Owens Breaks Through, Wight Repeats

Jimmy Owens shows off the first Gator Trophy of his career after winning on Thursday night. (Jim DenHamer photo)

Owens Finally Adds Volusia DIRTcar Nationals Gator to Trophy Case

For second consecutive night, Wight dominates Super DIRTcar Series

BARBERVILLE, FL — Feb. 13, 2020 — Jimmy Owens has won almost 600 races in his career, including nearly every big Dirt Late Model race out there, but it took until Thursday night for him to earn his first Gator Trophy at Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Nationals presented by Bozard Ford.

Owens, of Newport, Tenn., dominated the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series main event, leading all 40 laps while behind him a furious battle was on to challenge him. A caution with 9 laps to go set up a shootout to the finish, but Owens was so strong he simply pulled away. A who’s who of star racers chased Owens to the checkered flag, with Dale McDowell second followed by Josh Richards, Jonathan Davenport and Mike Marlar.

“I tell you we’ve been close all week, we’ve been steadily getting better each night here,” Owens said. “This car was just phenomenal tonight. I’ve been coming down here for years and I don’t think I’ve ever won a Late Model race, let alone I don’t think I’ve won two heats in a week.”

For the second consecutive night, Larry Wight held off Stewart Friesen to capture the Super DIRTcar Series Feature. Wight started on the outside of the front row and quickly took command of the 30-lap race on the high side of the track. With only one caution Wight, of Phoenix, N.Y., held Friesen and the rest of the field at bay to win his third Gator Trophy and second in as many days.

“This car has just been on a rail,” Wight said. “We put the same setup in as [Wednesday] night and it was still glued to the track. Hopefully we can keep it going for the rest of the week. The car is good enough to where I don’t even need to run the cushion. Any time you’ve got Stewie right behind you, you definitely don’t want to see a restart. He’s a phenomenal restarter and he’s usually able to make stuff happen. The farther I can keep him behind me the better.”

 

DIRTcar Nationals Race Report; Volusia Speedway Park; Feb. 13, 2020

World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series (40 Laps): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens [2][$10,000]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell [4][$5,000]; 3. 14-Josh Richards [12][$3,000]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport [14][$2,500]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar [3][$2,000]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard [1][$1,700]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson [5][$1,400]; 8. 0M-Chris Madden [13][$1,300]; 9. 29v-Darrell Lanigan [8][$1,200]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [9][$1,100]; 11. 7-Ricky Weiss [23][$1,050]; 12. 25-Shane Clanton [10][$1,000]; 13. 0e-Rick Eckert [21][$950]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb [24][$900]; 15. 1st-Johnny Scott [22][$850]; 16. 18-Chase Junghans [20][$800]; 17. 6T-Tyler Erb [15][$770]; 18. 12-Ashton Winger [26][$750]; 19. 0-Scott Bloomquist [17][$730]; 20. 3s-Brian Shirley [6][$700]; 21. B1-Brent Larson [29][$110]; 22. 99B-Boom Briggs [27][$110]; 23. 39-Tim McCreadie [11][$700]; 24. 97-Cade Dillard [25][$700]; 25. 4G-Kody Evans [7][$700]; 26. 66c-Matt Cosner [28][$110]; 27. 25w-Allen Weisser [16][$700]; 28. 22-Gregg Satterlee [18][$700]; 29. 6-Blake Spencer [30][$110]; 30. 5-Mark Whitener [19][$700]. KSE Hard Charger Award: 7-Ricky Weiss [+12].

Super DIRTcar Series (30 laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight [2][$3,000]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen [5][$1,500]; 3. 25R-Erick Rudolph [4][$1,000]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca [3][$800]; 5. 20-Brett Hearn [7][$700]; 6. 91-Billy Decker [12][$650]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard [8][$600]; 8. 44P-Anthony Perrego [10][$550]; 9. 49-Billy Dunn [18][$500]; 10. 111-Demetrios Drellos [6][$450]; 11. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [11][$400]; 12. 21A-Peter Britten [19][$375]; 13. 42P-Pat Ward [14][$350]; 14. 7-Rick Laubach [1][$325]; 15. 88-Mat Williamson [15][$300]; 16. 19M-Jessey Mueller [9][$275]; 17. 30-Ronnie Johnson [22][$250]; 18. 19-Tim Fuller [21][$250]; 19. 23-Kyle Coffey [17][$250]; 20. 46-Jeremy Smith [13][$250]; 21. 83-Brian Swartzlander [20][$250]; 22. 3-Justin Haers [16][$250]; 23. 32-Jim Rasey [24][$250]; 24. 4-Andy Bachetti [25][$250]; 25. 48T-Dave Rauscher [26][$250]; 26. 1-Billy Pauch [23][$250]. KSE Hard Charger Award: 49-Billy Dunn [+9].