Dale McDowell scored the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series victory on Saturday night at Rome Speedway. Photo: Jack Cofer
Carson Ferguson and Dale McDowell scored Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series victories on the weekend.
Ferguson was the winner on Friday night at Tri-County Race Track in Brasstown, North Carolina, while McDowell grabbed a home state victory on Saturday night at Georgia’s Rome Speedway.
On Friday night, Carson Ferguson battled early with Will Roland before taking the lead for good on lap 13. From there, Ferguson beat out his nearest competitor by 0.707 seconds.
It marked the second career series win for the Lincolnton, North Carolina driver, and it was worth a $7,553 payday.
Dale McDowell finished in second, with Colbert, Georgia’s Kenny Collins in third, Benji Hicks in fourth, and Roland in fifth.
“I didn’t think (Will) Roland was going to move down the track like that,” said Ferguson in victory lane when asked about the winning pass. “A few laps before that, I about ran right into the back of him. I threw a hail mary up on the top (in turns one and two) and it stuck for me. This win is awesome, I just have to thank Donald and Gena Bradsher, Wesley Page, and everyone that believed in me. All of our great sponsors, it takes everyone coming together on this deal to make it work and I’m very appreciative.”
Only three caution flags slowed the action tonight at the 1/4-mile Brasstown bullring. A multi-car incident triggered the first yellow flag on lap three, while Galen Robinson slowed to draw the second caution on lap ten. The third and final stoppage came on lap 36 when Jamie Oliver slowed with a flat right rear tire.
On Saturday night, one day after a strong runner-up finish at Tri-County, veteran driver Dale McDowell added to his all-time series win total at Rome Speedway.
The Chickamauga, Georgia racer worked his way around leader Sam Seawright on lap 17, and led the rest of the way to score the win by a 3.763-second margin.
“The car was really good,” McDowell said. “We struggled a little bit early, the car just didn’t feel real good and so finally in the feature on the longer runs, it was better. Still a little tight, but definitely way better and more maneuverable in traffic. It was a good night for our E-Z-GO hotrod and to win in front of a great Rome crowd like this, we sure appreciate it a lot.”
Seawright finished in second, with Austin Horton in third, Michael Page in fourth, and Ross Bailes in fifth.
Four caution flags halted the action at Rome. Jordan Koehler slowed to draw a yellow flag on lap four before Scott Hall stopped on the track on lap 18. Benji Hicks then slowed with a flat tire on lap 32, while Carson Ferguson did the same only one circuit later to draw the final yellow on lap 33.
There were also several winners in local Rome Speedway division action, including, Oliver Gentry in Limited Late Models, Mitchell Stanley in Crate Late Models, Zach Pilcher in Open Wheel Modifieds, Chris Hough in 602 Sportsman, Andrew Findley in Economy Bombers, and Jason Young in Street Stingers.
During the 602 Sportsman feature, longtime racer Harvey Burns suffered a heart attack while on the track. Burns was transported to Redmond Hospital in Rome and at last update was in stable condition.
The Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series schedule will culminate over a busy Memorial Day holiday weekend in a trio of races in the states of Tennessee and Georgia. It opens on Friday, May 26 at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tennessee. The action will then shift to North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Georgia on Saturday, May 27. The season closes out with the crowning of a champion on Sunday, May 28 at Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tennessee.
For more information, visit SouthernNationalsSeries.com.
Jeff Smith contributed to the Rome Speedway local division portions of this story.
Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series
Tri-County Race Track – Brasstown, NC
Race Results – May 5, 2023
1. (1) Carson Ferguson
2. (4) Dale McDowell
3. (3) Kenny Collins
4. (10) Benji Hicks
5. (2) Will Roland
6. (5) Gavin Cowan
7. (21) Ross Bailes
8. (7) Haiden Cowan
9. (8) David Payne
10. (14) David McCoy
11. (9) Chuck Southard
12. (23) Kaede Loudy
13. (17) Jamie Oliver
14. (22) Brian Nuttall, Jr.
