Jake Knowles earned the trip to victory lane at East Alabama Motor Speedway Saturday night with a win in the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series. Photo courtesy EAMS Media
Jake Knowles of Tyrone, GA had an exciting start, then an easy race for 40 laps, followed by an anxious last ten laps. But he hung on to win the 50-lap Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series Race on Saturday night at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, AL, and in doing so, took over the point lead.
Knowles survived a spin at the start of the race, but after the restart, he took command of the race on lap two, pulling out to over a full straightaway lead. By lap 32, Knowles caught some lapped traffic and on lap 40 his big lead had evaporated, as Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, TN closed in to challenge Knowles for the point.
Knowles kept the bottom groove covered, leaving Johnson the outside. With no place else to go, Johnson stepped to the outside, and even pulled alongside Knowles on a couple of occasions, but he slipped high in turn four on lap 49, and Knowles hung on for a .997 second margin of victory.
“My dad was signaling me that my big lead was going away, and it was pretty frustrating being stuck behind a lapped car that ran me all over the race track,” Knowles said. “I looked up at the scoreboard with ten laps to go, and saw the number 5 up there in second, and I knew I could be in trouble.”
Johnson had to settle for his second-straight second-place finish and Tyler Crowder of Lamont, FL drove to a third-place finish. Adam Martin of Talladega, AL celebrated his 30th birthday with a fourth-place finish.
Dingus Griffin of Ohatchee, AL was fifth and Josh Adkins of Talladega, AL took the sixth spot. Lavon Sparks of Phenix City, AL finished seventh and Brett Barrett of Cleveland, MS drove to an eighth-place finish.
Mark Dowdy of Waterloo, AL started 17th and finished ninth and Frank Wilson of Milton, FL rounded out the top ten.
Knowles swept the show, as in addition leading 49 of 50 laps and winning the race, he also set fast time with a lap in 15.514 seconds. The victory also gave Knowles the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series point lead with 194 points to hold a two-point advantage over Johnson. Griffin is in the third spot in the points chase, trailing Johnson by two points.
Crowder is fourth in the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series standings with 186 points, and Adkins is fifth overall after the first two 2014 races with 178 points to lead the Rookie of the Year point standings by six points over Martin, who is sixth overall in the standings with 172 points.
Knowles’ perfect night was almost a complete disaster by the time he got to the first turn on the first lap of the race. Knowles led the field to green from the pole position, with Martin starting on the outside of the front row. Knowles slid in front of Martin in turn one, but drifted high in turn two. Knowles got sideways coming off the corner, and slid across the track.
Drivers getting hard on the brakes to keep from hitting Knowles caused a multi-car pile-up on the backstretch to bring out the caution flag and necessitate a complete restart. Since no laps were completed, Knowles was able to restart on the pole position.
Not so fortunate were Chase Edge of LaFayette, AL, Tim Busha of Boaz, AL, Jake Teague of Oliver Springs, TN and Jacob Grizzle of Blairsville, GA, whose respective race cars were damaged too badly to continue.
Knowles played it a little more conservatively on the restart, and Martin took the lead on the first lap. Knowles got inside Martin in turn four on lap two coming off the fourth turn to take the lead. Once out front, Knowles packed his bags, turned in the key and checked out on the field. By lap 10, Knowles had opened up a full straightaway lead over Martin.
Crowder climbed into the second spot on lap 14 when he got an inside run on Martin and drove under him coming off the fourth turn. By the time Crowder took command of the second spot, Knowles wasn’t even in sight, as he held over a full straightaway lead. Johnson made an inside move on Martin going down the backstretch on lap 17 to take over the third spot.
While Johnson went looking for Crowder to race for the second spot, Knowles began to encounter lapped traffic on lap 32. Johnson passed Crowder for the second spot when he made an inside move in turn two on lap 36. The more Knowles tried to lap the eighth-place car of Barrett, the closer Johnson got to the leader.
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With 10 laps to go, Johnson was right on Knowles back bumper and looking both high and low to make a move. Johnson could pull alongside Knowles, but couldn’t get a strong enough run to make a pass for the lead stick. With three laps to go, Crowder joined the lead duo to make it a three car dance for the win. Knowles kept the bottom groove covered and hung on for the $3,000 win.
The next event for the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series will be on May 17 at Penton Raceway in Penton, AL for a 50-lap $3,000-to-win $300-to-start race.
For more information about the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series visit the series web site at www.525superseries.com.
Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series
East Alabama Motor Speedway – Phenix City, AL
Race Results – April 12, 2014
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER
1. 1 66 Jake Knowles Tyrone, GA 50 $3,000
2. 10 5 Ronnie Johnson Chattanooga, TN 50 $1,500
3. 3 47c Tyler Crowder Lamont, FL 50 $1,000
4. 2 47a Adam Martin (R) Talladega, AL 50 $850
5. 5 49 Dingus Griffin Ohatchee, AL 50 $750
6. 4 19m Josh Adkins (R) Talladega, AL 50 $700
7. 7 11 Lavon Sparks Phenix City, AL 50 $650
8. 9 110 Brent Barrett (R) Cleveland, MS 50 $600
9. 15 88d Mark Dowdy Waterloo, AL 48 $550
10. 13 72 Frank Wilson Milton, FL 48 $500
11. 14 J8 Jadon Frame (R) Winchester, TN 28 $475
12. 16 17 Ronald Dunn Corinth, MS 12 $450
13. 6 18 Chase Edge (R) LaFayette, AL 0 $425
14. 8 15 Tim Busha
15. 11 117 Jake Teague Oliver Springs, TN 0 $375
16. 12 99g Jacob Grizzle Blairsville, GA 0 $350
17. 17 47r Ross Martin Talladega, AL DNS $0
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