estes
8. #66 Daniel Reese
9. #20 David Bullington
10. #52L Tim Lawson