15. (13) Johnny Gulizia
16. (15) Caden Mullinax
17. (11) Josh Henry
18. (6) Galen Robinson
19. (18) Chase Walls
20. (12) Brent Dixon
21. (16) Shawn Chastain
22. (19) Dante Curtis
23. (20) Floyd Self
Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series
Rome Speedway – Rome, GA
Race Results – May 6, 2023
1. (3) Dale McDowell
2. (1) Sam Seawright
3. (5) Austin Horton
4. (6) Michael Page
5. (7) Ross Bailes
6. (12) Will Roland
7. (10) Tyler Millwood
8. (9) Kenny Collins
9. (11) Mack McCarter
10. (2) Carson Ferguson
11. (13) Jason Croft
12. (4) Benji Hicks
13. (14) Heath Hindman
14. (15) David McCoy
15. (16) Caden Mullinax
16. (22) Haiden Cowan
17. (18) Jake Rainey
18. (19) Brian Nuttall, Jr.
19. (21) Scott Hall
20. (8) Jordan Koehler
21. (17) Cla Knight
DNS: (20) Payton Freeman
Limited Late Models
1. 03 Oliver Gentry
2. 1x Mark Page
3. 59 Dale Thurman
4. 888 Dusty Jones
5. 4 Shane Smith
6. 21 Danny Carter
7. 2 Trey Elsberry
8. 222 Rusty Hatfield
9. c87 Chris Fennell
604 Crate Late Models
1. 1 Mitchell Stanley
2. 05 T.J. Brittain
3. M96 Marty Lunsford
4. 45 Luther Jenkins
5. 18 Jake Herrell
6. 17 Jake Pilgrim
7. 14LP Logan Palmer
8. 22 Matt Thompson
9. 56 Chad Kimbrall
10. 9 Ty Pelfrey
11. 44 Slate Jones
12. 24 B.J. Pasley
13. 27 Pete Cochran
14. 17 Kevin Mulkey
15. 15 John Sexton
Open Wheel Modified
1. 11 Zach Pilcher
2. 17 Brett Gray
3. 51 Jody Coltrane
4. 44 David Beam
5. 17 Petey Cochran
6. 1 Corey Hillman
7. 16 Ethan Osborne
8. 0 Mark Knight
9. 49 Billy Dean
10. 07 Scott Hall
11. 65 Dan Ferguson
12. 17 Zack Shelton
602 Sportsman
1. 24 Chris Hough
2. 6 Chandler Hickman
3. 34 Chuck Padgett
4. 12 Jeremy Broome
5. 22 Tim Clark
6. 90 Jonathan Martin
7. 14 Cody Newton
8. 16 Wade Chandler
9. 0 Olivia Gentry
10. 112 Mavrick Davidson
11. 92 Tracy Pearson
12. 4m Andrew Moody
13. 98 Jackie Waites
14. 75 Michael Mims
15. c15 Gary Cain
16. 88 Caleb Hall
17. J21 Justin Begley
18. 30 Spencer Singleton
19. 43 Garrett Loyd
20. 22 James White
21. 14 Harvey Burns
22. 27 Dean Lindsey
23. 15 Derek Young
DNS: 9 Cass Fowler
Economy Bomber
1. 07 Andrew Findley
2. 6 Blake Broome
3. 14 Jeremy Williams
4. 87 Chris Woodall
5. 81 Wesley Brown
6. 54 Garrett Williams
7. 20 Danielle Loner
8. 04 David Kirkland
9. 51 Brent Beard
10. 18 Jonathan Sanford
11. 11 Mark Smith
Street Stinger
1. 3 Jason Young
2. 14 Michael Albright
3. 7 Mike Stork
4. 22 David Shook
5. 21 Paul Heitsenrether
6. 51 Doug McCain
7. 6 Blake Stork
8. 4 Jason Johnson
9. 52 Daniel Ventre
10. 14 Joshua Smith
11. 68 Neal Drummond
12. 17 Lane Rose
13. 30 Allen Jones
14. 3 William Bradshaw
15. 32 James Drummond
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